narrative case study pdf

QuestionsAnswered.net

What's Your Question?

What Is a Case Study?

When you’re performing research as part of your job or for a school assignment, you’ll probably come across case studies that help you to learn more about the topic at hand. But what is a case study and why are they helpful? Read on to learn all about case studies.

Deep Dive into a Topic

At face value, a case study is a deep dive into a topic. Case studies can be found in many fields, particularly across the social sciences and medicine. When you conduct a case study, you create a body of research based on an inquiry and related data from analysis of a group, individual or controlled research environment.

As a researcher, you can benefit from the analysis of case studies similar to inquiries you’re currently studying. Researchers often rely on case studies to answer questions that basic information and standard diagnostics cannot address.

Study a Pattern

One of the main objectives of a case study is to find a pattern that answers whatever the initial inquiry seeks to find. This might be a question about why college students are prone to certain eating habits or what mental health problems afflict house fire survivors. The researcher then collects data, either through observation or data research, and starts connecting the dots to find underlying behaviors or impacts of the sample group’s behavior.

Gather Evidence

During the study period, the researcher gathers evidence to back the observed patterns and future claims that’ll be derived from the data. Since case studies are usually presented in the professional environment, it’s not enough to simply have a theory and observational notes to back up a claim. Instead, the researcher must provide evidence to support the body of study and the resulting conclusions.

Present Findings

As the study progresses, the researcher develops a solid case to present to peers or a governing body. Case study presentation is important because it legitimizes the body of research and opens the findings to a broader analysis that may end up drawing a conclusion that’s more true to the data than what one or two researchers might establish. The presentation might be formal or casual, depending on the case study itself.

Draw Conclusions

Once the body of research is established, it’s time to draw conclusions from the case study. As with all social sciences studies, conclusions from one researcher shouldn’t necessarily be taken as gospel, but they’re helpful for advancing the body of knowledge in a given field. For that purpose, they’re an invaluable way of gathering new material and presenting ideas that others in the field can learn from and expand upon.

Narrative approaches to case studies

This paper offers a view of narrative case studies as a form of narrative inquiry based upon social constructionist, constructivist and feminist ideas and practices.

Related Papers

Andrew Tootell

There are some striking ‘family resemblances’ between Systemic Inquiry and research methodologies gathering under the umbrella of Qualitative Inquiry (Denzin & Lincoln 2005, 2011). In this chapter I draw out areas of commonality in qualitative and systemic inquiry in practice research and propose Systemic Inquiry as a form of Qualitative Inquiry. Common interests include: • a reflexive and emergent shaping of methodology, focus and participation • a relational emphasis • a critique of power in the social world • a social justice agenda • ethics-led practice • fluidity • asking what counts as ‘knowledge’, with whose authority and with what consequences for others • a concern with the politics of description and with the creation of narratives • relationships in inner dialogue and outer talk • social accountability: speaking from within the first person, transparency, showing context • reflexivity • a critical approach to ‘professionalism’ and ‘methods’ • collaborative participation • irreverence and respect • practice as an art

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research

Kim Etherington

Doctorate of Creative Arts thesis

Katie Sutherland

*Please note that the creative component of this thesis is withheld. This project examines how personal storytelling can be used to illuminate and further develop understanding of illness, disability and diversity. Through an exegesis and creative component, it explores the notion that we live on a human continuum, and how the sharing of stories can help to break down the ‘them and us’ and ‘normal and abnormal’ dichotomy so often found in dialogue on illness and disability. The author proposes that personal storytelling can disrupt definitions around normality and instead offer a tool to assist in the development, and enhancement, of empathy. The creative component of this project is a multi-layered text that examines the experiences of family units living with what was formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome, then high functioning autism, and now autism. Indeed, the lived experience of those on the spectrum can resist well-ordered classification. This section combines the author’s own story as a mother, interviews with other families and individuals, and reflections on the process of researching and writing about autism. Incorporating a critical self-consciousness into her writing, the author ruminates on the complexities of parenting a son who is ‘on the spectrum’ by adopting a “wondering gaze”, as Max van Manen (2002) terms it, with the answers found in the “experience of writing itself” or in this “writerly space where reigns the ultimate incomprehensibility of things…the uncanny rumble of existence itself” (p. 243). The exegesis discusses the altruistic motivation for using self-reflexive writing techniques in narrative representations of illness and disability. As sociologist Marjorie L. DeVault (1997) writes: “[personal writing] makes excluded voices ‘hearable’ within a dominant discourse” and “is useful for exploring the unexpected and thus for bringing to light aspects of ‘ordinary’ experience that are typically obscured” (p. 226). It is particularly important to address the ‘social’ and the ‘ordinary’ everyday experiences within illness and disability because they are often neglected in the medical setting. Yet such experiences are what make a person whole—they are, of course, so much more than their physical symptoms and treatments (Richards, 2008; Carel, 2008). Through an analysis of texts by parents raising children with disabilities, the exegesis explores the advantages and drawbacks of vulnerable writing about oneself and others. It is proposed that researching and writing with reflexivity not only allows authors to better understand themselves, but also opens the door to reader empathy, creating a sense of connection for readers and a greater understanding of the ethnographic subject matter by pushing against assumptions and breaking down stereotypes. Simultaneously, the author applies this knowledge to her creative project to illuminate the nuances of families living with autism. As such, the research provides an avenue that affords some empathy for the people in the stories told, and subsequently becomes a tool for understanding, for it is through connecting with others’ stories, chaotic as they may be, that we make meaning of experiences and sense of our lives (Mattingly & Garro, 2000).

Qualitative Inquiry

Carolyn Ellis

Qualitative Research in Psychology

Peter McIlveen , Peter McIlven

This paper explores the notion of the scientist-practitioner in vocational psychology. It is suggested that despite the visage of science and technology, the actual practice of vocational psychology and career counselling is a very personal endeavour. The paper uses autoethnography to elucidate the construction of the career assessment and counselling procedure My Career Chapter. It is argued that the genuine

Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Shanee Barraclough

Nathan Hodges

This autoethnography explores our experiences teaching an undergraduate autoethnography course entitled, ‘Writing Lives’. We, Keith and Nathan, Professor and Doctoral candidate, convey narrative scenes and reflections of sharing and analysing our published stories with students, working with students through the process of writing their personal stories, and transformative moments during the course. We emphasise a vulnerable, reflexive, and empathetic approach to teaching and learning that allows students and teachers to uncover aspects of who they are and hope to be in the classroom. This work advocates a number of unique benefits to autoethnographic practices that foster open and intimate bonds.

International Journal of Mental Health Nursing

Margaret McAllister