Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

It was very hard for me to find a paper which used qualitative methods in the journals I searched through. But when I thought about in what areas qualitative methods are frequently used, according to what I had read beforehand, I remembered that educational research often used them. So I browsed some journals with focus on media technology and education, and finally found a paper!

Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media

The goal of this paper was to present students' in-depth perspectives of experiences with implementing mobile computing devices.

The qualitative method used in this paper is focus group interviews using Skype video calls which were recorded, transcribed (additional non-verbal behaviours identified were noted such as head nodding, smiles, frowns or signs of boredom) and then analysed. Guidelines were used to provide structure to the interviews and a semi-structured interview protocol was used.
The interview transcripts were verified by each of the participants who could request edits and additions.

Benefits of using this method is that you can get a lot of extra information from the non-verbal behaviours that you wouldn’t get from a questionnaire, and  by having a focus group interview the researchers could get the real thoughts of the students about their perspectives (getting the information straight from the source).
If they instead would have gone for an approach where they observed the students, a lot of relevant information could have been lost and the results wouldn’t represent the students’ real perspectives.
As stated in the paper: “The qualitative approach allowed for the representation of reality through the eyes of the individuals interviewed in order to share their stories and hear their voices.”

By using Skype video calls instead of face-to-face interviews could mean that they missed some non-verbal behaviours, and by having the interviews be conducted in groups some of the students’ answers could have been changed because of the other students’ answers or just because the other students were present. Though, the students did have a chance to request edits and additions after the interviews had been transcripted, which was a good part of the method used.

From reading the paper I learned that you have to think through how you will code and analyse the data for it to be valid.
Using previous theories and frameworks when you analyse the data and prepare the empirical data for analysis is something I will have in mind for future research.

As they say in their conclusion: “[...] the participants who volunteered to share their experiences did so because they felt the mobile devices did impact their learning — another story would have emerged if participants who did not see the benefits of the devices were captured.” I think they should have had some participants who didn’t think so alike be part of the study, since the result and discussion is very one-sided because of this.

A value-oriented and culturally informed approach to the design of interactive systems

Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is.

A case study is an in-depth study of a specific subject and its context; e.g. a study of a family using a new product in a specific environment during a specific time. This study can then be generalized from.

Strengths and weaknesses of the paper

The researchers are very clear with their research question, and gives the readers a lot of information regarding the area of study before going into the case study, which gives knowledge of why this kind of design-approach is needed.

Their participating teachers were all trying to spread knowledge about specialized education services for students who needed this specialized education, and were from different regions of Brazil. There were also researchers in Education and researchers in Computer Science and HCI.

They do make comparisons to similar literature, but at the same time they don’t compare with conflicting literature which is a weakness.
Within-case analysis is made, but cross-case pattern search isn’t.

They do not use multiple data collection methods which is a weakness for the paper, and only qualitative data is used which is another weakness.
There are multiple investigators, and that’s great because they therefore had different perspectives and complementary insights when doing the research.

There is an overlap of data collection and analysis when they go through the case study step by step, and they include some field notes.

References

Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media
Available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1096751613000262

A value-oriented and culturally informed approach to the design of interactive systems
Available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581915000592