Post theme 6.
This week
was interesting, as case studies were somewhat new to me. The first part
of this weeks seminar regarding qualitative measurements was something that to
most was something familiar – as was the case for me. Before the seminar, I
wondered quite a bit regarding the fact that I had such a hard time finding a
qualitative study in one of the few journals I was looking at. During the
seminar, I brought up that point, and Ilias had quite an interesting view of
how different “schools” of journals have different approaches for which type of
measurement should be used. For example, some journals might be of the
viewpoint that qualitative measurements far outweigh quantitative – whereas another,
similar journal, might have the exact opposite view. This was very interesting to
me, and something I had not really considered before the seminar. It’s also a
very important aspect to have in mind when reading looking for specific papers
regarding a subject – that depending on the journal you are reading through;
you might find completely different approaches to how to find the “correct”
answer. That is something that I will definitely have in the back of my mind
when conducting my master’s thesis, in order to find the most appropriate
papers related to what I am writing.
The second
subject of this week, case studies, were new to me – and made for a very interesting
reading and learning experience. The fact that case studies are in a specific
context helps you gain a better understanding of how people act/behave – and
they can be crucial for understanding human behavior. For example, case studies
when it comes to horrific events such as war or natural disasters can help us
gain important information on how to act and relay information in case of those
events. This in hand can be of substantial help when preparing for those events
– knowing how humans will behave or act, so that the government or other
organizations can help. When it comes to media technology, case studies can be
crucial in understanding how different mediums are used based on the context.
One example that I can think of is how humans use different platforms (mobile,
desktop, laptop) depending on the time of day – and because of that, news
sources can adapt the content throughout the day to their readers. The reason
for this knowledge might very well be case studies on how tablets/phones etc.
are used throughout the day.
An
interesting discussion during the seminar was how the word “case” in case
studies relates to how it is often used in an educational/business environment –
and how they differentiate. In the educational/business environment, case
normally refers to a specific situation (such as how Spotify grew its user base
during a specific time, or how the iPad was a huge success) – which is quite
different from how the word is used in the case study subject. It’s important
to differentiate the two, to avoid misconceptions of what you are communicating.
Hi! Interesting reflection, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this week’s theme!
SvaraRaderaAs you, I also think that a case study is a good way to understand why people behave in a certain way, this makes me think of the generizability of the results. The data that is gained with a case study isn’t generizable, at least not on a big scale (except from in similar situations). I guess that is one of the reasons why other methods are often used when it comes to measuring human behavior etc. However, except from giving a description (by exploring) the case study also test theories to eventually create new ones.
Hello! I found your reflection very thoughtful. I do agree with you that case studies collects important information for unusual situations as case studies can be used as a tool to conduct learning part. Here I mean that case studies can illustrate real life situation involving decision making participants. This allows researcher and people involved get a thorough understanding. Moreover, I agree with you that case studies can provide with clear explanation in media technology field, especially when it comes to technology and human interaction. Simply, there is some data that cannot be fully grasped without deep interaction and observation such as case study. Thanks for your thoughts!
SvaraRaderaYou highlighted interesting aspects that have not been discussed in our group. The different approaches to the scientific articles by various journals explain a lot why I was also struggling when looking for the qualitative research papers as majority of them belonged to the quantitative ones.
SvaraRaderaRegarding your point about the usage of different devices throughout the day that could be derived from the case study, I must say that it is a way easier to collect, summarise and analyse the data from the Internet providers than to observe the habits of the average users (what makes it pure quantitative research based on the big data). But if the researchers decide to explore how people can abandon the usage of smartphones (or, at least, to avoid using mobile Internet and therefore, be online all the time and check the updates) that, probably, could be a case study (or the experiment, if the intervention of the scientists is too noticeable).
To collect data from various mobile devices being used differently during the day, you could user tools such as Google analytics. However, the same weaknesses consists as with the case study; that you only get access to consented user's data which means you miss out on other users. I think a lot of this data is nevertheless fairly easily accessible and perhaps more suited for a quantitative study. What might be interesting for case studies are behaviors behind why people use their devices in the bedroom or toilet in the morning or evening but not the other way around (if that would be the case), how come people want to purchase goods below a particular amount on a mobile device but more expensive stuff from a tablet? To go deeper into certain behaviors, I think case studies are way more powerful.
SvaraRaderaI like how you write about the potential use of case studies when conducting media technology research. If I were to conduct a study within that field – I think I would have started with a broader and more general research question. You shed light on a new topic when you discussed how the word case is used in different settings. It would have been interesting if you had gone more into depth in describing how you think the two words differ. You propose a definition for the educational/business environment – but not for the research environment one. What comes to my mind is that the term refers to the specific setting in the research environment too? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the subject matter.
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SvaraRaderaThanks for a great post!
SvaraRaderaYour writings about case studies in the media technology field was interesting, and it related to a thought that this past theme has awakened in me. When discussing the perks of qualitative research, such as researcher-subject connection and in-depth understandings, I came to think about all the various studies that are conducted online through media technologies. I think this phenomena - online research - could (and probably is...) be the basis of an interesting research. How does the fact that the study is conducted via a screen affect the results? Etc.
I think this is interesting, because just like your write, case studies can be crucial for understanding human behaviour!
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SvaraRaderaI appreciated your elaboration on how case studies in a business environment differs than in a research environment. I was confused by the topic when we discussed it in the seminar as I had not come across this type of case study in my work experience. When trying to find case studies for the blog post, I wanted to find one that related to social media and came across similar articles to what you defined in the Spotify example. I found many informal article that showed how businesses grew using social media, which were not helpful to understanding case study from a theory building perspective.
SvaraRaderaI also found it interesting that depending on the field, qualitative data holds different value. I personally find qualitative data more interesting as it is used to observe human behavior and psychology. I think this is because I do not come from an engineering or science background where qualitative data is less valued over quantitative. I think I would prefer to use a qualitative method in my future thesis work.