Case study – For those of you who are in college, the phrase “case study” must sound
familiar. One of these research methods is widely used by students at the Bachelor (S1),
Masters (S2) and Doctoral (S3) levels. However, for a long time, the case study was considered
a “weak” research method due to its lack of objectivity, research power, and rigor.
Surprisingly, the facts on the ground prove otherwise. Case studies generate a lot of new
knowledge in social sciences, such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, history, economics, political
science, education, and so on.
Despite the debate about the drawbacks of the case study research method, Sinaumed’s certainly wanted to
understand more about this method. For this reason, in this article we will discuss several
things, starting from the definition and types of case studies, to the steps for making case study
research.
What is a Case Study?
In short, a case study is research on a case in which each process is carried out in detail, sharp and in
depth. Cases here can be individuals, groups, organizations, or institutions. From
the case research, it is hoped that the researcher will gain in-depth knowledge about the case under
study.
The case under study usually has to be something that is happening now (actual), not something that has
passed and must be truly specific or “unique”. In other words, researchers are advised to
choose only one case, both very simple and complex.
So how can a case be called “unique”? Prof. Dr. H. Mudjia Rahardjo,
M.Si mentioned 6 signs that could be taken into consideration by researchers, namely:
- The nature or nature of the case to be studied
- The background or reason for the case arose
- The physical setting of the case
- The context that surrounds it, such as economic factors, politics, and so on.
- Another case that can explain the case
- Informants who really master the case to be studied
With these signs, it can be concluded that the case study is an appropriate research method for understanding a
phenomenon.
Case Study Objectives
Basically, case studies are designed to dig up information that can be learned from a case, because of that
researchers cannot choose cases that will be used as research themes.
Stake, in his book entitled The Art of Research (1995) explains that the main purpose of case study
research is to ” reveal the unique characteristics that exist in a case “.
Therefore, as already mentioned by Prof. Rahardjo, all matters related to the case must be
examined so that researchers can understand the case comprehensively.
Types of Case Study Research
Prof. Dr. H. Mudjia Rahardjo, M.Si, in CASE STUDY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:
CONCEPTS AND PROCEDURE (2017) mentions five types of case study research, including:
1. Collective Case Study
Collective case study is a type of case study that examines more than one case. With the note
that these cases must be interconnected and researchers must master all of them. That way,
researchers can compare one case with another case.
2. Retrospective Case Study
A retrospective case study is a case study that allows for improvements or treatment in the case
under study. This treatment must be completed by other people who are truly competent in
that field, researchers only contribute input from the results of their research.
3. Prospective Case Study
Prospective case studies are generally used so that researchers can find out the direction of development
of a case. The follow-up to this case study is Action Research or Action Research
conducted by other experts.
4. Instrumental Case Study
Instrumental Case Study is a type of research that requires researchers to choose cases carefully.
That is, the researcher believes that he can gain in-depth knowledge of the case.
5. Intrinsic Case Study
In the latter case study, the intrinsic case study, the researcher may select cases based on personal
interest or interest in an issue. For example, juvenile delinquency, cyber
bullying , the single parent phenomenon , even the “ Citayam Fashion Week ”
phenomenon.
Sinaumed’s can learn more about these five types of case studies in the book Case Studies (Design &
Methods) written by Robert K. Yin.
Steps to Conduct Case Study Research
When Sinaumed’s chooses the case study research method, you must complete all the processes regularly and
continuously. The stages in the process of conducting case study research are:
1. Choose Themes, Topics, and Cases
In this stage, the researcher must be able to find cases that are part of the field being studied.
For example, currently you are completing your study in the Social Sciences major, then Sinaumed’s can
look for cases that occurred in government offices in the area where you live.
Why is that? Because logically, Sinaumed’s can only produce good research in the field you are
good at. You can get the case by reading books, scientific magazines, newspapers, or the
results of previous research.
It can also be through your own observations, based on the experiences you feel. For example
during an internship or taking care of administration in a government office or the results of discussions
with friends and supervisors.
If you want to find cases by reading books or previous research, then Sinaumed’s must first understand all of
its contents so that they can determine the main theme of the research. From this theme, it
will be narrowed down to several topics.
Furthermore, from the research topic, you can emphasize the object of study. That way, you
will get a case. From these three things, Sinaumed’s can formulate a research title.
So, the research title must be made after you get the theme, topic, and object of study.
2. Literature Review
Not only can this literature review broaden your horizons in the field that will be researched, it can also
sharpen the formulation of the problem that you will pose. Therefore, look for as much reading
material as possible. It can be in the form of relevant research and journals, scientific
magazines, books or newspapers related to the case.
In the process of collecting reading material, you must pay attention to two important aspects.
First, relevance to the case being studied and secondly, up-to-date. Ideally, the more
up-to-date the reading material is, the more you will know the most up-to-date developments in the field you
are working on.
3. Formulate Research Focus and Problems
The research focus really helps to focus Sinaumed’s’ attention on one point. Besides that, you
also have to be more careful when formulating the main problem to be studied. The problem is,
the formulation of this problem will make the problem you face clearer and avoid research results that are
“ordinary” or less in-depth or lacking in detail.
Therefore, case study research must be able to answer the questions “what”, “how”, and “why”.
The “what” questions aim to get you descriptive knowledge related to research problems, the “how”
questions get you to get explanatory knowledge, and the “why” to get explorative knowledge.
Simply put, this “how” question asks about the process of an event occurring while the “why” question looks for
reasons that cause an event to occur.
4. Data Collection
In case study research, the object of research must be able to describe himself in detail, so you get a
complete picture. In other words, the data that you collect will be studied as a unified and
integrated whole.
So, you can’t just understand the case being examined on the surface, but also on the inside.
That is why, the suggested data collection techniques in case studies are:
- Interview
- Documentation
- Observation is involved
- direct Observation,
- Physical artifact.
In the process of collecting data, you also have to pay attention to three important things, namely
natural, holistic and in-depth. Natural here means that the process of collecting data takes
place naturally and in a real-life context. You don’t have to give any particular treatment to
the subject or the context in which the research takes place or you could say just let things happen
naturally.
Meanwhile, holistic means you have to be able to produce complete data from as much information or sources
as you can get. Then, depth means you have to be able to uncover the explicit and implied
meanings of all the data that has been collected.
For example, suppose you are compiling a research involving the Principal as a participant.
After conducting the interview, you will get information based on what the principal said.
Well, you should be able to catch the implied meaning of his words.
5. Completion of Data
After all the data that Sinaumed’s needs is collected, you have to refine it first. In that
sense, check all the data and see if you can answer the problem formulation that you specified or
not.
If so, then the data is considered perfect and you can proceed to the next stage. Conversely,
if you haven’t then you must return to the field and collect additional data to complete it.
6. Processing Data
Before doing the analysis, first process the data that is considered perfect. Check the
correctness of the data, arrange and classify based on the category that suits your research, and do coding
or coding, if necessary, correct interview answers that are considered unclear. The entire
process in this stage will help facilitate the process of data analysis.
7. Data Analysis
Data analysis can be regarded as the “core” of research. Therefore, it must be done correctly
and according to the instructions. Not a few researchers, both undergraduate, postgraduate, and
doctoral students, experience difficulties at this stage.
However, if done properly, data analysis will yield important information, namely research findings.
That is, if the data analysis fails, then the research is considered a failure. The
biggest difficulty faced by researchers in this stage is the data analysis ability of the researchers
themselves.
For your information , data analysis in case study research can only be done by the researcher himself
because only the researcher knows all the problems in depth. So neither friends, family, other
people, even the supervisor will not be able to complete this stage.
In order for you to complete this stage, you need broad theoretical insights, sufficient research
experience, clear lecturer guidance, and very strong interest. Without all of that, it is very
likely that your research will be difficult to complete or even fail.
Considering that this step is the essence of case study research, it is recommended that you read the book
Implementation of Case Study Research Methods with a Qualitative
Approach written by S. Arifianto as a complete guide.
8. Data Analysis Process
In principle, the process of data analysis is an activity that aims to give meaning to data by organizing,
grouping, sorting, coding, and categorizing it according to certain groupings. This needs to be
done so that researchers get findings from the formulation of the problem posed.
With so many processes going through, usually the data collected becomes scattered and must be simplified
again to make it easier to understand. Here are the steps that you can use as a guideline at
this stage:
- Researchers must read the entire transcript to get general information
- Collect all the general messages you get, then take the special (specific) messages
- From the existing special messages, general patterns of data will be found, then the data can then be
regrouped according to category, topology, and sequence of events.
9. Confirmability or Triangulation of Findings
So that the research findings from the data are not considered biased, then you have to do meeting
confirmation or triangulation. The trick is to report these findings to the people you
interviewed.
Many students who use the case study method skip this stage. Usually because of fear of
different confirmation results with research findings. In fact, a researcher must be honest so
that his findings can be scientifically accounted for.
10. Research Conclusion
There is one common mistake in this section that students keep making. Students often
summarize the statements in the previous sections. Ideally, research conclusions should contain
a synthesis or all of the statements previously described. Including descriptive descriptions
of the facts in the field that are in accordance with the research questions.
11. Research Report
The last stage of case study research is to make a research report. This report is considered
as a form of accountability for the research that has been done. Generally, this report is
written in a language that is easily understood by everyone.
One important thing that you should pay attention to when making a scientific report is to ensure that the
research that has been carried out meets the following requirements:
- objective
- Systematic
- Follow the scientific method
Objective means that the data is actually obtained from the research subject, not from the researcher or
the view of the researcher. Systematic means the sequence or each part of the research must be
related to one another and become a logical continuity.
Meanwhile, following the scientific method means that all activities in the research that you carry out have
followed scientific procedures that have been agreed upon by scientists.
Benefits of Case Study Research
Even though it is considered weak, it does not mean that “case study” research has no benefits at all.
Lincoln and Guba, describe the benefits of this method as follows:
- Case studies are the main vehicle for emic research that expresses the views of the research subject
- Case studies provide a complete description that is the same as what is experienced by readers in their
daily lives. - Case studies are very effective in showing the relationship between researchers and research subjects
- Readers can gain stylistic consistency, factuality, and believability from case study research
- This study presents the thick description needed for transferability assessment
- Case studies are very open to an assessment of the context which later this assessment can play a role in
the phenomena that exist in that context.
You can find other benefits of the case study research method in the book Understanding Case Study
Methodology, Grounded Theory, and Mixed-Method by Nuriman, S.Pd.I., M.Ed., Ph.D.
Challenges of Conducting Case Study Research
So far, according to Prof. Rahardjo (2017), there are at least three issues that will be a
challenge for researchers who choose the case study research method. These challenges
are:
- Ensuring that the cases to be studied are considered academically “worthy”.
- Finding relevant data for research purposes
- What to do after all the data is collected
Case study is a research method that can be chosen by students or researchers to seek scientific truths
that are tentative or not absolute. In other words, this truth can still be tested, criticized,
or revised. However, the case study is a challenging research method.
Besides that, case studies are also very appropriate for discovering hidden things from social and cultural
phenomena and then spreading them until they become public knowledge.
When Sinaumed’s searches the internet for information about case studies, there may be differences between
this article and others. However, this difference is a natural thing because qualitative
research does not have standard standards.
The discussion on this case study research method has ended , I hope this is
useful and see you in another article!
For Sinaumed’s who want to find scientific work books, research methods, they can find them at
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