Qualitative Research and Case Studies in Public Administration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason L. Jensen ◽  
Laura C. Hand
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Abductive Reasoning ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Field Level ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Growing Pains

Public administration has experienced academic growing pains and longstanding debates related to its identity as a social and administrative science. The field’s evolution toward a narrow definition of empiricism through quantitative measurement has limited knowledge cumulation. Because the goal of all scientific endeavors is to advance by building upon and aggregating knowledge across studies, a field-level point of view eschewing traditional dichotomies such as qualitative/quantitative debates in favor of methodological pluralism allows for examination of both the art and science of public administration. To accomplish this, traditional notions of quality, namely rigor, must be reconceptualized in a way that is appropriate for the philosophical commitments of a selected methodology. Rigor should focus on the accuracy, exhaustiveness, and systematicity of data collection and analysis. This allows for quality judgments about the degree to which the methods resulted in evidence that addresses the research questions and supports stated conclusions. This is a much broader approach to rigor that addresses multiple types of inquiry and knowledge creation. Once the question of rigor is not limiting the types of research done in the field, attention can be turned to the ways in which high-quality studies can contribute to knowledge cumulation. Case studies can be used as an example of a field-level point of view, as they have the ability to utilize abductive reasoning to consider both the whole (the entire case) and the particular (factors that contribute to outcomes, processes, or theories). Case studies explore the relationship between context-independent theories and context-dependent factors using different types of data collection and analysis: a triangulation of sorts. They can test theories in multiple ways and create or suggest new theories. Considering field-level questions as a case study and synthesizing findings from multiple related studies, regardless of methodology, can help move the field forward in terms of its connection between theory and practice, art and science.

Analysing Famine

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27
Author(s):  
Daniel Maxwell ◽  
Peter Hailey
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Severe Malnutrition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Excess Death ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Technical Capacity

Famine means destitution, increased severe malnutrition, disease, excess death and the breakdown of institutions and social norms. Politically, it means a failure of governance – a failure to provide the most basic of protections. Because of both its human and political meanings, ‘famine’ can be a shocking term. This is turn makes the analysis – and especially declaration – of famine a very sensitive subject. This paper synthesises the findings from six case studies of the analysis of extreme food insecurity and famine to identify the political constraints to data collection and analysis, the ways in which these are manifested, and emergent good practice to manage these influences. The politics of information and analysis are the most fraught where technical capacity and data quality are the weakest. Politics will not be eradicated from analysis but can and must be better managed.

Design-Based Case Study

2018 ◽  
pp. 50-62
Author(s):  
Cynthia C. M. Deaton ◽  
Jacquelynn A. Malloy
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Instructional Innovations

Design-based case studies allow researchers to examine instructional innovations that are bounded by perspective, context, and time. Design-based case study is an approach that blends case study research with design-based research in order to more systematically examine the process and products of an intervention. This approach provides a framework for engaging in iterative cycles of data collection and analysis to determine if, how, and why goals of instructional innovations have been met. This chapter provides an overview of the design-based case study approach and responds to common concerns surrounding case study and design-based research and how design-based case studies address these concerns by building on the strengths of both approaches.

Social Networks and Terrorism

2011 ◽  
pp. 232-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Knoke
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Tools And Methods

This chapter explains how international terror networks, consisting of individuals and organizations spanning countries and continents, form and evolve. It describes tools and methods used by social network analysts to study such networks; their applications by counterterrorist organizations; their limitations and problems in data collection and analysis; and directions for future research. It also discusses a few recent case studies by prominent researchers.

scholarly journals Purposive sampling: complex or simple? Research case examples

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 652-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Campbell ◽  
Melanie Greenwood ◽  
Sarah Prior ◽  
Toniele Shearer ◽  
Kerrie Walkem ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Developmental History ◽  
Purposive Sampling ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis

Background Purposive sampling has a long developmental history and there are as many views that it is simple and straightforward as there are about its complexity. The reason for purposive sampling is the better matching of the sample to the aims and objectives of the research, thus improving the rigour of the study and trustworthiness of the data and results. Four aspects to this concept have previously been described: credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Aims The aim of this paper is to outline the nature and intent of purposive sampling, presenting three different case studies as examples of its application in different contexts. Results Presenting individual case studies has highlighted how purposive sampling can be integrated into varying contexts dependent on study design. The sampling strategies clearly situate each study in terms of trustworthiness for data collection and analysis. The selected approach to purposive sampling used in each case aligns to the research methodology, aims and objectives, thus addressing each of the aspects of rigour. Conclusions Making explicit the approach used for participant sampling provides improved methodological rigour as judged by the four aspects of trustworthiness. The cases presented provide a guide for novice researchers of how rigour may be addressed in qualitative research.

Making a Case for a Blended Approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Cynthia C. M. Deaton ◽  
Jacquelynn A. Malloy
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Instructional Innovation ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Instructional Innovations ◽  
Bounded System

Design-based case studies address research questions that involve instructional innovations within a bounded system. This blend of case study and design-based research provides a systematic approach to examining instructional innovations that are bounded by perspective, context, and time. Design-based case studies provide a framework for engaging in iterative cycles of data collection and analysis that are used to determine how, why, and whether the goals of an instructional innovation have been met. The authors note common concerns surrounding case study and design-based research and how design-based case studies address these concerns by building on the strengths of both approaches.

scholarly journals Memes on the Evolution of Derivative Architecture Design

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Triyatni Martosenjoyo
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Architecture Design ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Over Time

Through genetic tracing, the origins of a person and who their ancestors are can be traced scientifically even though over time their genes have evolved following ecological changes. Likewise, a person's ideas can be traced where the origin comes from through memetic tracing. This article discusses case studies in several works which are assumed to be works of design product plagiarism at one of the famous universities in Indonesia. The plagiarism process is investigated through tracking changes in their memes. The research method was carried out by investigation. Data collection and analysis through field studies and in-depth interviews with participants who are actors and users of plagiarism products. The research was conducted in 2017. The results showed that plagiarism resulted in degradation of physical and visual qualities, visual disguises for the purpose of copycat self-actualization, and a sense of innocence from them.

scholarly journals RESCRIPTING FAILURE: THE REFLEXIVE STORIES THAT FIELDWORK TELLS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sybille Lammes ◽  
Larissa Hjorth ◽  
Ingrid Richardson ◽  
Kat Jungnickel ◽  
Anna Hickey-Moody
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Success Story ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
Media Practices ◽  
Core Part

Researching everyday media practices is a messy and tricky business fraught with uncertainty. In this panel the authors ask how stories of failure, especially during fieldwork, can be rethought as a meaningful emergent method and approach. How can we productively reframe failure as a core part of the research process that cannot be subsumed into the telos of a success story after the research has been completed? How does does failure work in research? Our approach takes a different stance from dominant stories in the tech industry and geek economy, where failure is often represented in linear, heroic, gendered and individualistic ways, retrospectively rendering mess as instrumental to success. Similarly, within academia there are many research processes in which failure is instrumentalised or obscured—from writing up fieldwork into neatly packaged case-studies, to causal accounts of effective intervention. Progress narratives of knowledge production have been subject to much debate and criticism. What has been less discussed is how failures work as sometimes uncontainable aspects of research praxes—how they are endemic to the process of data collection and analysis, materializing while in the field. In this panel we suggest that these experiences are core to the thickness of fieldwork—they disclose the messiness and dynamics of the social, and should be included in the stories we tell. This panel aims to liberate discussion about failure to render it visible and core to understanding the politics and ethics of fieldwork and the research process. Through a series of stories from our fieldwork, we seek to further critical understanding of methodologies and techniques of failure, and argue for our obligations as researchers to talk about what happens when things go wrong.

scholarly journals Collecting and analyzing diffraction data from multiple crystals

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C314-C314
Author(s):  
Gwyndaf Evans
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Single Crystal ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Diffraction Data ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Crystal Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Convenient Access

Recent years have witnessed a marked revival of multiple crystal data collection and analysis methods. This has been brought about in many ways by a proliferation of microfocus beamlines [1] that have provided convenient access to structural biologists who wish to measure from their tiny crystals. Further to this however has been a realization that in some cases careful data collection and analysis of multiple crystal data can replace months if not years of effort in wet labs optimizing crystals to be large enough to yield a single crystal data set. The presentation will briefly discuss recent progress in multiple crystal data collection and analysis and illustrate it with some case studies.

scholarly journals Memes on the Evolution of Derivative Architecture Design

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Triyatni Martosenjoyo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Architecture Design ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Over Time

Through genetic tracing, the origins of a person and who their ancestors are can be traced scientifically even though over time their genes have evolved following ecological changes. Likewise, a person's ideas can be traced where the origin comes from through memetic tracing. This article discusses case studies in several works which are assumed to be works of design product plagiarism at one of the famous universities in Indonesia. The plagiarism process is investigated through tracking changes in their memes. The research method was carried out by investigation. Data collection and analysis through field studies and in-depth interviews with participants who are actors and users of plagiarism products. The research was conducted in 2017. The results showed that plagiarism resulted in degradation of physical and visual qualities, visual disguises for the purpose of copycat self-actualization, and a sense of innocence from them.

Managing marketing communications

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-379
Author(s):  
Dorit Zimand Sheiner ◽  
Tamar Lahav
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Marketing Communications ◽  
Communication Model ◽  
Integrated Marketing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Touch Point ◽  
Tv Commercial

Purpose This study aims to focus on customer-initiated contact (CIC) discourse on Facebook brand pages. It concentrates on how brands manage CIC on Facebook when customers are more concerned with brand communications than product-related issues, price or distribution. A research framework from the perspective of consumer-initiated touch-point communication model is proposed. Design/methodology/approach Two case studies of Israeli TV ads are examined. Discourse between customers and brands on the Facebook pages of the latter are analyzed. Research was conducted in three phases: data collection, quantitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Findings It was demonstrated that customers use Facebook as a discourse platform for TV commercial brand advertising. However, brands are not always prepared to engage in online CIC involving advertising issues. The reply rate is moderate and the reply manner is not consistent, tending to be characterized as “official and dismissive.” Research limitations/implications Data collection used a sample of two case studies. However, they generated rich findings, enough to support the purpose of the study. Originality/value This paper expands the contemporary CIC point of view and adds an integrated marketing communications (IMC) perspective. It extends the perception of CIC from product-level customer service to brand-level discourse. Finally, it fills the research gap by using a research tool based on consumer-initiated touch-point communication model. Theoretical and practical implications are presented.

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