Hi Toula,

Please refer to Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications .

On page 209 of this textbook there is a template for coding a case study using multiple or collective case approach. I think this would be really helpful in your study.

Deepa

Agree Creswell is greatt. Not directly to your question but the argument of this paper, and supporting refferences, might be of some help to you. V.W. Marshall (1999). Reasoning with Case Studies: Issues of an Aging Workforce”. Journal of Aging Studies 13 (4): 1-13. [Reprinted in Victor W. Marshall, Candace Kemp and Malcolm Cutchin (Eds.), Social Institutions, the Life Course, and Aging. London: Sage (2013)] Victor Marshall

Thank you for your feedback. I have read Creswell, as well as a few other authors such as Kazdin who also specializes in case study design. My uncertainty is about the fact that I have mixed methods. Typically case study research is analyzed with a visual inspection of data (graphing). I also have qualitative interviews so I will be coding and finding thematic patterns. I am not sure if those two forms of analysis are adequate. Would I do any other statistical analyses? My study does not fit with most of the literature I have read on case studies so it is hard to compare it with other studies. Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Dear Toula,

I believe I can help you to resolve this problem. First, we have to understand 'why do we take multiple case studies'. It follows replication logic, that is, similar to doing several experiments. If you get same results, it confirms your theory (literal replication). If you get contrasting results but for predictable reasons (theoretical replications) , then your proposition is likely to be confirmed. Therefore you need multiple cases to prove your point and deviations for predictable reasons.

Then what is the use of statical method to make it mixed method. since cases are not representative ones, you cannot employ statistical methods for generalizations. But you can use them to support the findings from the case study method.

Eisenhadt (1989) advocate maximum variation strategy and you have to extreme cases that response to your treatment. Then find the similar patterns and try to explain different patterns (if any) within your grasp. Your pre- and post tests might help you to explain reasons for deviations. Very often descriptive statistics may help you find similar patterns rather than contrasting patterns.

I have not gone through Creswell, and you may find some discrepancies in my explanation.

Upananda (Sri Lanka)

Thanks Upananda. You are right. Asking why we choose to do a case study method is very important. I appreciate your suggestions.

You might want to look at these papers

Trauth and Kaplan are about mixing quantitative and qualitative methods in research

My favorite author on Care Studies in Robert Yin, who has an explicit emphasis on comparative case studies. His book, "Case Study Research" (Sage) is in its 5th edition. His approach is more qualitative than quantitative, but friendly towards mixed methods.

I agree with David. Yin is a good reference for multiple case studies.

Toula - Other resources that might be useful for you in your study include:

Niglas, K. (2009). How the novice researcher can make sense of mixed methods designs. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 3(1), 34-46.

Kwok, L. (2012). Exploratory-triangulation design in mixed methods studies: A case of examining graduating seniors who meet hospitality recruiters' selection criteria. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 12(3), 125-138.

Molina-Azorín, J.F. (2011). The use and added value of mixed methods in management research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 5(1), 7-24.

Jogulu, U.D., & Pansiri, J. (2011). Mixed methods: a research design for management doctoral dissertations. Management Research Review, 34(6), 687-701.

Cameron, R.A. (2011). Mixed Methods Research: the Five Ps Framework. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 9(2), 96-108.

Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2010). Sage Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioral Research (2nd Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Mason, P., Augustyn, M., & Seakhoa-King, A. (2010). Exploratory study in tourism: Designing an initial, qualitative phase of sequenced, mixed methods research. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(5), 432-448.

Castro, F.G., Kellison, J.G., Boyd, S.J., & Kopak, A. (2010). A Methodology for Conducting Integrative Mixed Methods Research and Data Analyses. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 4(4), 342.

I think you got a lot of reading suggestions already, so I'm reluctant to add to it. But ... IMHO still the best and most practical guide to doing almost any kind of qualitative data analysis is Miles & Huberman's "Qualitative Data Analysis". There is a new edition, out last year, with Johnny Saldana as co-author. I've not actually seen that edition, but in the 1994 one, there are two chapters on "Cross-Case Analysis" - descriptive and explanatory, that I think you'd find very useful.

And a final thought - I think the kind of design you outline is a pretty common one in health and medicine in particular. It's primarily a QUAN design, and the qual is used just to complement the QUAN findings, so it's QUAN->qual in the Creswell parlance. I'd think it might be more interesting to consider doing qualitative interviews also *before* the intervention. Although a bit paradoxical, I think having before and after in the qual as well as the quan would actually make integration of your findings easier and more natural!