Can 'case reports' (usually used in medical and related disciplines) be considered a type of 'descriptive case study'?
If so, can we say that case study is both a method as well as a methodology?
Case study research is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers. Several prominent authors have contributed to methodological developments, which has increased the popularity of case study approaches across disciplines. Experienced qualitative researchers have identified case study research as a stand-alone qualitative approach.
Methodological discussion of qualitative case study research is timely, and a review is required to analyze and understand how this methodology is applied in the qualitative research literature. The aims of this study were to review methodological descriptions of published qualitative case studies, to review how the case study methodological approach was applied, and to identify issues that need to be addressed by researchers, editors, and reviewers.
A case study has been a “convenient label for our research—when we ‘can’t think of anything ‘better’’, in an attempt to give it [qualitative methodology] some added respectability”. Case study research is an increasingly popular approach among qualitative researchers, which provides methodological flexibility through the incorporation of different paradigmatic positions, study designs, and methods. However, whereas flexibility can be an advantage, a myriad of different interpretations has resulted in critics questioning the use of case study as a methodology.
Hi,
Yes, a descriptive study which is a qualitative research design that falls under methodology at the macro level.
Regards
It's a very interesting question, actually it is possible to consider the case studies as a method, which allows specific reflection for the construction of theory; It is necessary to be very cautious in the scope of the conclusions and generalizations.
Hello Muhammad,
I believe you are mixing two things here. Case reports is not the same as Case study. Therefore to me case report is a method while Case study is methodology. Therefore they are not the same
Hi Fletcher, I understand the difference between the two. However, with regards to 'descriptive case study', this difference seems very blur. I therefore posed this question. If we look at case reports, they look similar to descriptive case studies which look at cases from various angles and record what they are, without interpretations being involved.
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