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Chapter 3 Research Framework
other words, it may reveal the work practices that are working well but may also
pave the way for improvements. Hence a second phase involving action research.
Blichfeldt and Andersen (2006) stated that although both case study and action
research deal with context-bound knowledge, action research offers a greater role for
the participants in defining the issues to be addressed. Blichfeldt and Andersen
(2006) state that the case study approach uses the participants as sources of evidence
and then the action research approach uses those same participants to effect the
changes identified. This supports the complementary nature of the two approaches -
a case study mostly begins with the researcher’s interest in the phenomenon (as was
the case in this study where the interest was in exploring autonomy for older people
in residential care), whereas an action research project begins mostly with the issues
and concerns within the practical situation (again, this was the situation in this study
when the case study was complete and the findings suggested that further work could
be done). This research study started with the researcher’s interest in the concept of
resident autonomy and the case study enabled an exploration of this concept. This
exploration revealed approaches to care that were working against positive
autonomous experiences and thus action research was used to enhance the level of
autonomy experienced. Blichfeldt and Andersen (2006: 3) concluded that both:
“Case study research and action research are concerned with the researcher’s gaining
an in-depth understanding of particular phenomena in real-world settings. The two
types of research seem quite similar in their focus on the field or the world of
action”.
Thus the benefits of using both case study and action research approaches in a two-
phase study have been explored and this is the approach which this study adopted.
The range of options for data collection for phase one of this studywill now be
discussed. This will be followed by a description of how good quality data analysis
can be performed.
3.8 Data Collection Methods
Interviews, observations and documentary data analysis form the foundation of the
rich data set necessary to explore cases in their situational contexts (Payne et