essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– CASE STUDY RESEARCH–––––––––– 329certain questions as you set up interviews and observation periods: have I sampled thisbehaviour/process from a wide enough set of informants? Are there other people who mighthave a different view or explanation of this? Are there any data which do not support mycurrent hypothesis?There is some place for ad hoc or opportunistic data collection; a conversation with areceptionist as you walk in one morning, or a chance meeting by the coffee machine may giveyou new ideas which then need to be incorporated into your research design and investigatedmore thoroughly. This can be a spur to further systematic investigation. Can someone elseshed light on the phenomenon? Are there documentary records you can check? Anobservation may crystallize into a proposition which can then be examined.Managing data collectionWhile it is tempting in a case study to go on collecting more data, thought has to be givento the opportunity costs and to the management of the data collected. Will a further interviewor period of observation add significantly to what you already know? Does it allow you tobe reasonably certain there is no disconfirming evidence in the organization? At some pointyou have to decide to stop collecting further data.I will not discuss in detail the recording of data because that is covered elsewhere. However,thought must be given to how you will record data and how you will prevent yourself beingoverwhelmed by the data. In many organizations, as an observer, tape-recording will be bothimpractical and inadvisable for a variety of reasons and it is likely that recording by notebookwill be best. Impressions, insights and theoretical musings need to be noted, as well as observedand elicited data about the organization and its members.Unless you are a full participant observer, continual presence in the organization is unlikelyto be beneficial. Considerable time needs to be given to writing up notes of interviews andobservations and this needs to be done as soon as possible after the event. Some distancingfrom the organization is also advisable so the researcher is not overloaded with impressionsand does not get so close to the data that he or she is unable to see their wider significance.Analysing the dataData collection and analysis are developed together in an iterative process in a case study (acontrast with experiments and surveys). This can be a strength as it allows for theorydevelopment which is grounded in empirical evidence. However, a danger is that theresearcher reaches premature closure, having been unduly influenced by particularly vivid,unusual or interesting data. There are several ways to guard against such tendencies.The first is careful description of the data and the development of categories in which toplace behaviours or processes. The data may be organized around certain topics, key themesor central questions. Then the data need to be examined to see how far they fit or fail to fitthe expected categories. Use of tables to search for patterns, or grouping of similar topics mayhelp to examine certain types of data. Initial interrogations of the data may lead to unexpectedor unusual results which may mean that the categories need refining or that events need tobe interpreted differently. One method may suggest one interpretation while this is notconfirmed by another method. Questions lead to further questions. All the time the researchermust be alert to the need to draw on disconfirming data and possible alternative explanations