A new mixed method: A Homals analysis combined with Composite Case analysis.

Dr. W.Dechering

In this article the focus lies on what nowadays is called a ‘mixed method’ approach.
According to a typology of research designs of Creswell (Creswell, J.W., 2003:209-240) who
has made a distinction between sequential, concurrent/paralel and transformational/embeded
designs it is a concurrent/paralel design in which a qualitative approach of indepth interviews
(composite case analysis) is combined with a more quantitative survey based on a Homals
analysis.

The research concerns a contract study on request of an international development bank

undertaken by FEMCONSULT (The Hague) for the Bangladesh Silk foundation (a
consortium of government and private organizations). Reported is here what is called the first
stage of the Silk Development Pilot Project. The fieldwork had been done in june-august
1997 under the supervision of an antropologist/gender specialist (E.Bazalgette and myself).
The material has been collected in 14 villages in 3 areas (Greater Rangpur, Rajsahi en
Jessore). From 105 households working in the sericulture in-depth interviews were collected
along with data from 560 households collected by rapid appraisal methods as a control group
for comparison reasons. In addition maps of villages have been made in relation to silk
production activities.

. The specific development objectives were:

a) To reduce the costs and improve the quality and quantity of raw and spun silk
production;
b) To promote sustainable private silk industry by further deregulating the silk
sub-sector; and
c) To empower the rural poor, especially women, to develop entrepreneurial
skills that should ensure the sustainability of silk production activities.

The pilot project has been designed in two stages in which in the first stage (about which here
is reported) the emphasis lies on gaining insights in the living and production conditions of
the different producers. With regard to this it is important to set up indicators for a
monitoring and evaluation system that will give the Bangaldesh Silk Foundation the means to
realize their objectives. This implies that in-depth view on the different production
opportunities and constraints for different categories of producers working in sericulture
must be obtained in order to realize these aims. In addition the possibilities must have been
assessed how organizations like Silk Producing Non Govermental Organizations (SP NGO’s)
and the Bangladesh Sericulture Board (BSB) can provide assistance and support.
Sericulture has been in certain areas in Bangladesh a century old tradition and consist in a
range of activities like the care and cultivation of mulbery trees, that give the leaves for the
silk worms (the work of the mulberry tree caretakers); the rearing of the silk worms through
different stages, the so called instars (done by the rearers); the spinners who work on the
production of thread (reelers) and the weavers who prepare the thread to ready made silk
products. The work is heavy and requires inputs from many members in a household and
through the decreasing prices of recent years, present often an uncertain income.

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 Discrimination Measures

.7
s uppliers/ bu
control over
.6 tr aining wi t
woman work o
rei mbursemen
LOANS tr aining awa
.5 decisi ons se

i ncomeeduchil
use dr
.4 s ource main
LANDUSE

.3 NGO ever
landownershi
limitations
VOTING KITCHEN
rent paid
Dimension 2

CHAWBOS2 QUILTS REGION

.2
p erception
.1 MULBCAR2
p erception o
0 .0
- .2 0 .0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1 .0

Dimension 1

Figure 1. Discrimination values Homals analysis

Homals Objectscore plot Silk study

2

1
Mulb+Rearers
Rearers

0
dim2

Mulberry
-1 caretakers
Weavers

-2

-3
0

3
-3

-2

-1

dim1

Figure 2 Objectscore plot Homals analysis

Analysis of the quantitative data.

For the analysis of interviews concerning the households a Homals analysis was used. This is
a multivariate analysis that makes it possible to analyze categorical data by 3 kind of plots:
first the plot of dicriminant values of variables, followed by a plot of quantifications of
variables and finally a plot of respondents; the so called objectscores plot. In the two-
dimensional plots the elements that are very similar to each other (that means they are
homogenous) are represented very close to each other. We will explain each type of plot
2
shortly and give from two types an example. In figure 1 an example has been given of the
discrimination values plot; in this plot the degree the different variables discriminate between
the respondenten on the first and second dimension has been given. Along the horizontal axis
variables like Voting, Kitchen, Quilts en Region show that these are important for the
differences in respondents on that dimension. These variables are refering to different
climatical circumstances and economic conditions, whereas on the vertical axis variables like
Loans, Reimbursements, Decision making, Training en ‘Controle over’ en Supplier/buyers
score high. This last dimension indicates more the influence of NGO’s by the loans and
training, together with the ability to take autonomous decisions.
In a categoryplot the categories of all variables are plotted (not show here). If the
cohesiveness between certain categories is high than these categories are represented near
each other. If widows for example have a low income, the category “widow’ and “low
income’ are represented in each other vicinity. When there are many categories the mapping
in a plot becomes unclear and is difficult to interpret, which is the reason that this plot is not
shown.
Finally Homals gives a plot of object scores in which respondents are represented according
to their similarity. For example, in figure 2 the object scores have been given based on the
variables of the household survey from the respondents working in the sericulture. In the plot
the centroids of the different producers categories are also indicated: the mulberry tree
caretakers; the rearers and the weavers.

The Homals analysis showed a general homogeneity of the groups, whereas the most
important variables underlying the main dimensions were the size of the household and
property of land on the first dimension, and variables that could be related to autonomy of the
respondent, wealth and material support (inclusive NGO support) on the second dimension
(see figure 1) This homogeneity was also found in the analysis of qualitative data from the in-
depth interviews which reinforced the validity of the study.

Analysis of qualitative data.

Based on the analysis of the in-depth interviews a number of profiles of silk producers have
been made ( 7 in total) from which we will discuss 3. The methodology which is followed is
first the construction of a modal type of producer based on the typical characteristics found in
several cases. This might seem some similarity with a ‘ideal-case’ approach but the procedure
is different because in the discussion on the different profiles more depth is given to the range
of variation of the variables that indicate the case. E.Bazalgette has therefore given the
method the new name of the Composite Case Analysis. As example the first composite case
has been given of a mulberry care taker.

CASE STUDY A

Amina, the respondent, lives with her two daughters (Rabia, aged 8 and Hasina, 13) in her father's homestead,
where she has a separate chula in a house which he has registered in her name. She was married to Mohammed
Rahman 14 years ago, and their marriage was registered. She returned home 7 years ago, when Mohammed
Rahman brought a second wife home without any previous discussion and agreement. She says that she is 30 years
old.
Amina is wearing a worn, thin sari with a blouse; Hasina is in a shalwar kameez but Rabia is only wearing "half
pants" (shorts).
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Amina's home consists of one house, made of jute sticks and straw with a tin roof. She has no kitchen: her chula is
in the yard in front of the house, and is covered with a couple of banana leaves to keep the rain out of it. Around
the house she has some fruit trees (1 mango, 2 coconuts, 2 banana) and she grows some vegetables. She collects
drinking water from her father's homestead, 25 metres away, and water for washing comes from a nearby pond.
She has a kacha latrine. She owns 2 hens and a duck.

She and the children eat three times a day: cold rice at midday, rice and vegetables in the morning and evening.
They have fish about once every two weeks, but they only eat meat about once every 3-4 months. To keep warm on
cold nights they have only katha (cloth), no quilts.

She can read and write a little, and can calculate. She attended adult literacy lessons given by ASA when she was
living in her husband's village. Hasina goes to school, but Rabia is too young, and anyway she cannot afford to
send her at present. She will go later, if Amina can afford to send her.

Amina worked, on a daily wage basis, in the home of one of the wealthier villagers. She used to receive 15 Takas a
day plus two meals. Last year, however, they took in a poor relative who now does all their cleaning and cooking
so they don't employ her any more. She wasn't able to find another job.. She asked the Chairman of the village
Council several times to help her find some work as it was very difficult to find ways to feed her children.
Last season he gave her name to a SP NGO which is planting mulberry trees in her area, and now she is a mulberry
caretaker for two years.

She was told that she should get 90 kilos of wheat each month, but she receives only 65 kilos for this work. The
officials at the NGO office gave her no explanation for why she gets less when she asked. They say that from next
month she'll get the 90 kilos. The wheat is poor quality, so she sells it all back to the NGO, who give her 7 Takas
per kilo. Amina thinks she could get more if she could take it to the market herself as one or two of the other
women do, but they have sons to help them. She doesn't know how she could do it, so she continues to take the
price offered by the NGO and gets 455 Takas a month.
Last Kartik she was given 500 trees to plant along a kilometre road which is about half a kilometre from her home.
She was told to plant them 2 metres apart, to weed around their bases and to give them fertilizer. She had no
training, only instructions, and sometimes someone from the association comes to give her advice. Her brother and
Hasina helped dig the holes for planting the trees, as it was heavy work.
She was given one bamboo stake per tree, and ties to attach the tree to the stake, to support it. Other than these she
has to provide the equipment and supplies necessary herself. The first month she had to buy the tools she needs,
which are as follows:
* 2 Pitchers (kalash) for watering trees, (40/-x 2 = 80 Takas);
* 1 Bucket for carrying water from the tubewell (120 Takas);
* Small pitcher (15 Takas);
* Chopper for pruning etc. (50 Takas);
* Weeding chopper, for round the trees (18 Takas)
* Spade for digging the holes for the trees (110 Takas)

These cost her 393 Takas; she also had to buy some special fertiliser last Kartik. It is called urea, and costs 10
Takas per kilo; she had to use 10 kilos for all the trees, so it cost her 100 Takas. She usually digs in cow dung
round the trees as fertiliser. She collects this round the village and it costs her nothing; the villagers who have cows
don't mind. She had to borrow money from her brother to buy everything she needed, and she paid him back after
she started to receive her pay.

The trees needed watering in the dry months. Amina collected water from a tubewell about 220 yards from the
road. Each day she had to water each tree twice, in the morning and in the afternoon. This took 120-160 buckets of
water each day, and she used the pitchers to carry water from the bucket to the trees. Sometimes Rabia and Hasina
helped her, but sometimes her brother came to help, too.

Every day Amina has to go to her stretch of trees, to watch them and try to protect them. Livestock sometimes eat
them - goats in particular seem to like the leaves, but so do cows, so she has to chase them off. One of the villagers
is not happy about the trees, he says that they prevent his cattle from moving freely. One night a lot of trees were
damaged, and she thinks he is responsible for it.
Sometimes the boys who look after cattle break off branches for the cows. At night people often break off

4
 branches in order to chase away snakes. Amina says that people are not sensitive about the trees. She has gone to
the UP Chairman and to some of the members about these problems, but they have given no solution. She also
talked to people at the NGO but they say it is up to her to find a solution. Only 220 of her trees are still alive now.
The SP NGO is going to bring another 500 trees in Kartik. Last time she told them about damage they said that if
she couldn't protect the trees better they might look for someone else to do her job.

When she was living in her husband's village there was another SP NGO with mulberry trees working there. One of
the poor widows, called Champa, was caretaker of many more trees, about a thousand Amina thinks. She had to
pay to replace trees which were destroyed or damaged. Amina is glad that at least she hasn't been told that she must
pay for the trees which have not survived. Champa used to use potash and some chemical fertiliser, which she got
from her NGO, but Amina can't afford these. Champa never had to buy fuel for her chula, as she could use the
prunings from the mulberry trees. Amina has not pruned her trees yet, but expects to be able to keep the prunings.
She leaves the house at 7.30 a.m. to go to her trees, taking some cold rice with her to eat at lunchtime, and she
reaches home again at 5.30 p.m. She has to get up very early to clean the house, feed the poultry and cook
breakfast for the children before Hasina goes to school and she goes to her work. As soon as she gets home she has
to cook the evening meal so that they can eat before dark; they can't afford kerosine for light after dark. Another
caretaker in the village is lucky, her children come at lunchtime and look after the trees while she goes home to
make lunch and have her bath, but Rabia is too small to guard the trees alone and Hasina is not always home from
school in time.

Discussion of this case higlights a view on the range of variation of certain variables; which
constraints and difficulties are of a more structural kind; and which incomes are possible.
Elements from the discussion are:

- As a result of the Food For Work and VGD links, mulberry caretaking tends to be an
employment opportunity of short and defined duration (2-3 years) which is offered to women
considered to be in the poorest and most needy category. Identification of candidates often
passes through the Union Parishad, as in Amina's case, although SP NGOs also look among
their members.

- More than half the mulberry caretakers are, like Amina, female heads of household as a
result of widowhood, divorce, abandonment or separation. Amina is younger than average for
a caretaker; several are much older.

- Training is not often provided for caretakers, particularly when the concerned SP NGO is
not offering them alternative options in sericulture which they can adopt after their
employment.

- While 500 trees is not an uncommon number, some SP NGOs allocate up to 1,000 and even
1,200, to be planted both sides of the road for a stretch, usually of one kilometre. While
sometimes the location allocated to the caretaker is reasonably close to her home, sometimes
a caretaker needs to walk for an hour to reach her stretch of trees.

- The actual work of planting trees is difficult, particularly for older caretakers; most had help
from male relatives or children. Help is also often common for pruning, and most caretakers
also have family members who take turns to patrol the trees while the caretaker goes home to
have her daily bath, prepare and eat the midday meal, as well as helping with tasks such as
watering.

- Water is often accessible close to the road, but this is not always the case; when it is not, the
demand of watering represents a heavy burden on time and effort. The months when watering
5
is necessary become fewer as the tree becomes more deeprooted, but frequent watering is
essential throughout the dry season when they are first planted.

- This form of caretaking is a full time occupation since the presence of the caretaker on their
stretch of road is generally required for the full working day. Two caretakers mentioned that
their NGO staff had told them that if they were not found under their trees they would lose
their jobs.

- Nevertheless, several mentioned that damage often occurs at night, and two specifically
suspected that "jealous" people, who had previously grazed their livestock along the khas
land, were responsible for the damage. It is not uncommon for caretakers to have to pay for
replacement trees, and sometimes even for the original trees.

- The cost per tree varies greatly. In a number of cases, both caretaker and grower
respondents said that they received trees at no cost from either a SP NGO (not always one of
which they were a member) or BSB. In some places the SP NGO sells trees at only one Taka
or less per tree, less than the full cost of the sapling. (A mulberry nursery quoted receiving
1.75 Takas per tree from one SP NGO which charges a Taka.) However, some growers
quoted paying up to 25 Takas per tree to their SP NGO.

- In all cases the caretakers were expected to provide their own equipment. The lists they
gave vary little from the list given by Amina; cost estimates ranged from 300 to 560 Takas.

We can not discuss all aspects here, but other elements from the discussion are: NGO support
voor obtaining fertilizer or bamboo material for guiding young plants; income obtained with
pruning (fire wood), lifespan and mortality of trees; new cultivation possibilities (regional
different); payment of NGO members in rice or grain; employment on the long run,etc.

The second case is on the work of a Takua Spinner.

CASE STUDY B

Sultana is a 50 year old widow, wearing a thin sari with no blouse, who lives with her sixteen year old daughter,
Parveen, and 12 year old son, Mohammed, on the small (0.36 bigha) homestead which she got from her husband,
in a village where most of the villagers rear silkworms.
Her husband used to own 1 bigha of mulberry bushes, but he sold the land when he fell ill, to pay for medicine
and for their elder daughter's dowry. They used to rear silkworms, until 1984, but her husband became idle. None
of the family has had any education.

They live in a house built of earth, with a tile roof. The kitchen is in the yard, and has only a straw roof but no
walls. She has a katcha latrine, it is not water-sealed. Her married son and daughter-in-law live next door, but do
not share the same chula. She uses their tubewell for water. There is not much room for growing any vegetables,
and they eat what little she grows. She used to have chickens, but they got a disease and died and she can't afford
to buy some more. It was a big loss for her as she used to sell the eggs. She has a small piece of land in her
parent's village, which she has rented to people there. She gets about 5 maund of paddy each year for this land. It
is enough for 3-4 months, but for the rest of the year she has to buy rice. In Ashin-Kartik months and Falgun-
Chaitra months she can only manage two meals a day, but for the rest of the year they eat three times per day.
6
 They usually eat rice with vegetables from her yard, which she cooks at mid-day and in the evening; they eat the
morning meal cold. They only eat meat or good quality food (like eggs) at the time of festivals. They own no
quilts; when it is cold they use kathas. Mohammed works in a tea shop, where they give him meals and
sometimes some food to bring home.

Sultana belongs to one NGO saving group, which is an SP NGO. She joined it nine years ago, when they were
first starting silk production activities. She saves 5 Takas per week with this samity. This year she took out a
loan of 5,000 Takas, which she gave to her elder daughter's husband for buying land. She has to repay the loan at
125 Takas per week over 46 weeks, and they are charging 15% interest. This is the only time she has taken a
loan. There are 20 members in her samity, and they all do spinning.

Sultana learnt to spin when she was a child, using a taku and lathim (sometimes called hand reeling stick, or
charki). In her own village many people used to do it to earn some income. When her husband stopped helping
with rearing, and then sold the mulberry bushes, she had to stop rearing. She would like to do it again, but with
no man in the house and no mulberry field she can't. So she started spinning again. She has had training on two
occasions. Nine years ago her SP NGO organised 3 days of training in spinning, using a pedal charka, for 20
women in the village. A little later they organised a seven day training course in Rajshahi, and paid her transport
costs to attend it. Her daughter too has been trained to use a pedal charka, and also spins. Seven years ago
Sultana was able to buy a wooden (Sen Gupta) pedal charka for 400 Takas in another village. Parveen usually
uses this, while Sultana does takua, except during bondhs when Parveen works as an assistant in a rearing
family, and earns 12 Takas plus a meal each day. But Sultana finds the pedal charka heavy, so she usually does
takua hand spinning and leaves the charka for Parveen to use.
She owns two taku made of bamboo and iron string, and three lathim. Taku cost 12 Takas each, and lathim cost 2
Takas.

She usually buys the "lat guti" (bad/ double hatched cocoons) from her SP NGO at 80 Takas per kilo. She takes 5
kilos every month and shares them with Parveen.
She has to boil the cocoons with a kind of soda (soap powder), which costs her 10 Takas for 500gms, the amount
she needs for 5 kilos of cocoons. She also needs to buy wood for about
30-40 Takas for boiling the cocoons. After boiling, she rinses the cocoons in the river and then dries them in the
sun for spinning on the pedal charka.
The cocoons have to be wet for takua, and they smell very bad. (Sultana stirred the small bowl of cocoons in
front of her, to make sure that her interviewer could understand what she meant!) She has to use naphthalene,
soap and coconut oil to clean her hands, and spends about 24 Takas a month on these. She explained that it is
very important to use them, as she gets bad sores on her hands from doing takua. Sometimes one's hands bleed
from the pedal charka, she said, but it isn't as bad as the ulcers from takua.

She spends five to six hours each day doing takua, and produces about 25 lachi per week, while Parveen can
produce about 70 lachi using the pedal charka and working about five hours every day. Sultana explained that a
lachi is 136 turns on a measuring stick which is 1.75 hat1 long. Her SP NGO pays her 2 Takas per lachi. They get
about 425 lachis from 5 kilos of cocoons each month, which gives them a little more than 400 Takas profit. If
they had a second pedal charka she could produce more and earn more money, but she can't afford to spend
another 400 Takas on one. They also really need a special charka for measuring and making lachi, because it is
easier than the stick, but they can't afford this either.
Sometimes the SP NGO officials make comments about Sultana's lachi, saying that the thread is not fine enough,
not thin, or not very white. Then they refuse the thread. She tries to explain to them that she and Parveen have
tried their best to make the thread fine, but if the official is not pleased they have to take the thread and sell it to
other people, who do not pay as good a price.

Some of the members of her group are also rearers (Parveen works for one of them during bondhs). They sell all
their good quality cocoons to reelers, but they keep the poor quality ones and spin them. One of them also spins
the jhut topa (silk waste) from her brother-in-law, who is a reeler. They sell the lachi from these through the SP
NGO as well as the ones they make from SP NGO supplies.

1 A "hat" is one "hand, measured from hand to elbow. There are approximately 2 hat to a yard.
Normally, a lachi is estimated to be 420 hat, or about 210 yards of thread, but several spinners
referred to this measuring stick of 1.75 hat long, giving a lachi length of 476 hat, or 238
yards.
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 Although there are sometimes problems with their SP NGO, which is both supplier and buyer for them, it is
more convenient to be part of a group than working alone and having to find supplies and buyers. The SP NGO
gives them a good price for the lachi when they accept them. Sultana thinks that spinning gives a good income,
and she can do it at home, which is important in her area as women do not usually work outside the home, even
for collecting leaves for rearing.

Sultana wears a thin sari, with no blouse. Parveen wears shalwar kameez.

The discussion of this case comprises the following points:

- Not many respondents do both takua and spinning using a pedal charka. Only one SP NGO
observed is training its members in takua spinning, the others promote spinning on pedal
charkas and there are relatively few taku spinners. The advantage of takua is that very poor
women can afford to buy the equipment, but it is much slower work, and the amount that
someone can produce in a month is much less than is possible on a pedal charka.

- Most takua spinner respondents, who were mainly in another part of Greater Rajshahi and
have been trained in takua recently, process about 1.5 to 2 kilos of cocoons in a month, and
expect to get about 50% of this weight in yarn. Their SP NGO was providing bad cocoons for
takua at 125 Takas per kilo, and paying 500 Takas per kilo of yarn produced. In this area
respondents did not appear to be degumming the cocoons before spinning them, unlike
Sultana and the few takua spinners in the traditional silk production area. All takua spinners
complained of the severe sores they get on their hands, which sometimes force them to stop
work for a while. They tend to treat the sores with the naphthalene.

- Most respondents working with a taku hope to be able to buy a pedal charka one day, but
with net monthly profits of 200-300 Takas they do not expect to be able to do so in the near
future. They fall in the poorest category of the respondents interviewed. This is a clear
example of the barrier which start up costs can impose, although Parveen's pedal charka falls
in the middle range of prices quoted; some spinners have found their charka at 250 Takas,
while others are valued at up to 650 Takas.

Discussion of the methodology.

Chosen is for a Homals analysis of the survey and for a Composite Case A nalysis of the
qualitative material. For the principal investigator the assesment of the weight of factors is
important like whether the different activities in the sericulture can offer a potential income
for many people; or what the costs of production are for the different categories of producers;
or what are the regional differences and what can be the role of supporting organizations like
NGO’s and government (Bangladesh Silk Board). The Homals analysis showed a clear
clustering of different groups of producers. The underlying dimensions were clearly
interpretable in terms of important differences between groups of respondents. Important has
been the finding that more structural socio-economic variables were supported by the
outcome from the qualitative analysis of the perception of the participants. The two
techniques result in the same image which renforced the reliability and validity from the
study. Especially the demand for generalization was hereby fulfilled. A nice element of a
Homals analysis is that an outlier analysis can highlights the specific situation of subgroups
8
which is usually the domain of qualitative analyses. The composite case analysis gives first a
realistic image of the living condition of different respondents; contextual elemenst like
the question whether the woman/producent is standing alone or can rely on the support of
family members (men/older children); the problems of production through a too heavy
workload; unsecurity of income; unclear calculation of costs because standards applied ad
hoc; no quality norms which are know a priori and which are clear; or business payments that
are paid in natura; these all highlights the problems. The problems of more garantees on the
selling of products, the lacking of quality norms; the risk factors of climate and fungies;
incorrect information about alternative food for silkworms (mango trees in stead of mulberry
trees), etc. are elements that show light on mechanisms directly relevant for policy
interventions. These are normaly less found in quantitative studies and give a realistic view of
the dynamics of certain processes and reflect the complexity of the problems. For
example,the exploitation of the population by NGO’s was a point that came clearly forward
in the qualitative interviews.

A special problem for the researcher is the preparation of the composite case study analysis
is the extent to which a case can be composed. In this study the choice has been made to base
the analysis ofn the opportunites and constraints of the different categories of silk producers.
The analysis of this study was done in 1997 without help of modern computerprogrammes for
qualitative analysis; nowadays these have nearly all possibilities to explore the qualitative
material sytematically on frequencies. At the time of the study only a global estimation of the
frequencies of certain statements was possible. A contributing factor that also hampered a
more extensive study is the time in which the results of the study should be available for
policy making was rather limited.

Nevertheless we are convinced that the combination of mixed methods in the form of a
systematic questionnaire of background characteristics coupled with qualitative interviews as
shown here in a combination of Homals/Composite Case Analysis can mean an interesting
step forward in the study of contextual factors for respondents in different conditions. The
identification of homogeneous clusters of respondents together with eventual outliers show a
direct assessment of the sizes of the clusters and the special subgroups.It gives relevant
information for policy making. In connection to this it is may be good to point out that in a
homals analysis somethimes the emhasis lies on variables (the discrimination values and the
quantification plot) and sometimes on respondents (object scoreplot). In a recent article in
Kwalon about myths and facts in qualitative studies Dinko (2006) points out that sometimes
one has to count meanings and beliefs of respondents. She gives an example of a table
wherein respondents are distinguished by their beliefs and experiences. This corresponds with
the procedure in the Homals.Important is to realize that this often implies a change in the unit
of analysis; the emphasis shifts from variables to respondents.
These attention for respondents reappears in the composite case analysis but it is important to
note that this is not a focus on one single individu. In the composite case analysis the focus
lies not solely on a modal type of respondent but in the description refernce is made to
important variables that charaterize the central peron; e.g. her number of children lies a little
under the average of the group; her education is modal and the income is less season bound
whereas with other cases this is not so. The qualitative material that forms the base for the
modal type from the cluster has to be enhanced by variations within each cluster for which
the developed composite case method offers interesting possibilities.

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 Another advantage of the composite case analysis is that it can represent elements that are
realistic and that give a good insight how the situation ”really works” and how this is
experienced by the participants. This aspect is seen by Gubrium, F. And J.A.Holstein (1997)
as common criteria for qualitative research:the direct connection with the life-world of
people; the emphasis on processes and a tolerance for complexity of social situations and
events.

Literature
Creswell,J.W.e.a. (2003)Advanced Mixed Methods Research Designs, in Handbook of
Mixed Methods, Taskakkori,A. en C.Teddlie (eds), Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks:209-
240)

Dinklo, Ine (2006) Fabels en feiten over kwalitatieve onderzoeksresultaten. KWALON 32,11
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