Case Study Methods

Studies of Teacher Learning and

Development

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 Contact Information

George Newell, Ph.D.

267 Arps Hall

1945 North High Street
292-1844
Newell.2@osu.edu

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 My Research Background
 As grad student trained in experimental
design and statistics
 Dissertation and early research projects all
used statistical procedures
 Learned case study methods from research
in written composition (e.g., Flower and
Hayes; Emig, etc.)
 Conducted case study research when
research assistant in grad school
 1997 begin 11 year program of research on
pre-service teachers’ learning and
development
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 My Teacher Education Research
 Focused on OSU teacher education program
 Master’s of Education (MED) with Initial Licensure
 Studies of transfer of theories from course work into
classroom practice
 Several short-term studies and one longitudinal (4
year study)
 Had to develop expertise in case study methods due
to theoretical framework, common sense, and
constraints of my teaching schedule
 Learned from other researchers such as Peter
Smagorinsky and Pamela Grossman.

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 What I am going to talk about
 Use of case study in educational
research
 When to use case study methods
 What case methods include
 How case study differs from other
approaches to educational research
 Applying case study methods to a
research project
 Strengths and limitations
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 A Research Problem: “A Research
Project in Need of a Plan”
 We will use what we learn about case
study methods
 Receive handout
 Read description
 Ask me clarifying questions now
 We will return later to work on a
design for this project

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 Using Experimental Design to
Study Effects of Training
 Some background: the field of teacher
education research as example
 Before mid-1980s most educational
research used experimental methods
 Example question: How do particular
training approaches affect pre-service
teachers’ ability to analyze teaching?
 Post-tests: paper and pencil tests,
questionnaire, etc.
 Experimental and control groups compared.

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 Experimental Method
 Control of variables by the design—
example: same amount of time for
each approach
 Two or three different approaches:
training on how to introduce lesson
 Pre- and post-tests
 Selection of statistical test

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 Problems with Experimental
Approach in Learning Studies
 Not possible to control variables such as
teachers’ backgrounds, instructional time,
etc.
 Teaching redefined as more than a set of
easily measured skills.
 Performance on post-tests may not be
related to actual teaching experience.
 None of these studies considered if
teachers actually transferred teaching skills
into classroom settings.

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 From Training to Learning
 The “new” teacher education.
 Training model too simplistic—not just what
teachers do but what they understand and
believe.
 Learning to teach includes considering what
teachers already know
 Teaching develops over time
 People learn to teach in social settings such
as schools
 Where teachers teach affects how they
teach

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 Why Case Studies?
From Training Studies to
Studies of Learning
 To study the process of learning how
to teach
 To consider the effects of prior
knowledge and experiences
 To examine effects of contexts:
teacher education programs,
classrooms, and schools
 To analyze why teachers believe in
some ideas but dismiss others
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 Comparison of Case Study and
Experimental Approach
 Experimental  Case Study
 Control of  Difficult to control
variables—context variables—
created by the complexities of
study context is central
 Assumes  Assumes that
treatment will be teachers’ beliefs
effective shape what is
 Issues regarding effective
use in school  Study issues
contexts related to school
contexts
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 Defining a Case: Single, Bounded
Individual System?

 What is the focus of the study?

 Depends on what you believe will be
most productive.
 Shaped by theoretical framework
 Examples: Program, School,
Classroom, Teacher(s), or Student(s)
 Show graphic of Nested Contexts

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 Designing the Study
 The research design gets you “from
here to there, where here may be
defined as an initial set of questions
to be answered, and there is some
set of conclusions (answers) about
these questions” (Yin 1994, p. 19).

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Developing a Research Problem
 Where do problems come from?
 Range of sources
 Own experience
 Previous research
 Current issues in one’s field
 Be sure you know if problem has been
studied before
 Be sure to understand how you might
contribute to understanding the problem—
what is gap between what is known and
what needs to be known.

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Developing the Research Problem (1)
 When Dr. Jones searched for studies
of the effects of teacher education
programs on teacher learning, he
found that the findings were very
mixed and confusing—different
studies blamed the problems on
different institutions

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Developing the Research Problem (2)
 Given that Dr. Jones wanted to
understand the kinds of experiences
preservice teachers encounter have in
the program, he decided to use case
study methods.

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 Theoretical Framework
 Research questions are derived from
the theoretical framework.
 Let’s look at the theoretical frame for
“A Research Project in Need of a
Plan.”
 Review the theoretical framework
 Review the research questions.

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 Theoretical Framework
 Sociocultural theory provides a way to
study how people learn in social settings.
 Focus on the different social settings (high
school classrooms, university courses, etc.)
 Learning to teach involves learning to take
tool-mediated action (e.g., lesson planning)
in social settings
 Tools are the lessons plans, activities, and
curriculum materials that teachers use.

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 Research Questions
 1. What were the principal social settings or
contexts in which the 6 student teachers
learned to teach reading and writing?
 2. What were the goals and approaches to
reading and writing that shaped the student
teachers’ learning in these settings, and what
instructional tools encouraged approaches to
reach those goals?
 3. Within these contexts or settings, what
influenced the 6 student teachers learning to
teach high school reading and writing, and how
did their reading and writing instruction
develop within these contexts?
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 Sample Selection
(Selecting Participants and Settings)
 Purposive sampling: to discover and
understand, so select sample
carefully
 Information rich cases for in-depth
study
 Begin with criteria: create a list of the
attributes essential to study
 Find people and settings that match
your list
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 Types of Purposeful Sampling
 Typical: reflects average person
 Unique: captures special features
 Maximum variation: diverse people
 Network (chain): asking others for
referrals
 Convenience: people and settings
that are available

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 Sampling Example
 Settings
 Accessible and friendly
 Willing participants reside there
 Participants
 How many do I need?
 How many can I include?
 Selecting Preservice Teachers
 Available and willing
 Different gender, ethnicity, age?
 Successful students preferred
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 Collecting Data
Interviews

Classroom observations

Collecting documents

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 Small Group Discussion
 Groups of 5
 Re-read “A Research Project in Need
of a Plan”
 Answer questions (30 minutes)
 Go over questions
 Time to work on questions
 Let’s discuss your ideas.

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 Case Study Research Reconsidered

 Strengths  Limitations
 In–depth  Cannot generalize
understanding of findings to other
processes and contexts
context  Single case may be
misleading
 Focus on a single
representation
case and then
 We need studies of
study in depth
what we think works
 Valuable for
studying new areas
of concern

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 Case Study Research Reconsidered (2)

 Strengths  Limitations
 Excellent when  Experimental and
studying social quasi-experimental
process over which studies needed to see
we have little control if things work
 Ground work for  We need balance
further study between exploratory
 Tool for sorting out studies and studies
complex and that are confirmatory
confusing factors  Need to build upon
shaping teaching and case studies rather
learning than conducting more
and more—what are
we learning?

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 Case Study Research Reconsidered (3)

 Strengths  Limitations
 Has face validity as  Need to study a large
a method for range of other
studying one’s own programs and not
students just the researcher’s
 We need to see what
 Enables us to study usually happens as
uniqueness— well
“Image of the  We need studies to
Possible” convince
 Has given us many stakeholders that
valuable insights teacher ed makes a
that shape practice difference.

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Thank you!!
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