A Comparison of Methods in Business Research
By Song Gao
This essay compares the research method of case study with five other methods in business research. The five methods are focus group, in-depth interview, observation, questionnaires and field experiment. This essay provides the definition, advantages, disadvantages/limitations for each of the six methods. Moreover, five published articles related to case study method and two published articles related to each of the other five methods were found to further discuss their application in research.
Case Study
Definition
It is an understatement that there is confusion among students, teachers and researchers about the definition of case study research. In this essay, I use the
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The authors collected data from a major business communication provider, a networking infrastructure solutions provider, and a GPS technology. The topic of this article is very professional and difficult to understand for the audience who have no relevant background. But one advantage to their case study is it helps audience to better understand a complex organisational phenomenon. The authors also illustrated the limitations of their study.
Article 4 – DANAHER, P. J. (2013). Comparing the Relative Effectiveness of Advertising Channels: A Case Study of a Multimedia Blitz Campaign. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)., 50(4), 517–534. 18p. 1 Black and White Photograph.
In this research, the authors developed an inexpensive method to help firms assess the relative effectiveness of multiple advertising media. Specifically, they used a firm's loyalty program database(Case Study) to capture media exposure, through an online media survey. At the end, not only did the authors demonstrate how to use their advertising response model to determine the optimal budget allocation across each advertising media channel, but also they pointed out the limitations of their studies.
Article 5 – Fahimnia, B., Farahani, R. Z., & Sarkis, J. (2013). Integrated aggregate supply chain planning using memetic algorithm – A performance analysis case study. International Journal of Production Research, 51(18), 5354–5373.
In this paper, the definition and description of what a case study is, what are some reasons for using a case study, what are some disadvantages and advantages of this approach? Also included in this paper I will talk about what are some of the ways a researcher can acquire information that can is used for a case study. A case study can be defined as a descriptive account of the behavior, history, and other relevant factors concerning a particular individual (Cozby, Bates, 2012).
A case study is an in-depth study of one person; usually it takes into account almost every aspect of the client’s life or history, in order to analyze different patterns and behaviors. Case studies are used in multiple ways, sometimes a person will try to generalize the case to a larger population. This option is not used very often since findings have shown to be mostly subjective to the individual person. The other use of case studies is more for counseling purposes where the patient has a specific problem and they take the person’s history in order to solve it or create a treatment plan specifically for this person.
A case study is “a method of analysis and a specific research design for examining a problem” (University of Southern California, 2010). It can be used to analyze a person, place, event, or other subjects in order to help discover mitigating issues, misconceptions, failures, trends, or recommendations (USC, 2010). Case studies will be used to gain a better understanding of situations and topics to help others make better policies, procedures, and decisions (USC, 2010).
A case study is a puzzle that has to be solved. The first thing to remember about writing a case study is that the case should have a problem for the readers to solve. The case should have enough information in it that readers can understand what the problem is and, after thinking about it and analyzing the information; the readers should be able to come up with a proposed solution. Writing an interesting case study is a bit like writing a detective story. You want to keep your readers very interested in the situation.
First of all this case study is about a company called DaimlerChrysler and its history concerning the
These two Case Studies come from a National Center on Case Studies. I think that a case study approach is very useful in applying knowledge and this is what makes you learn it better. They may be a little daunting when you read them but I will help you go through them. Please ask for help so this topic becomes more enjoyable for you.
An in-depth study of a particular situation rather than a sweeping statistical survey. Case study research is a method that was used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one easily researchable topic.
Case studies are one of the first types of research to be used in the qualitative methodology and repeating the study several times will lead to the increased reliability of the study (Starman, 2013). This methodology is appropriate because it will allow for data collection results to be generalized based on the theoretical propositions and not the population (Harrison et al. 2017).
W., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Baumert, J., & Köller, O. (2007). The big-fish-little-pond effect: Persistent negative effects of selective high schools on self-concept after graduation. American Educational Research Journal, 44, 631. doi: 10.3102/0002831207306728
In the reading of the book Methods in Behavioral Research, the author clearly defines the case study as “an observational method that provides a description of an individual” (Bates, 2012, pg. 121). The objectives of this course fitting to our syllabus were to familiarize us to the practices of psychological research, to advance our understanding of how research is completed and the methods used to do it, and to give us the capability to communicate knowledgeably about the ideas following the research procedure.
A case study is a simple tool researchers can use to gather data. Within the textbook, a case study is described as a detailed analysis of a selected individual over a span of time (Newman, 2011, sec. 3.2). Case studies can be quite useful because they are simple, easy to conduct, and require less involvement to achieve a result. Oftentimes, the researcher will observe an individual and record data over a specific amount of time.
Case study research can be defined as a pragmatic method that works to understand the meaning of lived experiences, events, and interactions for people in particular situations through real-life context (Morese & Richards, 2003). The case study approach can be used for the in-depth investigation of an issue or life event. Case studies can uncover beliefs, attitudes and perspectives of those involved. In this case both teachers and students. The ultimate goal of a case study is to illustrate the complexities
Case study research is an investigation of a “bounded system” or a case or multiple cases over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, audio-visual materials, reports, etc.) (Creswell, 1998). During data collection, Yin (1989) recommended six types of data collection for case studies: 1) documentation; 2) archival records; 3) interviews; 4) direct observations; 5) participant observations; and 6) physical artifacts. Case studies are bounded as they are reflective of a particular program, event, individual, or activity being studied at a particular place and time. Thus, Merriam (1988) described a case study as “an examination of a specific
The case study method is a form of qualitative and quantitative analysis where in careful and complete observation of an individual or a situation or an institution is done; efforts are made to study each and every aspect of the concerning unit in minute details and then from case data generalizations and inferences are drawn. It involves a careful and complete observation of a social unit, be that unit a person, a family, an institution, a cultural group or even the entire community. It is a method of study in depth rather than breadth. The case study places more emphasis on the full analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their interrelations. Generally, the study extends over a long period of time to ascertain the natural history of the unit so as to
The Case Study is a method used in both quantitative and qualitative research. As expected there are varying definitions of the case study as a method in qualitative research. Merriam (1988) defines ‘a qualitative case study as an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon,