Case study

The case study is widely used as a research strategy across a variety of disciplines, including educational research. Robson (1993, p.146) defines a case study as a strategy for conducting research “which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context using multiple sources of evidence”. Similarly, according to Yin (2003, p.13), a case study may be defined as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident”. Interestingly, the idea of context, such as cultural background, is extremely important when conducting a case study, since it is easier for the researcher to define the boundary of a case and thereby clarify the rationale for using the case study (Creswell, 2003). Furthermore, Yin (2003) notes that the case study is a preferred method for examining contemporary events, as opposed to historical phenomena, and is, therefore, often chosen by researchers who are interested in investigations with a focus on language teaching and learning. Additionally, Ritchie and Lewis (2003) view

the primary defining features of a case study as a multiplicity of perspectives, which are firmly established in a specific context. Therefore, the aim of a case study is to understand people in social context by interpreting their actions as a single group, community, or a single event, all of which can be called ‘a case’.

Stake (1995) identifies the four characteristics of qualitative case studies as holistic, empirical, interpretive, and emphatic. Holistic focused on the interrelationship between phenomenon and its contexts. Empirical based the study on the observation of the field. Interpretive referred to researchers’ intuition and how they saw research as a researcher-subject interaction. Empathic meant that researchers reflected the derivative experiences of the subjects in an emic perspective.

Merriam (1998), meanwhile, suggests that case studies are characterised as being particularistic, descriptive, heuristic, and inductive. To clarify, particularistic means that case studies focus on a particular process, situation, event or phenomenon. Descriptive refers to the rich, deep, and extensive set of details related to the phenomena. Heuristic refers to what people have discovered and experienced to understand the phenomena. Inductive refers to the form of reasoning applied to establish generalisations or concepts arising from the data.

Theory is also important in case study. This study is based on theory of the importance of perception. Harling (2002) stresses that existing theory acts as a starting point for the researcher and provides a structure where a set of questions is initially given. Yin (2003) states that theory could potentially be used to direct the case study in an exploratory manner. As such, it is likely that the researcher will react to the data received during the data collection process and apply theory to filter and structure the data. This process confirms the existing theory. However, when organising recently collected data, the researcher “should be careful to prevent existing theory from predetermining the result” (Harling, 2002).

According to Tellis (1997), it is important to note that a case study cannot be regarded as representative; however, the focus is on what can be learned from a single case. It is worth applying a case study methodology in research, since it advances fundamental knowledge of the particular knowledge domain. Therefore, the underlying philosophy of a single case study is the need to ‘improve’ not to ‘prove’ (Stufflebeam et al., 2000). It is apparent that the present

study will attempt to improve the understanding of English language education at the upper secondary level in Thailand.

A case study may either focus on a single case study or use a number of cases. A multiple case study or collective case study is employed to provide a general understanding by using various case studies that occur on either the same site or that come from multiple sites (Harling, 2002). Furthermore, Harling (2002) points out that when multiple cases are used, a detailed description of each individual case is presented, and themes are highlighted within each case. Thematic analysis is used to examine data across cases. Interestingly, Yin (2003) notes that it is more difficult to implement the multiple-case design than to use a single case study; however, the ensuing data yielded in the former can make researchers more confident about their findings. Multiple cases examine the conditions under which the same findings will have been replicated, but can also involve conflicting cases. Zucker (2009) points out that each multiple- case study method must predict either similar results (a literal replication) or contrasting results (a theoretical replication).

Furthermore, it is also crucial that the researcher is aware of the limitations of applying a case study as a research methodology. Denzin and Lincoln (2005) pinpoint that serious criticisms of the case study as a research strategy are generally based on non-representativeness as well as a lack of statistical generalisability. Furthermore, the richness and complexity of collected data means that the data can be open to different interpretations and, importantly, potential researcher bias. However, in spite of the lack of a detailed analysis of case study data and a lack of statistical generalisability, Denzin and Lincoln (2005, p.193) argues that “looking at multiple actors in multiple settings enhances generalisability,” showing that case studies can also be generalised. Yin (2003) also notes that case studies can be conducted for analytical generalisations. To clarify, the researcher’s goal is to generalise a particular set of outcomes to some broader theoretical propositions. Hence, it is clearly seen that no research methodology is perfect, and thus, a researcher can probably use data attained with multiple methodologies. Considering the interpretive stance adopted in this study, as well as the nature of the research question, the researcher strongly believes that the most appropriate research methodology in this study is the case study. This is due to its strength in sharing unique perceptions and the concerns of individual participants in a real world context, which is probably not appropriate in a quantitative approach. According to Yin (2003), the case study design is suitable for

situations or events where it is very difficult to split the phenomenon’s variables from its context.

Noticeably, the research design in this study is an interpretive case study that is mainly analysed through qualitative methods, including in-depth interview together with focus group interview. The researcher will analyse the qualitative data inductively. Generally speaking, the researcher analyses, interprets, and theorises about the phenomenon against the backdrop of a theoretical framework. Merriam (1998) notes that the qualitative case study in education is normally carefully planned and framed with concepts, theories, and models. Consequently, an inductive method is employed to support or challenge theoretical assumptions. Due to the fact that meaning is of great concern to the qualitative approach, the participants’ perspectives of their own conceptions is the major focus (Bogdan and Biklen, 2003). Thus, the framework established in this study supports examining participants’ perspectives from their own experience. Findings are discussed in relation to existing knowledge or theory with the aim of showing how this study leads to a broadening of the knowledge base.

Due to the interpretive approach developed in this research, in conjunction with the nature of the research question, the researcher finds it most appropriate to choose a case study as the research methodology in this study, since it provides a systematic way to gather data, analyse information, and report the outcomes, which brings us to an understanding of a particular problem, issue, or situation. This is because the case study provides a wide variety of participant perspectives and insights. Moreover, the study uses multiple data collection techniques, including in-depth interview as well as focus group interview of Thai EFL teachers and students. Considering teachers, a multiple case study strategy will be applied in this research, in which each individual teacher interview is considered as a single case study. Therefore, the multiple cases in this research will consist of 32 single cases of English language teachers who will be interviewed twice about their perceptions of English language education in Thailand. Individual teachers will also be interviewed a second time, with data based on the pre-determined issue from the first interview.

With regard to learners, the multiple cases will consist of 20 single cases. Individual focus groups, each of which consists of 4-6 English language learners at upper secondary level, will be considered as a single case study. Therefore, there will be 10 cases of English language learners in this study, each of which consists of one focus group, who will be interviewed

regarding their perceptions of English language education in Thailand. As a follow-up to these focus groups, one of the learners in each focus group will be randomly selected from their group, and then treated as an individual case study. Thus, there will be another 10 single cases from the ten focus groups. Existing theory is addressed in the literature review section, which means the researcher is able to organise information while collecting the data received from participants. However, the researcher has to be careful to prevent existing theory from predetermining the result, as focusing heavily on the data from existing theory might result in the researcher failing to consider the emerging data from the interview.