METHODOLOGY OF FIELD WORK RESEARCH
4.2 THE BACKGROUND TO THE LOCALE OF THE RESEARCH: THE
4.3.3 Process of Case Study Research
There are several steps within a case study process. Soy suggests six.640 The first is to decide on and define the research questions. Second comes selecting the cases and deciding which techniques of data gathering and analysis are to be used. Third is preparing to collect the data, fourth collecting them, fifth is analyzing and evaluating the data, and the last is preparing a report of the research.641 The steps of the process in relation to the present research are discussed further in sections 4.4 to 4.9 of this chapter. The sequence of this process is shown in the flow chart below.
640 Sue Soy, ‘The Case Study as a Research Method’, Uses and Users of Information -- LIS 391D.1 -- Spring 1997, December 12, 2006, see http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm (accessed February 14, 2012)
641 Ibid
178
Figure 4.1 The process of case study research
Determine and Define the Research Questions.
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Select the Cases and Determine Data Gathering and Analysis Techniques
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Prepare to Collect the Data
Collecting Data in the field
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Evaluate and Analyze the Data
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Preparing the report
Cited in Sue Soy, ‘The Case Study as a Research Method’, Uses and Users of Information --
LIS 391D.1 -- Spring 1997, December 12, 2006, see
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm (accessed February 14, 2012)
179 4.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The opening step of a case study process is to have a strong research focus by formulating research questions on the problem or condition to be studied and deciding the purpose of the study.642 Developing research questions is viewed as the crucial part of a research project.643 To ignore them could result in unfocused and poor research as well as ambiguous data collection.644 As explained by Bryman, research questions are vital as they must be taken into account when choosing the research methods, i.e. the ways to answer these questions and how to obtain the information needed,645 whether searching the literature, choosing the research design or describing and analyzing the data. Asking the right questions protects researchers from going off the track and being distracted by unnecessary things.646 Hence, research questions have to be clear, which means understandable and not vague; researchable, which indicates they are capable of being developed into the research design and are connected with existing theory and research, so long as the topic to be studied is found in the existing literature. In addition, it shows that the research to be conducted is likely to make a contribution and impact on academic knowledge and understanding.647 The research questions are also linked or related to each other to develop the argument of the research. They also need to be moderate, not too broad but also not so narrow as to limit the scope of the research
642 Ibid
643 Ibid
644Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods, p 31
645 Bill Gillham, Case Study Research Methods, London: Continuum, 2000, p 15
646 Ibid
647 Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods, p 33
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and the significance of conducting it. Last, the research questions should also be worth answering and able to contribute to knowledge.648
Below are the steps in drafting and selecting the research questions in a research project,
Figure 4.2 Steps in drafting and selecting research questions
Research area
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Select aspect of research area
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Research questions
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Select research questions
(from Bryman, Social Research Methods, p 32)
648 Ibid.
181
The research questions in a case study are mainly those which ask “how” and “why”,649 as it deals more with process or with “…operational links that need to be traced over time…”650, rather than on prevalence or frequencies.651 In other words, the answers to “how” and “why”
questions give the reasons behind certain cases or situations, not merely describing the outcomes of these. For example, a case study is required to identify the reasons for the occurrence of riots, it does not ask who was involved or how much damage was done, for these questions could be answered by conducting a survey or examining business accounts.652 Developing the right research questions will allow researchers to reach their research aim and enable them to use the research context or setting fully in answering them,653 to some extent the literature review helps to formulate them.654 However, to Gillham, this should be done in parallel with acquiring to know and understand the case to be studied in its context.655 But if the questions are chosen independently of the literature, researchers might lose themselves in irrelevant materials and all the resulting research questions and aims from these materials would have to be abandoned once the live case came into focus.656 Hence, the source of the research questions lie in a balance between the literature and the specific case(s). For the present research, five research questions were chosen which reflected its research objectives.
Basically, these research questions looked at the meaning and interpretation of Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of ‘Aṣabiyyah, studying the problems and challenges faced by the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia and exploring whether the theory could be implemented in the
649 Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, p 17
650 Ibid, p 18
651 Ibid. Yin describes in further detail the process of establishing the research questions within a case study research. See Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, pp 17-19
652 Ibid
653 Ibid.
654 Sue Soy, ‘The Case Study as a Research Method’, Uses and Users of Information -- LIS 391D.1 -- Spring 1997, December 12, 2006, see http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm (accessed February 14, 2012)
655 Bill Gillham, Case Study Research Methods ,p 15
656 Ibid
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modern context, in particular in the context of this community; if so, how could it be practised? These research questions can be found in Chapter 1 (1.5).657
4.5 SAMPLING PROCEDURE
Sampling is essential when conducting fieldwork research, for only a part of the whole population can be studied and it must represent its larger group. It is impossible for a researcher to collect data from the whole population, and as mentioned by Miles and Huberman “…you cannot study everyone everywhere doing everything.”658 Hence, sampling reduces the time, money and energy needed to investigate the whole population.659 However, the disadvantage of sampling is that a researcher is sometimes only predicting or estimating the characteristics of the population, instead of its facts, and this may later cause errors in the data.660
657 For details, see Chapter 1, p 11 of this thesis.
658 M.B. Miles, and A.M Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis, 1994, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p 27, cited in Keith F. Punch, Introduction to Social Research, p 105.
659 Gary D. Bouma and G.B.J Atkinson, A Handbook of Social Science Research, p 139
660Ranjit Kumar, Research Methodology: A Step-by-step Guide for Beginners, 1996, London: Sage Publications, p 148.
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Therefore, the sampling frame is crucial in the sampling process, as a sample technically is selected from a sampling frame, not from the whole population.661 The sampling frame may be defined as an objective list of all the units of the population from which researchers could select a sample.662 It is preferable for the sampling frame to contain a complete recent list of those who are within the population targeted for the research. An example of the sampling frame could be a sample selected from the list of residential houses in a specific area provided by the local government or register of voters.663
There are several steps in the sampling process or procedure, mainly for those who are conducting fieldwork research. Below are some of the steps in social research, those which involve the steps in selecting a sample.
661 Adlina Ab Halim, A Study of the students’ perceptions of the impact of globalisation on Islamic Values in Malaysia : With Special Reference to the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), 2005, p 151
662 Martyn Denscombe, The Good Research Guide for Small-scale Social Research Projects, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 1998, p 17 and Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods, p 87
663 Martyn Denscombe, The Good Research Guide for Small-scale Social Research Projects, p 17
184
Figure 4.3 Steps in selecting a sample
Consider what kind of population will be appropriate
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Consider what kind of sample design will be employed
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Explore whether there is a sampling frame that can be employed
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Decide on sample size
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Decide on mode of administration
(from Bryman, Social Research Methods, p 85)
There are two main kinds of sampling, random or probability sampling and non-random or probability sampling. Random sampling is more convincing and accurate than non-random sampling in presenting the whole population, but it is limited to the chosen sample and is not appropriate for extended generalization.664 Thus, in random sampling there is an
664 Gary D. Bouma and G.B.J Atkinson, A Handbook of Social Science Research, p140