Section 2: Research Design

This section outlines the definitions and features of a case study. The rationale for using a case study is also discussed, followed by a description of research participants and context.

3.3.1 Case Study

This study adopted a case study design to explore the perceptions and experiences of the participants as they engaged in academic reading activities. In addition, the focus was on how coming into a new learning context (i.e. United Kingdom) affected their experiences and perceptions of academic reading. A case study allowed for more ‘in-depth understanding of a real-world case, and assumed that such an understanding was likely to involve important contextual conditions’ (Yin, 2014, p. 16) that seemed pertinent to my case. The real-world case pertained to how the participants’ current contextual condition might influence their perceptions and experiences of academic reading. The contextual conditions here were the English university context (see Figure 3.1).

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Not only was the explanation about the real-world scenario that related to academic reading was important here but the focus also slanted towards (1) extensive and in-depth descriptions, and (2) a ‘holistic and real-world perspective’ (Yin, 2014, p.4) as viewed by the participants.

3.3.2 The Features of a Case Study

According to Yin (2014), ‘the second part of the definitions of case studies arises because phenomenon and context are not always sharply distinguishable in real-world situation’ (p. 17). A case study (1) copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest, (2) relies on multiple sources of evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulating fashion and as another result, and (3) benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis (ibid). As a result, other methodological characteristics become relevant as features of a case study.

The underlying feature of case studies adopted here is its concern with data collection and analysis, guided by the prior development of theoretical propositions. The possible themes and concepts underpinning academic reading, firstly, examined and dissected from past studies related to L2 reading and academic reading. These themes and concepts derived from past studies incorporated into theoretical and conceptual framework, as seen in Chapter 2.

There were some traditional concerns about case study research design that I tried to overcome prior to and while designing the research. Firstly, issues related to rigorous procedures were addressed. To avoid a lack of rigour, specific procedures were outlined and followed throughout this study (see Table 3.1). Secondly, due care was exercised prior to reporting all evidence, in an attempt to avoid bias. I would claim that the findings had

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to be reported fairly, as it contributed to the additional area of knowledge. The other issue concerning case study research is the ‘apparent inability to generalise from case study findings’ (Yin, 2014, p.20). Considering that a sample was not represented here, my primary concern here was theory generalisation, ‘and not to extrapolate probabilities’ (Yin, 2014, p.21).

3.3.3 Rationales for Adopting a Multiple Case Study

This research adopted a multiple case study design because more than a single case was investigated (Yin, 2014). The rationale for adopting this design was to investigate the variations of beliefs, experiences and perceptions of each individual participant. That said, the rationale for adopting a multiple case study design was the need to build a general explanation that fitted each individual case, although there might be a variation of detail in each of these cases.

According to Creswell (2007), ‘in a multiple case study or a collective case study, one issue or concern is again selected, but the inquirer selects multiple case studies to illustrate the issue…often the inquirer purposefully selects multiple cases to study different perspectives on the issue’ (p. 74). Multiple cases are explored within a single site (i.e. British university) here. This step was taken to address the participants’ differing perceptions and experiences of how they perceived academic reading in an English university context. This study was thus designed in line with Yin's (2014) five components of a case study research design. The steps taken to design the research are shown in Table 3.1.

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Table 3.1:Five components of a multiple case study

Five important components of a case study research design according to Yin (2014, p. 29)

Study Questions

1. I used the literature to narrow my interest to a key topic or two, not worrying about specific research questions.

2. I examined closely/dissected a few key studies relating to my interest. 3. I identified the questions in these few studies and whether they concluded

with new questions or loose ends for future research. Study propositions

1. Exploration: Supported what I wanted (provide reasons) to do with

previous literature on academic reading in an L2 by defining and explaining reasons to carry out a research.

2. Recognised the purposes.

3. The rationales and theoretical propositions may probably be questioned once data has been gathered and analysis has taken place.

Unit of analysis: The cases

Eleven first year Malaysian undergraduates in the United Kingdom who speak English as a Second Language.

Linking data to propositions 1. Pattern matching 2. Explanation building

Criteria for interpreting a case study’s findings

Identify and address rival explanations for the finding of the current research. The challenge during the design stage of my research was to “anticipate and enumerate the important rivals” (Yin, 2014, p. 36) so I would be able to include data about them as part of my data collection. This step was taken to complete the current case study, rather than to “justify and design” a future study if I only think of the rival explanations after data collection has been completed (Yin, 2014).