Stating My Case

Initially, I was not too enthusiastic about reading about the validity of a case study. I can’t say that my opinion has completely changed, but I found various things in the articles that I did draw connections to and find revealing.

A case study being focused around a single, solitary interactive experience between an observer and a subject seems to be met with mixed reviews from the texts. In the Lauer and Asher text I have to agree with the statements that they made it seem overly complicated to establish any type of validity. I especially loved the idea that they suggested another party be around to verify the results, but how to you do that with a single student and with something like writing, which in so many cases can be subject. How many norming sessions will observers have to go through to make sure that a student is “normal” enough to be studied?

 

In the Kirsch and Sullivan, they are slightly more optimistic, saying that case studies do have their place but that “To write a case study that works, the writer needs to see the data in terms of one of a variety of culturally grounded narratives,” (135) while at the same time cautioning observers of the dangers of having too much narrative in a study. Isn’t the compelling thing about the study going to be the narrative while having enough objectivity to evaluate what it is that’s happening during the interactions between observers and their subjects? My questions primarily revolve around how we are supposed to construct a completely objective narrative. Even with all the supporting details that fly around in both texts, couldn’t even our choice to report our findings in narrative form shoot us in the foot?