A case study of a situation

Another example from Hancock and Algozzine (2011) - but this time, an example from educational research. Perhaps one that many of us can hopefully relate to.

Does the first year of teaching have to be a bad one? A case study of success

• This case study examined success in 1st-year teaching based on observation and interviews with a physical education teacher at a public school.

• The results indicate several demographic factors impact the success of 1st year teachers – pre-service teacher preparation, school context, and social context.

• Three major themes evolved from the data analysis, and the researchers concluded that there is a relationship among a teacher’s background, experiences during initial teaching preparation, and the influence of workplace characteristics.

Herbert, E., & Worthy, T. (2001)

After reading the article, do you notice any similarities with the participants experience of first year teaching, and your own? Stake (1995) argues that empathy and naturalistic generalization of cases contributes to our understanding. Share your thoughts in the comments!

What does a case study of an event look like?

Hancock and Algozzine (2011), in their book "Doing Case Study Research", have compiled a number of examples of the use of case study in practice. Below is an example of a case study of an event, with a link to the original article via the Deakin library website.

Please note: this case study references an attempted shooting by a student at a high school in the US. Reader discretion is advised.

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Campus response to a student gunman (1995)

• This study provides a detailed description of the attempted shooting; a chronology of the first two weeks of events following the incident; and details of the city, the campus, and the building in which the incident occurred.

• Data was collected through multiple sources - including interviews, observations, documents, and audiovisual material.

• From the data analysis – several themes emerged such as denial, fear, safety, retriggering, and campus planning.

• These themes were then combined into two overarching perspectives – an organizational response, and a socio-psychological response – which the authors then advocated for in preparing safety plans for future.

Assumen, K. J., & Creswell, J. W. (1995)