Stake (1995). Art of Case Study Research.
Case stories also provided a vehicle for narratives more conducive to the storytelling approach. Case study, as process and product, is the ethnographic art of getting to know someone within a context, with you as their storyteller, in relating their story, so case story becomes the storytelling art of research for you to learn with and from someone who trusts you. So, the aim of case story research is to show that everyone has a story, and thus every story is important. This, in turn, provides more authentic use of honoring those whose voices have been minimized, marginalized, or censored.
Stake (1995) describes intrinsic case study as inquiry into a unique case, as a “bounded system,” an “integrated system” (pp. 2-3) that is not intended to be generalized to other cases, situations or problems. The case stands as the story itself. “Much of our gathering of data from other people will take the form of stories they tell and much of what we can convey to our readers will preserve that form” (p. 1). The teacher practitioner has the responsibility in deciding the ‘story form’ in how to tell the story (p. 1).
During a conversation, Vitali (personal communication, January 25, 2021) explained the nuance of referring to case study as case story:
The focus of case study is researching both the uniqueness and commonality of a case for further understanding through an intrinsic case (Stake, 2003). According to Stake (1995), the case is the object, having a ‘self’ (p. 2). Relating to the actor or character in the case as a study, which implies objectification of a person and people should not be objectified nor studied, is problematic. Acknowledging the indelible history of colonialism, systemic racism and inequality, white privilege in our United States, the power of language and semantics does matter (Vitali, 2020). In this respect, case story reflects a more semantic alternative. Case story, as an integrated system, as process and product, is the ethnographic art of getting to know someone, with you as their storyteller, in relating their story. Case story becomes the storytelling art of research for a teacher to learn with and from student(s) in a trusting and professional relationship.
Case stories also provided a vehicle for narratives more conducive to the storytelling approach. Case study, as process and product, is the ethnographic art of getting to know someone within a context (bounded system), with you as their storyteller, in relating their story, so case story becomes the storytelling art of research for you to learn with and from someone who trusts you. So, the aim of case story research is to show that everyone has a story, and thus every story is distinct and unique. This, in turn, provides more authentic use of honoring those whose voices have been minimized, marginalized, muted, dominated, or censored.
Lareau captures the ethnographic dynamic in learning about a case: "Readers come to understand all that ethnographic research requires - persistence, self-reflection, willingness to risk awkwardness and stress occasioned by plunging into the lives of other people, and repeated ruminations on the meaning of what has been observed. Above all, field work requires a balance between fitting observaions into an analytical framework and capturing the complexity and disorder of social reality" (p. ix).
References
Lareau, A. (2000). Home disadvantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Stake, R. E. (2003). Case studies. In N. K. Denizen & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Strategies of qualitative inquiry (pp. 134-164). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.
Stake, R.E. (1995).The Art of Case Study Research.
Vitali, F. (2020). Technology of Story: Documenting Culturally Sustaining Anti-Racist Teaching Racist Teaching. Proceedings from the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Document Academy, Article 16, 7(1).
Case Study Format
Introduction-building background of why this important to you
Literature Review
Profile
Describe student and how you know her, parents, siblings, etc.
Literature Review
Data Collection & Analysis
Timeline
Includes Support (cohort members, teachers, etc. and who you will share this research with
Emerging Themes
Assertions and Implications
Closing Vignette