Qualitative research methods and applications

¶ … Preliminary Qualitative Research Design

This study aims to understand how resource officers in suburban middle schools identify their duties. It also aims to gather their recommendations on ways to make the learning environment in suburban middle schools safer. This chapter will look into the case study methodology that will be used in this study to address its central research questions about the perception of resource officers on their duties as well as their recommendations on how to maintain a safe learning environment in suburban middle schools.

This study will take an exploratory stance in order to delve into the perceptions of resource officers and their recommendations. It will also be descriptive in nature as it will describe the perceptions of resource officers with regards their duties. It will also describe the recommendations of resource officers on how to reduce violence and maintain a safe school climate conducive to learning.

The qualitative paradigm will be used to add depth and breadth to the study. The qualitative paradigm will be adopted to examine the perceptions of resource officers on their duties as well as to understand the meanings scribed by the resource officers regarding their duties in suburban middle schools.

In order to illuminate the central research questions this research aims to answer, the case study methodology will be utilized. In particular, the multi-site case study will be utilized in order to answer the main research questions.

The case study methodology will enable the explorations of the perceptions of resource officers on their duties as well as their recommendations on how to make suburban middle schools safer. According to Shavelson & Towne (as cited in Green et al., 2006, p. 112), "the case study method is pertinent when your research addressed either a descriptive question or an explanatory question… you may want to illuminate a particular situation, to get a close understanding of it."

The case study methodology as compared to other methods allows for an in-depth examination of a case within its natural or real-life context (Green et al., 2006). According to Feagin, Orum, and Sjoberg (as cited in Tellis, 1997), the case study methodology is ideal when there is a need for a holistic and in-depth investigation. This methodology is designed to elicit the details from the point-of-view of the participants through the use of multiple sources of data (Tellis, 1997).

The ability of using multiple sources of evidence is often cited as one of the key strengths of the case study methodology. This strength of the case study methodology "allows one to 'triangulate' the data, or arrive at converging sources of information" (Stake, 1999, p. 219) According to Tellis (1997), "the need for triangulation arises from the ethical need to confirm the validity of the processes." Moreover, according to Yin (as cited in Tellis, 1997), the case study methodology can be able to satisfy "the three tenets of the qualitative method: describing, understanding, and explaining."

Stake (1999, p. 8) said that "the real business of case study is particularization, not generalization." A particular case is fully examined and understood for what it is and how it operates. Its uniqueness is emphasized. However, the case study methodology does not delve into how a case is similar or different from other cases. Understanding the case itself is the primary emphasis of the case study methodology. In this light, the research studies using the case study methodology is not sampling research as a case is studied primarily to understand the one case and not to understand other cases (Stake, 1999).

The six sources of evidence in case studies, which have been identified by Stake and Yin (as cited in Tellis, 1997), are documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant-observation, and physical artifacts.