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With the validity of qualitative research currently under scrutiny, this paper by Sarah McGloin considers the contribution of the case study to the evidence base in health care. The author argues that case study methodology offers a creative and credible approach to help underpin contemporary practice
key words
* case study research
* qualitative research
* trustworthiness
Introduction
Case study research is gaining increasing credibility as a suitable research methodology for healthcare research studies (Thompson 2004). There is much debate about the validity, trustworthiness and rigour of qualitative research (Rolfe 2006. Porter 2007). the paradigm associated most with the case study approach. Consequently, the issue of the trustworthiness of case study research is under scrutiny (Hamel et al 1993. Zucker 2001. Pegram 2000. Bryar 2000). The aim of this paper is to analyse the trustworthiness of the case study approach for qualitative research studies. The case study methodology will be defined and analysed, and strategies to enhance studies' trustworthiness will be explored.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is concerned with explaining social phenomenon (Hancock 1998). The qualitative approach focuses on people's behaviour. opinions and attitudes (Polit and Hungler 2003). This type of research also studies the effects of events on people, cultural influences and developments, and differences between social groups (Polit and Hungler 2003). The case study provides an intensive, in-depth method of enquiry focusing on a real-life single case using a variety of sources of evidence (Valus and Tierney 2000. Hewitt-Taylor 2002). Corcoran et al (2004) consider that the purpose of the case study is to provide a critical analysis of practice that will result in the transformation of practice in others.
In each instance, the case (or unit) could be a person, family, ward or organisation (Bryar 2000. McDonnell et al 2000. Vallis and Tierney 2000. Hewitt-Taylor 2002). Although adopted as a valid methodology by a variety of professions, including education, sociology and experimental psychology (Hammersley 1984, Yin 1994. Stake 1995. Woods 1997. Bergen and While 2000. Hewitt-Taylor 2002. Corcoran et al 2004). professions such as social work and medicine have yet to embrace the case study approach (Gilgun 1994. Charlton 1999. Thompson 2004). This is despite work by Thompson (2004) and Gilgun (1994) highlighting the benefits of this methodological approach to both...