Comprehensive Examination Responses Presented in Partial Fulfillment - Research Paper Example

Identify and analyze the issues associated with sample selection, validity, and bias in such a study. Case Study A case study is one of the methods used in qualitative research. The development of the case study method took place in the 1880s and it has since been used in almost all fields of study. It is also the most preferred study method because it removes the wide gap between theory and practice. According to Toloie-Eshlaghy, Chitsaz, Karimian, and Charkhchi (2011), a case study is experimental and uses the details of a real phenomenon to probe into specific social issues of interest to the researchers.

A case study includes a real situation with real people and events taking place in a real environment, which gives researchers a sense of the facts as they are in real life. In addition, the information used in a case study is controlled to provide factual details about the place, people, and occurrences of a particular location. This enables researchers to carry out their activities in reference to a real situation. A case study is thus regarded as an organized piece of research on a particular event with the aim of explaining a specific phenomenon.

A case study is often used in social research to enable a researcher to actualize a theoretical idea. In addition, a case study may be used to teach research students how to undertake research in an effective manner and thus act as a study tool to integrate theory and practice. . The different features of a case study include its use of different methods of collecting data to gather information regarding specific occurrences, its focus on a specific subject and the depth to which the subject of focus is investigated.

The main aim of using the case study research method is to describe the causative relationships between phenomena in real life, since it tends to be deep rather than extensive in its investigations (Breslin & Buchanan, 2008). Case studies are therefore also used to evaluate the effects of certain interventions introduced in given scenarios and can therefore be used as a tool to recommend solutions to issues facing organizations in real life. As a research tool, a case study is exploratory and descriptive, and provides case examples to students to enhance their practical research skills.

However, the actual transformation from theory to practice requires diverse resources, some of which may be out of the students’ reach. The use of a case study in the description of phenomena in real life is limited to the knowledge of the scenario under study (Toloie-Eshlaghy, Chitsaz, Karimian, & Charkhchi, 2011). This is because a case study relies on information regarding particular phenomena to draw inferences on causal relations, but without adequate information, the case study would not be effective.

A case study therefore employs different methods of collecting data to provide adequate, relevant and factual information regarding occurrences in real life and offers researchers a basis for the study. With such information, it is possible to draw a pattern indicating the relationship between one subject and the other and