The case study in qualitative research: from design to application

Abstract

Investigating educational contexts that have a strong organizational and institutional component means paying attention to their historical trajectory and to the relationships that are established among the people who live in them. Qualitative research methodologies offer possibilities to study a phenomenon in its real context, favor the use of diverse sources of information and the application of mechanisms of triangulation and contrast that allow to emerge interpretations and otherwise inaccessible patterns. The case study (EC) provides information on the behaviors and values that characterize the context investigated. Thus, it is not his intention to seek causal explanations, to use large samples, or to perform complex statistical analyzes, but rather to analyze with scientific rigor the events that take place in a dynamic social context, which may include a set of decisions, individuals, organizations, processes, programs, neighborhoods, institutions or events. This work presents the characteristics of the EC, as qualitative research methodology, its typologies, and the planning of its application. Afterwords, we described their use in a study about of Foster Care, a way to protect children and young people in danger who are in out-ofhome care, living in foster families, with which they have no kinship ties, in Porto district, Portugal. We will describe its design, the methodology adopted, the fieldwork, and present some of the main results obtained.