MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS

In qualitative inquiry, Creswell (2007, p. 10) pointed out that there are five approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study. The researcher has chosen the case study approach for this study. The reason for choosing this approach is because case studies appear to have the capacity to work within and to be suitable for the context. The flexibility of a case study approach helps the research questions to be answered.

“an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life con- text; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used”. Eisenhardt (1989, p. 534) describes the case study approach as “a research strategy which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings.” Creswell (2007, p. 73) claims case study research is “a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a case) or multi- ple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, interviews, audiovisual material, and documents and reports), and reports a case description and case-based themes.” As a re- search strategy, a case study refers to the study of social phenomenon. It is a form of inquiry usually employed by those engaging in qualitative or interpretive inquiry. The context of research is normally stressed in case study, and it provides understanding for how ideas and principles work side by side and the capacity of the work within the complexities of real life situation.

According to Stake (1995), the procedures of a case study can be conducted as below:

• First, the inquirer needs to determine whether a case study is appropriate to the re- search problem.

• The researcher needs to identify their case(s), which may involve an individual, sev- eral individuals, a programme, and event, or an activity. The investigator needs to decide which type of case study is most promising and useful for the study.

• Data collection phase. In this phase, multiple source of information can be collected, such as observations, interviews, documents and audiovisual materials.

• Data analysis phase. The analysis of the data can be a “holistic analysis of the entire case or an embedded analysis of a specific aspect of the case”.

In the words of Lincoln and Guba (1985), the researcher should give the “lesson learned” from the case in this section.

Case studies have been classified into various types by different scholars (see Yin, 1993; Stake, 1995; Merriam, 1988). Yin (2003, p. 1) identifies three types of case study: ex- ploratory, explanatory and descriptive. The exploratory type of case study aims at defining the questions and hypotheses; the descriptive type of case study presents a description of a situation within its context; and the explanatory type of case study illustrates cause-effect relationships discovering order to extrapolate theory. Stake (1995, p. 3) gives a different three types of case studies: the single instrumental case study, the collective or multiple case study, and the intrinsic case study. In a single instrumental case study, the inquirer focuses on one study issue and selects one bounded case to illustrate this issue. In a col- lective case study, the research also needs to select an issue first, but in this circumstance, multiple case studies are selected to illustrate the issue. In an intrinsic case study, the focus of the research is on the case itself, such as evaluating a programme or studying a student who has a certain learning difficulty. For the purpose of this study, the collective case study approach has been chosen. This kind of research design, Yin (2003, cited in Creswell 2007, p. 74) claims, ”uses the logic of replication, in which the inquirer replicates the procedures for each ease”.

The case study approach has a number of strengths which make it the ideal choice for answering the type of questions posed in this study. Berg (2004, p. 251) suggests that this form of inquiry “tends to focus on holistic description and explanation; and, as a general statement, any phenomenon can be studied by case study methods”. Yin (1984, p. 9) claims that for “how” and “why” questions the case study is preferable. It can answer ‘why’ and ‘how’ research questions rather than simply ‘what’, and therefore has the potential to evaluate or explain. The research questions of this study are concentrated on how well the Chinese children integrate into Irish primary schools, on how Irish schools facilitate their needs and on why some Chinese children don’t integrate well in Irish schools. As such,

the research questions are qualitative in nature and are well matched with the strengths of a case study approach.

Stake (1995) points out the knowledge learned from case study is more concrete, vivid and sensory than abstract. It is also more contextual. People’s experiences are rooted in context, as is knowledge in case studies. The knowledge learned from case study is also more developed by reader interpretation. Readers bring to a case study their own experience and understanding, which lead to generalizations when new data is added to old data. Another advantage of case study is that it also has been identified as a methodological approach that can give a voice to the voiceless (Sjoberg et al., 1991), which is especially valuable for doing research with ethnic minorities in a society. Given all the above characteristics of the case study approach, this methodology appeared best suited to accommodate the research needs of the study, and was thus adopted.

However, the limitations of case study should also be noted. One of the main critiques of case study is concern about its generalizability. One common criticism is that a study of a small number of cases cannot offer grounds for establishing reliability and generality of the findings. Silverman (1993) argued that generalization is not simply determined by the number of the subjects. Some scholars suggest that even increasing the sample size does not necessarily achieve a wider range of generalization (Kennedy, 1979). Hsieh (2010, p. 109) claimed the focus point should be the sampling section, “Does the non-random sampling make the outcomes of a case study less reliable?”. Punch (1998) asserts that the necessity of generalizing case studies depends on the purposes and the rationale behind the case study. Stake (1995) argued for a “naturalistic” generalization, which is more intuitive and empir- ically grounded. The data generated by case studies would often resonate experientially with readers and help them gain a greater understanding of the phenomenon.

Having concluded discussion of the various research paradigms of social science and ex- ploring the reasons for choosing a case study approach for the study, the remainder of this

chapter will be concerned with a detailed description of the research design.