The case study is a descriptive qualitative methodology that is used as a tool to study something specific in a complex phenomenon. The “event” is understood as an integrated system in operation, why it requires an analysis that gets interpret and reconstruct the system.
The case study is the comprehensive study of one or very few research subjects, allowing obtaining a broad and detailed knowledge of the latter. It is based on the idea that if we carefully study any unit of a certain universe, we are in terms of knowing some general aspects of it, at least we have a perspective that guide subsequent research (Wieviorka, 1992).
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A single case study or multiple case studies can be written that contain a description of the entire medium of instruction (including the time and resources available for the project of development), potential students, and the task of instruction. With this information, organizations could discuss the givens, identify the state of the target, select the principles that would be appropriate for the determination of the media or the time to apply the principles to determine the means best, and evaluate the quality of their solutions. The case studies are particularly useful for learning to solve problems in situations where more than one solution to the problem reel cc or more complex a subtle world of ill-structured problems. As with studies of simulation can be written in series with a greater level of detail, complexity and irrelevant information so that businesses can handle more and more principles and employ strategies more cognitive as they progress.
Strengths
Flexibility: The case study approach is a flexible method compared scientific research. Since its project designs seem to emphasize the exploration rather than prescription or prediction, researchers are comparatively free to explore and address issues as they arose in their experiments which lead to perfect solution for of IT.
Emphasis on context: In seeking to understand as much as possible about a subject single or a small group of subjects, case studies specializing in data deep or thick description Information based on particular contexts that can give results of looking for a more human face. This emphasis may help to establish the link between research abstract and concrete practice by allowing researchers to compare their first-hand observations to quantitative results obtained by other methods research (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
Weaknesses
Inherent subjectivity: Opponents cite opportunities for subjectivity in performance, presentation, and evaluation of Research case study. The approach is based on personal interpretation of the data and inferences. The results may not be generalizable, are difficult to determine validity, and rarely offer a prescription for solving problems. Simply put, rely on one or a few subjects as the basis for extrapolating the short cognitive may involve too much of what might be fact.
High investment: The case studies can involve learning more about subjects being examined that most researchers would care to know – their background educationally, emotional background, perceptions of themselves and their environments, their likes, dislikes, and so on. Because of its emphasis on “deep data,” the case study is out of reach for many research projects on a large scale who observe all subjects in the tens of thousands (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
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The increasingly easy access to electronic sources of storage, whether databases, CD-ROM, or Internet, has led to the creation of text databases of large, consisting of articles, patents, reports, technical notes and clinics, among others. In the industrial sector, major technology projects generate the exchange and storage of large volumes of documents.
In order to help counteract this phenomenon, is becoming critical studies on specific topics and is being given utmost importance to analyze information as a way of making more accessible to users with the huge volumes of data generated daily (Sister Mary, 1947 pp.97-110).
The analysis process is a kind of professional work, especially where a mental process, maximizing human capacities, showing the boundaries of altruism, devotion to the pursuit of truth and cultural synthesis, as in any other profession.
Case studies have been given the task of studios to deliver such products to their users, intelligence reports to help them understand the issues most relevant to their reality and that they are feasible for decision-making.
The case studies emerge with particular emphasis on a time whose sign is the abundance of data and information that complicate decision-making processes and where sceptics dare not understand the essence of his character (Ragin, Charles, Becker and Howard, 1992, pp.5-17).
All these investigations have a theoretical basis behind to guide their development, theoretical basis that can rest on quantitative methods or qualitative research. It has been discussed in recent times, with great emphasis if these so called case studies or analysis of intelligence information should be carried out under the paradigms of qualitative or quantitative research.
Until recently, a study of this kind if not performed under quantitative methods, showing many comparisons, the product of mathematical results clearly verifiable, not attributed reliability.
Purpose of this study is to know the influence these research methods in the analysis of information technology design and applications, so the following objectives are drawn.
aˆ? Address the tasks and purposes of analysis.
aˆ? Exposing the most important aspects of the methods of quantitative and qualitative research.
aˆ? Show the advantages and disadvantages of the methods of quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
The information technologies have experienced spectacular growth since the 1950’s, at a rate at which computing power grows exponentially every year. In this natural growth of computing has been with the information, whose volume is making it unreadable by it. This has forced the specialists of this branch to use systems analysis to make its maximum value (Lijphart & Arend, 1971, pp.682-693).
The business and information entities engaged until recently more data storage for users to use them when and as they could. Now with more “aggressive” information case studies provide not only data or large volumes of information, but that deliver reports, product analysis, to help them become what many synthesized data and reliable information. These data analysis helps decision making, a task that is becoming more dynamic and requires a well-supported information base.
The objective of the case studies is to obtain information relevant ideas from the various sources of information, allowing the contents unambiguously express the purpose of storing and retrieving the information.
Analyzing the above approach, one can understand that data analysis occurs only to be saved reports or results. But we must add the discipline of analyzing sources, based on user needs, which must be consistent with the strategic objectives of the institution to which they belong. In addition, an analysis of such sources must be validated to be used, because it is very important that the information presented is reliable and current, so that the results obtained can be used appropriately in decision-making but which also offers the users decision alternatives. A study of these characteristics also generates confidence in the analyst (Thomas, 2011).
The information analysis is part of the acquisition and ownership of latent knowledge accumulated from various sources of information. The analysis seeks to identify the information “useful”, i.e. one that interests the user, from a large amount of data.
Knowledge discovery in databases data mining the analysis of information is related to what is now known as Knowledge Discovery in databases (KDD) and data mining (DM). The common assumption is that the data stored up a reservoir which is to extract and process the information so that it is “useful” (from an economic standpoint, scientific or technological). The value of information “raw’ results from the ability to be taken to process and produce information” developed”, i.e. higher level and potentially useful for making decisions in a particular field of activity, but it was implied, not expressed in the data (Flyvbjerg and Bent, 2006, pp.219-245).
The data analysis starts from the simple collection and reading of texts to interpretation. That is, the analysis is an intellectual activity that achieves the art or virtue of improving professional skills of the analyst, all thanks to the use of research methods and procedures, whether quantitative or qualitative that allows you to separate the main thing attachment and the transcendental of passenger or superfluous.
The product of analysis must be transmitted in plain, direct, unambiguous and in a logical order that resists any criticism or doubt, clearly specifying what is known, what is not known and the options for what might happen in the future. Clearly, all this depends on external variables do not arise that change the scenario (Fenno, 1986, pp.3-15).
There are many types of analysis, such as opportunity analysis, which seeks to establish the best time for a decision, added value analysis, which seeks to enhance the value of the significance of seemingly unrelated information or, in the field of defense objective analysis, which allows not only to identify a target, but also the best way to bring down the lowest possible cost. In this regard, the latest technology is collaborating with valuable and accurate data as raw material for the analyst, obtained by increasingly sophisticated instruments.
The former approach makes a division of the analysis in several categories, each of which deliver results with a different level of importance. As has been seen so far, this division is not necessary, because an analysis of data must have each of these categories together into a whole to form a single document and irrefutable.
In a report for decision making, the bottom line is that the analyst recommends the best time to make this decision; you should give it value from the point of view of decoding elements that at first glance are not apprehended and of course offer advantages in terms of lowest cost of implementation (Eisenhardt, 1989, pp.532-550).
The product obtained from processing of sources of information, of diverse characteristics, contains two types of elements: first, the development of analytical capacity for essential and moreover, the unique association of data and events that may explain and support the veracity of the conclusions and proposals sent to the decision maker. Is this “added value” that gives the document or product produced a certain level of confidentiality and of great importance as it represents the demonstration of circumstances that others do not perceive and therefore arises itself a use-value others do not have, making it a strategic document to develop objectives and goals of the recipient institution. Information or intelligence must know and master a set of collections and practices of various disciplines of knowledge management include: research methodology, organization of information, technical arbitration scientific and technical reports, database management data, information management, exploratory and confirmatory statistics (with statistical software application), information economics, operations research, citation analysis, info metric models, and data analysis (Baxter and Jack, 2008, pp.544-559).
An analyst can be heard or not, but if your work is a good quality product, which have united all or most of these items, the Time will prove him right.
Quantitative Research Methods and Qualitative
It had been previously proposed that the analysis of information need have a broad domain of research methodology, this being the foundation and starting point for this work, which leads to a necessary understanding of the methods that make up this discipline. There are different types of research and depending on the nature of the information collected to answer the research problem; they can run under two paradigms, the quantitative or qualitative research. Bibliographic production is mainly oriented towards quantitative studies that expose only data classifications and descriptions of social reality and to a lesser extent, to studies that attempt to make explanations (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
The product of a quantitative study and the report will be a display a series of classified data without any additional information that gives an explanation, beyond which in them lead. Seen from this perspective, one might think that quantitative studies are arbitrary and unhelpful to the analysis of results rather than what they have shown themselves. This is not as well as a study of this type also shows the characteristics of these data have been organized.
Quantitative research is collecting, processing and analyzing quantitative or numerical data on predetermined variables. This already does give a connotation that goes beyond a mere list of data organized as a result, since these data are shown in the final report is entirely consistent with the variables that are declared from the beginning and the results are to provide a specific situation to which they are subject (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
In addition to the above, namely that quantitative research explores the association or relationship between the variables that have been quantified, which further helps in the interpretation of results. This type of research attempts to determine the strength of association or relationship between variables, and generalization and objectivity of the results through a sample. From here you can make inferences to a population from which the sample comes. Beyond the study of the association or relationship also intends to make inferences as to why things happen or not a particular way. All this goes far beyond a mere list of data organized as you can read the statement given above (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
The other idea that follows provides a more comprehensive and complete quantitative research. For quantitative research methods are defined as quasi-experimental and experimental designs, survey research, standardized questionnaires, structured observation records, statistical techniques for data analysis, among others. 6
Within quantitative research can be observed:
aˆ? Experimental designs, applying pure experiments, meaning those that meet three basic requirements: the manipulation of one or more independent variables measure the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable and the validation of the experimental.
aˆ? The social survey, which is the most widely used quantitative research in the field of social sciences and involves applying a series of specific techniques in order to collect, process and analyze characteristics that occur in people of a particular group.
aˆ? Quantitative studies of secondary data, which, unlike the previous two analysis addressed using existing data.
In general, quantitative methods are very powerful in terms of external validity as a representative sample of a total make an inference to the safety and accuracy defined.
Another aspect of the research methodology is qualitative studies that have been picking up after a near mastery of quantitative research methods.
They identified four general ways in which you use this type of research.
aˆ? As a mechanism for generating ideas.
aˆ? To complement a quantitative study.
aˆ? To evaluate a quantitative study.
aˆ? As the primary method of research.
As a mechanism for generating ideas you can see its use in identification and prioritization of problems and needs in any area of knowledge. Qualitative research methods used to evaluate quantitative studies in cases of validation surveys, so that results are not only at numbers and percentages. As the primary method of research, qualitative methods offer a broad spectrum of research possibilities through the combination of several techniques.
Qualitative research requires the recognition of multiple realities and attempts to capture the perspective of the investigation.
From this point of view, we see that in qualitative research is an extremely important subject or sources to investigate The results are very depending on the emotions or exhaustive analysis of the content of information sources.
Qualitative research allows for varied interpretations of reality and of the data. This is done because in this type of research analyst or case study goes to the “field” with an open mind, but this does not carry a conceptual basis, as many think. Having an open mind makes it possible to redirect the investigation at that time and attract other types of data that were not initially intended. In other words, qualitative research acknowledges that the evolution of the phenomenon under investigation may lead to a redefinition and in turn new ways to understand it (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
In qualitative research methods researchers seek to describe not only the facts but to understand them through a comprehensive and diverse analysis of the data and always showing a creative and dynamic character.
The above is apparent in the definition of qualitative research provided by Red Smith: “Qualitative research is a type of formative research with specialized skills to get response back about what people think and feel. Its purpose is to provide a greater understanding of the meaning of the actions of men, their activities, motivations, values and subjective meanings. “
Qualitative research studies the structural and situational contexts, trying to identify the underlying nature of reality, its relations system, its dynamic structure.
Qualitative research has several techniques for obtaining data, such as:
aˆ? Observation.
aˆ? The interview.
aˆ? The document review and document analysis.
aˆ? The case study.
aˆ? Focus groups.
aˆ? Questionnaires.
By reviewing documents, researchers usually obtain more data. This is one of the most widely used techniques, coupled with the use of questionnaires. For observation, the case study has a unique opportunity to obtain information in other cases that is not achieved and can influence the results. Using this technique, which in most cases is used together with the interview, we pick up messages or ideas that can be omitted, either intentionally or unintentionally by the investigation. Often people have issued gestures or attitudes that go against what they are saying (Scholz, Roland, and Tietje, Olaf, 2002).
With the technique of focus groups the case study to select groups of people with similar characteristics, can handle the topic of discussion by the most suitable for the study, without introducing many issues of disagreement. Moreover, as all members of the group exposed, and exchanging each other, can make the most timid to open with their views and comments, thus enriching the reporting of results.
One thing to keep in mind in the case study with this technique is that one must adequately select the study sample; it must be sufficiently large that the criteria may be varied and dissimilar and turn in a narrow framework for each group member to have the opportunity to voice their opinions.
So it becomes necessary, a case study combines several of these techniques to obtain information more securely and reliably at the time of decision making.
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