Pre-Theme 6: Qualitative and case study research

Qualitative study 
Perceived connections between information and communication technology use and mental symptoms among young adults - a qualitative study by Thomée et al. BMC Public Health, IF 2.08.

1. Which qualitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

Semi structured interviews, using open-ended questions, with 16 women and 16 men that had previously participated in a quantitative study on the same topic. Seems like a good way to get more details, and the quantitative data is already collected.

2. What did you learn about qualitative methods from reading the paper?

How data in a qualitative study is sorted out based on, in this case, by high ICT use and then categorized. Then these categories were compared and sorted and a model developed. The single quotes from individuals really tell a lot, however a problem is that it's a perception perhaps not always representative of the whole study group.

3. Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the qualitative method or methods have been improved?

I found this to be an excellent qualitative study to read, and I could easily have been one of the participants. I recommend reading it! With my limited experience of this type of studies and from reading about possible weaknesses in qualitative studies, I must say that I could find none.

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what a case study is.

According to what Eisenhardt writes in "Building Theories from Case Study Research", a case study is a research method that can include references to both quantitative and qualitative research. It can include quantitative research as means of evidence, and as protection against false conclusions from qualitative data. It normally also includes the richness of qualitative description to enable the construction of new theories and to explain the collected quantitative data.

A case study may include cases either randomly or orderly. The goal is to include samples of theories which can strengthen the new theory. During the research process, the case study may change data collection methods, since the goal is not to summarize observational data but to learn as much as possible from each case. In the paper this is referred to as "Controlled opportunism".

This type of research finishes when the theory cannot be further improved. Comparing the found theory to other literature can prove what novelty has been discovered. This novel theory is along with its' testability the strengths of a case study. Weaknesses of the resulting theory might include high complexity and idiosyncrasy.

The method may be useful when little is known about a phenomenon, when ideas around it are in conflict witch each other or with common sense.

1. Use the "Process of Building Theory from Case Study Research" (Eisenhardt, summarized in Table 1) to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your selected paper.

Case study

Strategies for designing effective psychotherapeutic gaming interventions for children and adolescents by Goh et. al. from the journal Computers in Human Behavior, IF 2.067.
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Getting started

Mental health professionals would like to use computer games as treatment to mental illness in children. However, there's little evidence if the effectiveness of this method, explained with references to quantitative studies of mental health conditions in children.
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Method

The paper reviews computer gaming literature of "specified population" found by searching online databases. They have added articles and books of interested when "stumbled upon". A method described by Eisenhardt.

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Goal

Create guidelines and strategies for psychotherapeutic game design.

It's explained that even though CBT has been successful, new methods should be explored, and children are comfortable using ICT.
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Enfolding Literature

The paper compares contradicting studies of how computer games affect the mental state. Like described by Eisenhardt. It chooses to promote the positive theory, which indicates that games can be used as psychotherapeutic tools if correctly designed.

There's a discussion about strengths and weaknesses of games with the weaknesses being addiction and increased aggressiveness. All is backed up by references.
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Analyzing Data

The authors bring up example studies on behaviour and computer games, most seem to be qualitative.

Ideas of good game design are presented with references. One problem found is that more boys than girls play computer games and there's no research that can point out the exact reason. I see a potential problem of the resulting theory due to this.

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Reaching Closure / Conclusion

Games can't replace psychiatrists, but can be a good complement to traditional methods. 
The scope is narrowed towards the end by declaring that focus is not on successful treatment, but rather on acceptance of the game by the user.
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The paper highlights important points for game development

• Reinforcement of behaviours
• Motivation, example:   

" Children in the classroom cannot always see the point of learning mathematics ... When they play computer games, they are usually working towards a clear objective..."

• Challenge
• Realism 

 Overall, good guidelines.

C'mon, give the kids a holodeck!

Further research will be needed to actually come up with what type of game to develop.

Some types of source studies have only been qualitative and cannot be generalized and they're lacking quantitative sources too. 

This "opportunistic" research method concludes that it relies on sources that do not exist yet, I suppose the positive side of that is that it's basically a suggestion to further research.

I found this to be a very interesting study. Computer games could be a very effective tools in the success of methods like CBT and for learning difficulties. Imagine if science reports were part of a cool game...