Hello,

I am planning to make use of the case study approach but my sample members are in a different country (The sample members are company owners or international managers) Is it acceptable for a PhD level student to do case studies with the help of telephone interviews?

Or do I really have to go to this country to take semi-structured interviews?

Thanks.

JH

If people's words rather than other variables (e.g. body language) are what you are focused on then telephone interviews should be fine.

Hello Metabanalysis,

Thank you for your reply. A friend of mine who is in the writing phase of his PhD said that nobody will take your research seriously, if you did not even go to the chosen country for your field work. Now this feedback is worrying me.

Could you please back your claim with a few references? By the way, are you a doctor yourself? Moreover, in a case study approach, is it acceptable to have a sample size of 6 for a PhD level research? I have seen at least one PhD thesis in my field of business where the sample size was of only 9 participants aka firms.

Your help in this matter will be much appreciated.

JH

P.S. Variables like body language etc. are of no importance in my research. It's the verbal feedback which I am after.

Yes, looking up references is a very good idea.

There are *loads* of studies / PhDs / monographs that are based on only one case-study. I'll cite you just one example: Working for Ford by Huw Beynon. I'm sure this is covered in core business research textbooks (Bryman & Bell, Easterby-Smith etc.). But as a general rule, if you offer less depth, you need to offer more depth.

Regarding research methods, will you be looking to use other research methods? Primary documentary analysis? Secondary documentary analysis too? All this will add richness and depth to your case-studies.

I'm assuming there's a reason why you won't be going to your chosen country.

Just as a little aside, as a post-graduate forum rather than a lecturer's forum, I'm guessing most people on here aren't doctors yet.

My supervisor said that it will be very difficult for me to do interviews with company owners/key decision makers on the phone. Therefore, I must go to this country.

I am actually forced to use the case study approach because the sample size is very limited. Is there 'another' method out there which can provide a researcher valid and reliable results with just a sample size of 5 or 6 participants at this level?

I will definitely try to take the primary and secondary data analysis into consideration. Thanks!

By the way, may I know your field? I am from a business related field.

Cheers

JH

I'm based in a management school.

If your doing a smaller n study, it normally means that there is a need to be more methodologically aware. So, 5 / 6 case studies is great but you should, just as everyone should, be wary of claims to generalise. Case studies might be more of a methodology than method per se. Using three methods + is good as you can hen write about triangulation.