Quality Control Case

It is widely accepted, that curiosity is one of the most distinguishable characteristics of human nature. So, it can be deduced that it is hardly impossible for people to stop acquiring knowledge. On a daily basis all of us have to deal with a considerable amount of updating, ideas and views on different things. At this crucial point the obvious question is, if we are not particularly aware of the new information, we accept everything as fact or we search further to gather evidence in order to understand and prove as true all the information, concepts and opinions? This is what research is aiming at, to combine different process, tools, scientific procedures, theories and applications, examine, compare, revise and assess the possible outcome in hope of earning knowledge or generate it. There are two dominant kinds of research known as qualitative and quantitative research (creswell, 2007).Qualitative research is mostly interested in human nature, whereas quantitative research is more scientific. The main purpose of this project is to introduce and critically evaluate the following research techniques: case studies, questionnaires and interviews to all possible readers by giving some examples of applications of these research methods in academic accounting and finance literature.

        In agreement with (Robert. K, 2009),case study as a research tool, can be utilized in many different situations, to improve or pursue knowledge of a specific group, organizational, social, political and other associated phenomena. The imperative need for the adoption of case study as a research technique is the craving of human nature to understand complex social phenomena. To back this statement (Silverman, 2010) supports that the main idea of this method is only one case or even a smaller number of cases to be examined in every detail by utilizing any method that seems to fit in the basic idea. On the one hand, in the same line with (Silverman, 2010),not only (creswell, 2007) and (Broomley, 1986),but a considerable amount of researchers assumes that case study is a qualitative approach of research that uses in depth examination of a limited number of people, information to pilot and back hypothesis. Via this method, examiners investigate one or even a number of cases over time, gathering different kind of information for further study. For example, interpreting and understanding accounts can be the main idea of a case study. On the other hand (Robert. K, 2009)Actively debates the opinion that case study is a qualitative research as he states that case study is a mixture of both, qualitative and quantitative data to be analyzed and gather evidence.  

There are as many advantages as many disadvantages by the adoption of case study as an approach to carry out a research. On the one hand, there are many positive sides of selecting a case study as a research tool, this method can be beneficial for conducting a research as it grants a deep insight at all phases of the analysis, this is one of the reasons why many researchers use this method when have to represent reliable and dependable data. Moreover this approach can also be helpful to prompt an advanced theoretical way of thinking, when testing a completely new theory and gather new material that suits in many cases, to be more specific case studies result in providing a qualitative knowledge after having first a practical experience on the issue. In contrast to this, in the same line with (Flyvbierg, 2006)it is widely accepted that case studies equip their analyzers with practical knowledge which rivals the more theoretical one, which seems to be an obstacle for the science. Another significant advantage of the method is that when it is compared with other methods, it can be extracted that it does not constraints the analyzers especially at the beginning as it gives them the freedom to move in different directions. In turn, case studies can be a good source of chasing knowledge and ideas about rare phenomena and behaviors. On the other hand, there are quite many disadvantages of the case study, as stated by (George, A.L. & Bennett, A., 2004), it is very difficult to present cause- effect conclusions, this happens why case studies focus more on gaining knowledge from the topics that are examined. In sequence, it does not seem to be so easy to establish validity or credibility in agreement with  (Bradshaw,1999) and (Keating & Krumholz, 1999) it is consolidated that in many situations the case selection is biased and that the data collection  decision can be subjective due to the fact that one investigator only gathers and examines all the information. Finally, all the data collected are unique to a particular topic so it is very hard to generalize from a specific case.

Summarizing the above, case study as a research method can be mostly preferred for doing a survey or examine a unique – rare issue. Although it considers to be a light research and this is because the possible investigators do not follow methodical procedures but set their own rules, it is notably hard. For example, it is pretty challenging for a researcher to identify his or her case and then decide whether to examine one or multiple case. Also, it is considered to be quite demanding for an analyzer to have to decide the boundaries of a case, for instance how it will be restricted in terms of time, facts and procedures to be followed so as not to be subjective. The out coming result is that quality case studies are  still difficult to do as the skills required for conducting a research like this are not formally defined.