Experience

Conceptual Overview

Unlike other forms of research, research methods in the social sciences are often experiential. The act of doing research is as vital a part of the data collection as the data themselves. This is because many qualitative methodologies are firmly connected to the human aspect of data collection. In the social sciences, humans gather data from other humans, and both researchers and as subjects are capable of self-reflection. This differs from the nonreflective subject of the natural sciences. For many, this arguably presents a problem with the qualitative methods that are sometimes used in the social sciences to gather data on subjects capable of self-reflection. If humans are interviewing and talking to other human beings, then the data can be, some would say, skewed by numerous factors that come into play when people interact. For others, however, such argumentation is weak since all research designed and carried out by humans—regardless of the method—is a human endeavor and potentially marred by various levels of human fault and inconsistency. The concept of “experience” then becomes vitally important as a part of the training, data collection, and teaching tools in case study research.

Application

Experience in case study research can be viewed two ways. First, there is the experience of the researchers who complete the case study. Their experience includes both the act of collecting the data and the interpretation and theorization extending from the data. This experience, made available to others, is valuable in the process of creating comparative analyses, preparing for research in general (creating a research design/proposal), or teaching. Second, the reader's experience is important in terms of assessing and applying the case study. Through comparing and contrasting experiences, richer, more detailed case studies can be developed.

One of the benefits of illustrating one's own experience in case study research is that it can effectively allow others to see how an experienced researcher has dealt with various research settings. While research settings are rarely duplicated in the social sciences, having exposure to the specific research experiences of others usually means that some aspects will overlap with one's own research situations. If the experiences of others, as presented in case studies—or in the form of critical “stories from the field”—are made available, then the panoply of possible problems and outcomes in research becomes more easily imagined. In addition to the pragmatic value of research experience, researchers' experience in varied research settings enables them to interpret and analyze subsequent experiences of data collection. Part of social science research training is a fine-tuning of the individual's ability to “read” ambiguous or “messy” human interactions. Of course, the researcher is often part of these interactions, thus researchers [Page 367]have to be able to manage their current social and emotional states while interpreting them in light of past personal research experience and the integration of knowledge from others who have worked in similar situations.

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