Real-Time Cases

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

The real-time case study approach has several inherent advantages over other research designs. First, it allows researchers to take advantage of emerging themes and unique case features by being flexible and opportunistic in their data collection and analysis efforts. Second, because data are collected in real time, reliance on participants' memory to build accounts of events that may have occurred several months or even years before is significantly reduced. Third, a real-time case study alleviates the bias of post hoc justification by participants who may wish to position themselves in particular ways in the narrative. Fourth, given that [Page 784]the final endpoint of the research is unknown when the data are being collected, the researcher is less likely to be predisposed toward a particular outcome, decreasing the likelihood that competing or unusual solutions will go unnoticed or ignored.

Conducting research in real time provides researchers with the opportunity to make observations while events are unfolding. Observations are a perishable data source that cannot be utilized by researchers studying phenomena retrospectively. Thus, they provide a rich source of data from which to draw upon. This richness is augmented by the overlap of data collection and analysis. Real-time case researchers inevitably begin analyzing data while they are collected. If data are being collected in real time, these early analyses can facilitate adjustments during the course of the study, such as changing interview protocols or seeking new sources from which to obtain data. The real-time approach therefore provides a level of flexibility that retrospective archival investigations cannot.

When investigators use retrospective accounts of events it may be problematic to rely upon those accounts, because memories may fade and key events may be omitted and because when the outcome is known in advance the description of what transpired is often naturalizing or functional. A real-time approach can be used to alleviate all of these concerns. Interviewing participants as events unfold allows them to recount events that are fresh in their minds. Furthermore, observing events as they occur allows the researcher to construct a “rich” account of what took place. This rich account is what enables the researcher to compare the series of events that take place and examine “the roads not taken” in conjunction with the actual outcome. It is this richness that may eventually yield insightful theoretical statements.

When looking at events with the benefit of hindsight, individuals often tend to construct their own accounts on the basis of the socially desirable notion that their own actions led to favorable outcomes. Case research conducted in real time may reduce this bias because the outcome is unknown by the participants and thus positioning oneself on the right side of history is not possible because that history has not yet occurred. The uncertainty of the outcome also helps the researcher seek multiple explanations for a phenomenon and avoid a tendency that is common when the outcome is known, which is to lock onto one plausible explanation and seek evidence to support that explanation. In this way, openness to multiple outcomes privileges researchers employing the real-time approach with the mechanisms necessary to generate rich theoretical descriptions.

...