Repeated Observations

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Repetitions of observations can reveal changes in patterns of behavior over time and in different circumstances. For example, repeating observations of how children in playgrounds relate to one another at various times of the day might reveal that children are more aggressive immediately before meals. The analysis of repeated observations in such a case would not have provided insight into why the children became aggressive at these times. It may, however, alert the researcher to examine other evidence within the case, such as the children's socioeconomic status. Repeated observations often reveal processes hidden from immediate view, including timing of the phenomenon under study in regard to critical junctures and pathways.

The major advantage of repeated observations is that they can expose similarities and differences that occur in behavior or response over time, in different settings, or among different people. This in turn helps to identify consistencies, inconsistencies, transitions, and the trajectory of the phenomenon under study. For example, in a case study about adjustment to university a researcher might ask university students interview questions or provide a survey questionnaire to the students three times in their first semester. Commonalities and differences across multiple observations may suggest some preliminary conclusions. Students' assertions in the first interview that homesickness was a significant concern and their failure to mention this in the final interview might lead the researcher to a conjecture that homesickness is no longer a concern following the initial adjustment period.

Robert Yin considers repeated observations to be a “lesser” form of case study analysis because of its narrow focus; that is, it does not reflect the complexity of the case. He recommends that repeated observations be augmented by analysis of the whole case. Because analysis of repeated observations focuses on the identification of patterns, relying on this as a sole means of case analysis might cause the researcher to overlook some of the relevant aspects of individual cases, in particular the meaning of such data.

Case study research that draws on repeated observations faces many of the same challenges as longitudinal case study research. For example, a common challenge is retaining participants in a study entailing multiple data collection points. An additional issue is subject and researcher burden. Asking people to participate in multiple interviews, for example, has implications for their time and energy commitments that might result in subject attrition. As well, requiring the researcher to engage participants in multiple settings or on more than one occasion has resource implications.

Application

The uses of repeated observations by means of quantitative or qualitative data collection strategies are discussed in detail by Eva Carlsson, Anna Ehrenberg, and Margareta Ehnfors and by Dorothy Leonard-Barton. In Sweden, Carlsson and colleagues used repeated observations in the form of multiple interviews and participant observation of mealtimes to document the changes that stroke survivors experienced in eating as they recovered from the stroke. In comparing the repeated observations, the researchers recognized that the process of relearning to eat following a stroke is one that varies according to the stage of recovery, from preoccupation with the limitations resulting from the stroke to acceptance of the changes. Leonard-Barton investigated the development and deployment of artificial intelligence computer software in a company. She conducted a series of interviews, surveys, document analyses, and observations at one organizational site and discovered that there were differences in the manager's public discourse about the innovation and his private memos to company employees. She pointed out that it was in the analysis of all data (i.e., repeated observations in regard to interview, survey, observational, and document data) that she gained an in-depth understanding of the case.

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