Abstract
Educational research is one of the many fields of knowledge that frequently use case studies as a research method, particularly when applying an interpretive approach. Based on literature reviews and a systematic analysis of current scientific literature, this paper examines the prevalence and characteristics of the case study as a methodology for research on MOOCs. Ninety-two documents were selected from the search results returned by two of the most prestigious scientific databases: Web of Science (WOS) and SCOPUS. Findings showed that (a) even when searching solely for case studies, quantitative research paradigms were more prevalent than interpretive approaches; (b) geographical distribution of these studies was partially biased; (c) case studies were less prevalent in these databases than other empirical investigations on MOOCs; (d) the data collection and data analysis methods most frequently used in the case studies were more aligned with a quantitative approach; and (e) there is still very little instructor-focused research using this methodology. In the light of these findings and their discussion, future directions for research using case study methodology are proposed, given the potential of this method to illustrate certain issues for which other approaches have proved inadequate or insufficient.
Highlights
Introduction and Literature ReviewThe study of MOOCs is very diverse and encompasses many disciplines, fields of study, and ways of understanding research, both epistemologically and methodologically (Bates, 2014)
On analyzing the individual documents, based on the previously described method, it was found that 30 documents had used a quantitative approach, and 26 a qualitative approach; 25 had used mixed methods, and 11 an unclear/not explicit approach
It was observed that unless the keyword case study was included in the search query, the search results returned for the 25 most cited papers in the literature on MOOCs did not include any case studies
Summary
Introduction and Literature ReviewThe study of MOOCs is very diverse and encompasses many disciplines, fields of study, and ways of understanding research, both epistemologically and methodologically (Bates, 2014). Case study is an adequate, necessary method for certain research tasks in the field of social sciences (Flyvbjerg, 2006), and provided there is a large number of thoroughly executed case studies available, this approach contributes to better and more effective disciplines (Kuhn, 1987). The prevalence of this method in research on MOOCs (Kennedy, 2014; Raffaghelli, Cucchiara, & Persico, 2015) has varied over the past few years. The vast amount of techniques and methods for data collection and analysis that can be used for such studies has led some authors to explicitly state that “the case study survives in a curious methodological limbo” (Gerring, 2004, p. 341)
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