Neumann (2006) opines that case study refers to ‘‘an in-depth study of one particular case in which the case may be a person, a school, a group of people, an organization, a community, an event, a
86 movement, or geographical unit’’ (p. 40). Cohen et al., (2011) add that case study most often than not is often used within qualitative research and Rule and John (2011) agreeing with these, add another definition of case study as a systematic and comprehensive exploration of a specific example in its context in order to generate data. The experiences of teen mothers of psycho-social support services provided in a secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal can likewise be studied as a case study.
Neumann (2006) opines that case study deals with a phenomenon or example in detail analyses scrupulously the different kinds of examples or phases that the life cycle of the phenomenon being explored. Within this study, teen mothers in a secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal is the case under study and the unit of exploration is their experiences of psycho-social support services provided to them in school. Cohen et al. (2007, p. 253) pointed out that ‘‘case studies are conducted in a specific temporary, geographic and institutional context’’, as such this secondary school were chosen because of the large number of teen mothers within it and the psycho-social support services being offered to help them go through school.
Neumann (2006) postulates that most often than not, case studies use a variety of data generation methods like interviews, participant observation, maps, photos, documents, newspapers, and records in a single case. This study which aims at capturing lived experiences of the participants’
perceptions, thoughts, reactions and meaning making process (Cohen et al. 2007) about the psycho- social support services provided to teen mothers in a secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal utilizes different data generation methods to get rich in a depth data about the phenomenon. Denzin and Lincoln (2003) argue that one of the primary benefits of case study is that it gives the reader a real life experience and offers a detailed and complete account of a phenomenon or an example and tangible insight that would enable the reader understand and relate with (in some cases) the experiences of the participants.
87 Yin (2009) outlines four major designs of case study which he refers to as; embedded single case design, single case design, embedded multiple-case design and multiple case designs. The single case design primarily deals with a critical example, revelatory or novel example (that is; a case which has never been researched before), an exclusive example, a longitudinal example, a representative example or an extreme example. The embedded single case design focuses on more than one component of analysis and this component is amalgamated into the design. For example, a case of a whole country might also use sub-units like provinces, regions or states, ministries, arms of the government, ethnic groups, languages, cities, towns, villages, school, universities, and companies and all the sub categories may need a separate data generation tool or instrument. The multiple case design centres around more than one case study or focuses on more than one case study, for example a comparative analyses of two case studies within a study or case study where the two sub categories make up the case under study. In this case a researcher might want to repeat the results of a particular case (e.g. a private school) to that of another (a government school or university) to produce a wide- ranging and trustworthy result. The embedded multiple case design, just like the multiple case design, also centres around a variety of cases or more than one case study, but the difference between the two is that, the embedded multiple case design takes it further by bringing in multiple different sub categories or units in each of the cases (for example two schools government and private pitched together and under this two main cases sub categories like students, teachers, buildings, administrators are used simultaneously for both cases) and by using a wide variety of data generation instruments like interviews, questionnaires, participant observations, documents, photos, reflective journals and reports in the generation of data.
Cohen et al. (2011) indicate their major types of case study which are: the descriptive, the explanatory, and the exploratory. The explanatory case study primarily deals with the testing of existing theories or ideas. They seek to investigate why and how a certain occurrence did happen by
88 suggesting “clues to possible cause-and-effect relationships” (Yin, 2003a, p. 7). While the descriptive case study gears towards generating rich, thick and detailed narrative information about a particular case or example with the aim of developing a theory which fully informs the particulars of an experience and which provides answers to diverse questions presented by the theoretical constructs (Yin, 2003b). The exploratory case study on the other hand refers to a case study wherein
“fieldwork and data generation are undertaken prior to the final definition of study questions and hypotheses” (Yin, 2003a, p. 6). The exploratory case study digs into a renowned phenomenon and offers a stage for the researcher to gain comprehensive information about the phenomenon. This research is therefore conducted as an exploratory case study using a single case design since it provides the researcher with a platform where the detailed experiences of teen mothers of psycho- social support services provided in a secondary school can be explored. For Mills, Eurepos and Wiebe (2010) an exploratory case study blends perfectly with social constructivism and with social constructivism being the theoretical framework of the study, exploratory case study is the obvious choice.
There were other reasons for the choice of case study research within this study. One of them was the limited availability of cases. Though teenage pregnancy and teen motherhood is a challenge in South Africa not all schools have teen mothers and not all of the teen mothers in the school were willing to participate within the study. Also identifying teen mothers is another issue since it is not a disability which can be easily recognized. The limited number of teen mothers within secondary school informed the choice of case study research. Secondly, the nature of the research questions was another reason why case study research was chosen. Yin (2003a) points out that, case studies are preferable when what, why and how questions are being asked. As earlier discussed in chapter one of this study, this study is all about explaining what the experiences of teen mothers are and how these experience can be improved through the improvement of psycho-social support services. The nature
89 of the event or phenomenon under exploration was another reason for choosing case study research.
Yin (200b3) opines that case studies are preferable when contemporary issues are being investigated and when behaviour cannot be changed or controlled. Since teenage motherhood and experiences are things which cannot be easily controlled, case study was chosen to investigate them. Yin (2003) and Thomas (2011b) add that case studies present the complete study of a phenomenon. Since an in- depth, rich and detailed exploration of teen mothers’ experiences was what this study was after case study research was the only way of getting it.