For a long time, case studies have been considered as a tool used in educational orientation that allows obtaining significant information about an individual at a given moment to establish the pertinent attention according to their potential or weaknesses; However, at present this conception has varied, since it is considered as an ideographic investigation that framed in a qualitative perspective allows to establish strategies for adequate decision-making and that according to the approaches of Ary (1987) is consolidated under the following objectives:
- Describe and analyze unique situations to guide the evaluation process. Generate hypotheses that contrast in other more rigorous studies. Complement the information provided by strictly quantitative research. Acquire knowledge.
For this reason it is considered an instance of internal action that must be contrasted by external evaluators, who can be experts, people from the community or representatives of the educational administration.
External evaluation by professional teams from similar institutions in the immediate environment may also be of great interest, so that both teams can reciprocally learn from their respective evaluation processes in order to contrast ideas, strategies and results.
For this reason, the model provides new spaces for managing institutional information by applying the participation process. It is necessary for the community to know, reflect and analyze before accepting changes imposed by external elements. The use of explicit and implicit materials is necessary; that is, the cultural relations of the environment with the center and vice versa.
To configure the validity of the case study, it is built under two ideologies, namely:
- Ideographic: because the results of the institutional evaluation through the study are not generalizable, each institution is presented as a unique and independent unit Nomotic: it is adjusted through comparison and can be located in the quantification of the data Descriptive: capacity to understand the meanings of the events in the environment that is under study.
Taking into account the approaches of Ary (1987), there are characteristics that distinguish this evaluation model, among which are mentioned:
- It is considered as a qualitative type of research. It allows identifying and communicating each of the educational and social phenomena, through the description. It is based on the collection of data from everyday life, in the form of a description of situations, activities and perspectives of people. It can focus on a single case of an individual or specific situation of an organization. A single case can lead to the generalization of different situations in the environment.
On the other hand, the same author points out that the teachers of the educational center must share the responsibility for this evaluation: initiative, rhythm, monitoring, control and treatment of the information.
Taking into account that, since not all those involved in the study can participate, work on the same, it is necessary to distribute responsibilities and select internal researchers to carry out the evaluation; For this, the institution will designate the management team, support team or the guidance department. For this, the case study process in an educational institution will be formed in several phases that are worth mentioning:
- Negotiation of the Process: where it is sought, accessibility to information sources, avoid misgivings about the use of the information collected, the use of instruments, favor contacts with people in the environment and make them the axis of interest, participation and interest of the evaluation, the use of the school space after hours, to form interviews with the representatives, the acceptance of partial reports and necessary contributions for the proper institutional functioning.
These aspects lead to participation that as such seeks the incorporation of the entire school community and access of the research team to the research sources deemed necessary for its evaluation. This procedure fosters a climate of trust during or after the evaluation process. Dialogue is promoted as a technique to achieve the objectives set out in the evaluation plan.
- The second phase is formed by the Initiation of the Process, where meetings will be held with the faculty to explain clearly; the purpose of the study, the content of the process, the treatment and use of the information, the confidentiality of the reports, the tasks for each of the parties and the timing and periodicity of each of the phases.
During this phase, the instruments to be applied during the case study in an educational institution are presented, where:
- Descriptive sheet of the study. List of the methodology and instruments to be developed during the process. Detailed explanation of each of the instruments that make up the evacuation. Evaluation team work guide
- This procedure gives rise to Triangulation and Continuity, which as a third phase seeks to give greater reliability and validity to the evaluation results through different techniques and means, among which are mentioned:
- The use of different methods to collect information. Management of different sources of information.
Triangulation, fundamentally, will be useful when a single form of information collection offers a very limited or limited vision of reality, when it is scarce or partial and when the phenomenon under study is complete.
- Information sources constitute the third phase of the process where people are the main source of information, as well as the documents they generate: teachers, department heads, parents, students, among others. The techniques and instruments to be applied should not be the same for all the people participating in the evaluation. The fifth phase is made up of the techniques and instruments to collect the information, among which are interviews, participant observation, field notes and researcher's diary., emptied of official documents.
After the preparation and treatment of the information, the triangulation is proceeded and the conclusions are progressively modified, and then the final report that will establish the evaluation in a constructive way is formed.
