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Practical guidance for the use of a pattern‐matching technique in case‐study research: A case presentation
Author(s) -
Almutairi Adel F.,
Gardner Glenn E.,
McCarthy Alexandra
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1111/nhs.12096
Subject(s) - matching (statistics) , computer science , diversity (politics) , presentation (obstetrics) , process (computing) , quality (philosophy) , management science , data science , medicine , sociology , engineering , epistemology , philosophy , anthropology , radiology , operating system , pathology
This paper reports on a study that demonstrates how to apply pattern matching as an analytical method in case‐study research. Case‐study design is appropriate for the investigation of highly‐contextualized phenomena that occur within the social world. Case‐study design is considered a pragmatic approach that permits employment of multiple methods and data sources in order to attain a rich understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. The findings from such multiple methods can be reconciled in case‐study analysis, specifically through a pattern‐matching technique. Although this technique is theoretically explained in the literature, there is scant guidance on how to apply the method practically when analyzing data. This paper demonstrates the steps taken during pattern matching in a completed case‐study project that investigated the influence of cultural diversity in a multicultural nursing workforce on the quality and safety of patient care. The example highlighted in this paper contributes to the practical understanding of the pattern‐matching process, and can also make a substantial contribution to case‐study methods.