In the social sciences, the term “case study” refers to: 1) a method of analysis and 2) a specific research design for examining a problem. The goal for case studies is to begin to identify themes and patterns that can be used to generalize findings across defined population(s) or across context(s).
A case study paper examines a person, place, event, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate key themes and results that add to existing information used to predict future trends, or illuminate previously hidden problems. A case study paper should provide a means for understanding an important problem with greater clarity. A case study research paper usually examines a single subject of analysis, but case study papers can also be designed as a comparative investigation that shows relationships between two or more subjects.
In this class, you will engage in a few activities that are specific to crime and justice topics. The goal is for you to gain better insight into the way one would analyze constructions of crime and justice while remaining critical about what the work does to reproduce existing narratives on the topic over time. You can use any of the methods practiced during the case study assignments for your media analysis paper later in the class.
CASE STUDY 2 INSTRUCTIONS
For this case study, you will choose two media sources in combination to analyze the coverage with a central narrative around crime, violence, segments of the justice system, social harm, hate speech, hate violence or any other form of social problem that you can IMAGINE is somehow, someway connected to crime and justice.
You are going to analyze several forms of the same media (for example, 5 news articles covering Sandy Hook and 5 YouTube videos covering Sandy Hook). You should note things like: who is covered in the stories, who creates stories by this media source, what experts (if any) are cited throughout the media depictions analyzed, what is the potential impact (you can define this in many ways but truly put forth effort into this part regardless); what is their work doing to frame an issue, and if accessible – how often is their content viewed, followed, etc. – at minimum elaborate on that part from a consumer and consumption lens, not just a ‘news media created this for passive viewers — it should be more complex than this).
News articles = at least 5 articles from various sources, acknowledge them and their power in constructing a narrative
YouTube videos = at least 3 videos, total length should be at least 2 minutes in length each (if it doesn’t reach this then watch another or add another to equate this)
Blog = at least 5 blog posts
Documentary = at least 60 min in length; if it’s a docs-series it should equate this across episodes viewed
Feel free to get creative on what choices of media you use, just be sure you choose two types of media (with their minimum number of “dada” – such as articles above or videos above) to analyze for this assignment on a similar/same event.
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QUESTIONS
1) What did you choose? How long was it – or how many articles, posts, etc. were included?
2) Who is/are the Director(s)/Producer(s)/Publisher(s)/Content creator(s) of your selected media for this case study? Did they consult experts in the creation of this? Did they refer to anyone of expertise in the media itself? If so, whom? If not, would you suggest they do that to be more accurate?
3) Provide a brief summary of the patterns and themes of crime and justice you observed while analyzing the media you chose for this case study.
4) Who consumes this form of media? Who is the target audience? Please feel free to add anything interesting you learned or thoughts that ‘struck’ you while researching/investigating this related to consumption.
5) What messages do the depictions of crime and justice are portrayed to the audience? What do they do to shape the general public or viewer’s understanding of crime and justice? Can you see this have an impact on criminal justice policy?
6) Can you relate this to anything you’ve learned about in the class? If so, what? [Alternatively, feel free to answer this question instead: Can you relate your observations to anything you’ve learned in any CRIM, CJ, or other related classes you’ve taken while at EWU? If so, what specifically?]
REMEMBER: A case study paper “examines a person, place, event, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate key themes and results that add to existing information used to predict future trends, or illuminate previously hidden problems”. Often, news articles, TV shows and documentaries have a great impact on what we come to know about a certain topic. Your critical review of this and summary should be written in a way to educate someone on a few themes related to crime and justice found in this. Write it as if you’re watching with your friends, taking notes on it as you’re watching, and you’re leading a discussion after you all have viewed it to connect it back to crime, justice and society.
