Dissertation Methodology

Merriam-centered case design.

This studio helps explain why the dissertation is best framed as a qualitative-dominant convergent mixed methods case study in Merriam's interpretive tradition, with a case bounded conceptually by the framework and temporally rather than by a single site. Stake and Yin remain useful comparison lenses, but Merriam supplies the controlling fit.

Epistemological Coordinate Plane

Move the study node to see how different methodological positions change the committee-facing defense. The default location starts in the Merriam zone because the dissertation is a conceptually and temporally bounded interpretive case study, not a single site.

Holistic / Experiential

Structured / Propositional

Constructivist / Interpretive

Postpositivist / Realist

EpistemologyPragmatic interpretive

HermeneuticPragmaticRealist

Design structureCase-bounded

EmergentBounded casePropositional

Alignment Profile

Merriam-centered case designConceptually and temporally bounded interpretive inquiry

Stake as naturalistic/experiential comparisonIssue-centered, lived, relational case meanings

Yin as structured/propositional comparisonCase propositions, strict convergence, realist logic

Optimized Merriam Alignment

The study is positioned as an interpretive, conceptually and temporally bounded case with mixed-methods support.

Defense translation

Merriam's Interpretive Perspective

The study uses a conceptually and temporally bounded case to understand how educators and school-system actors construct meaning around pedagogical friction under generative AI conditions.

This study employs a qualitative-dominant convergent mixed methods case design in Merriam's interpretive tradition to produce rich descriptive and thematic analysis of how educators make meaning of pedagogical friction within a conceptually and temporally bounded K-12 case.

Controlling Fit

Merriam

Best fit for an interpretive educational case study where the goal is descriptive and thematic understanding of a bounded problem of practice.

Comparison Lens

Stake

Useful for protecting experiential depth and lived meaning, especially for educator narratives and retrospective learner accounts.

Defense Foil

Yin

Useful for explaining what the study is not: a primarily proposition-testing or causal-explanatory case study.

Cross-Theoretical Methodological Framework

This comparison keeps the dissertation language precise without overclaiming. The mixed-methods design supports the qualitative case through triangulation, joint displays, and meta-inferences.

Dimension	Stake	Merriam	Yin
Epistemological stance	Naturalistic and experiential	Pragmatic, interpretive	Postpositivist and realist
Case boundary	Flexible issue-centered case	Conceptually and temporally bounded case, not a single site	Strictly specified case logic
Role of framework	Sensitizing guide	Analytic scaffold for descriptive/thematic inquiry	Proposition to test
Mixed-methods function	Contextual enrichment	Support for the qualitative-dominant case	Strict convergence and corroboration

Methodological sources

The references behind this alignment

The three-way positioning of Merriam, Stake, and Yin on this page follows Yazan's comparative reading of their case-study traditions. Merriam supplies the controlling interpretive, bounded-case logic; Stake and Yin are retained as comparison lenses.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. Jossey-Bass. (See also Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, 4th ed.)

Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Sage.

Yin, R. K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications (6th ed.). Sage.

Yazan, B. (2015). Three approaches to case study methods in education: Yin, Merriam, and Stake. The Qualitative Report, 20(2), 134–152.