A case of what?
Methodological lessons from a reanalysis of conflicts within Swedish Juvenile Care
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v8i2.102Keywords:
social work, youth care, collaboration, alliance, struggle, organizations, conflict points of interest, case study, qualitative research, ethnographic, field observation, interviewAbstract
“Collaboration” is generally portrayed as being beneficial to authorities, even if previous collaborative research shows that conflicts are common between authorities who are supposed to cooperate. What takes place when different actors in the collaboration meet in practice? And what is the best way to analyse this? In qualitative studies, it is often problematic to go from an exhaustive analysis of individual empirical instances to an overall picture of the context or phenomenon in which all instances taken together can be viewed as a case. Years of close engagement with the data may interfere with the analyst’s capacities and opportunities to contextualize a study more broadly and theoretically, and detailed knowledge about a range of situations in the field may make novel contextualizations difficult. This article discusses how to overcome such obstacles, using examples from a study about a “collaboration” project in Swedish youth care.
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Reitan, T. C. (1997). Municipal Checks and County Balances. The referral process for substance abusers in Vest-Agder. Universitetet i Bergen, Institutt for administrasjon og organisasjonsvitenska.
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative Analysis. Qualitative Research, Method Series 30. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage.
Schruijer, S. G. L. (2008). The Social Psychology of Inter-organizational Relations. In S. Cropper, M. Ebers, C. Huxham, & R. P. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Inter-organizational Relations (pp. 417-440). New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
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SiS (2006). Samordnarrollen inom Vårdkedjeprojekt ungdom – MVG. [The coordinator role in enhanced care chain of care for young people - MVG]. Stockholm: Statens institutionsstyrelse.
Söderholm, C. K., & A. Hermodsson (2004). ADAD och utvecklingen av ett dokumentationssystem för ungdomar. [ADAD and the development of a documentation system for young people]. Nordisk sosialt arbeid, 24(2): 110-123.
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Anell, A., & Mattisson, O. (2009). Samverkan i kommuner och landsting – en kunskapsöversikt. [Collaboration in local government - a knowledge overview]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Axelsson, R., & Bihari Axelsson S. (2007). Samverkan och folkhälsa – begrepp, teorier och praktisk tillämpning. [Collaboration and public health - concepts, theories and practical application]. I R. Axelsson, & S. Bihari Axelsson (Eds.), Folkhälsa i samverkan mellan professioner, organisationer och samhällssektorer [Public health and collaboration between professions, organizations and society] (11-32). Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Basic, G. (2012). Samverkan blir kamp. En sociologisk analys av ett projekt i ungdomsvården [When collaboration becomes a struggle. A sociological analysis of a project in Swedish juvenile care]. Lund: Lunds universitet, Sociologiska institution.
Basic G., Thelander, J., & Åkerström, M. (Eds.) (2009). Vårdkedja för ungdomar eller professionella? En processutvärdering av projektet ”Motverka våld och gäng” [A ‘Treatment Chain’ for Young People or the Professionals? A Process Evaluation of the ‘Counteract Violence and Gangs’- Project in Sweden]. Stockholm: Statens. Institutionsstyrelse, Forskningsrapport 2009:5.
Becker, H. S. (1970). Sociological Work – Method and Substance. Chicago: Alan Lane, The Penguin Press.
Becker, H. S. (1992). Cases, causes, conjunctures, stories, and imagery, pp. 205- 216. In C. C. Ragin, & H. S. Becker (Eds.) 1992, What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bergmark, Å., & Lundström, T. (2007). Unitarian ideals and professional diversity in social work practice – the case of Sweden. European Journal of Social Work, 10(1):55-72.
Bolin, A. (2011). Shifting Subordination. Co-located interprofessional collaboration between teachers and social workers. Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, Institutionen för Socialt Arbete.
Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Caplow, T. (1968). Two against one. Coalitions in triads. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs.
Danermark, B., & Kullberg, C. (1999). Samverkan. Välfärdsstatens nya arbetsform. [Collaboration. Welfare state new work form]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Fangen, K. (2005). Deltagande observation. [Participant observation]. Malmö: Liber.
Flybjerg, B. (2003/2004). Fem missförstånd om fallstudieforskning [Five misunderstandings about case-study research], Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, 106(3):185-206.
Goffman, E. (1959/1990). The presentation of self in everyday life. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Hardy, C., Lawrence, T. B., & Grant, D. (2005). Discourse and Collaboration: The Role of Conversations and Collective Identity. The Academy of Management Review, 30(1):58-77.
Hjortsjö, M. (2006). Med samarbete i sikte. Om samordnade insatser och samlokaliserade familjecentraler. [With cooperation in sight. Concerted efforts and co-located family centers]. Lund: Lunds universitet, Socialhögskola.
Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (1995). The active interview. Qualitative Research, Method Series 37. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage.
Huxham, C., & Beech, N. (2008). Inter-organizational Power. In S. Cropper, M. Ebers, C. Huxham, & R. P. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Inter- organizational Relations (pp. 555-579). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Huxham, C., & Vangen, S. (2005). Managing to collaborate. The theory and practice of collaborative advantage. New York: Routledge.
Johansson, S. (2011). Rätt, makt och institutionell förändring. En kritisk analys av myndigheternas samverkan i barnahus. [Law, power and institutional change. A critical analysis of public agencies’ collaboration in Barnahus]. Lund: Lunds universitet, Rättsociologiska enheten.
Kusenbach, M. (2003). Street Phenomenology: The Go-Along as Ethnographic Research Tool. Ethnography, 4(3): 455-485.
Lindberg, K. (2009) Samverkan. [Collaboration]. Malmö: Liber.
Lundström, T., Sallnäs, M., & Andersson Vogel, M. (2012). Utvärdering av en förstärkt vårdkedja för ungdomar som vårdats vid SiS-institution. Slutrapport. [Evaluation of an enhanced care chain of care for young people at an SiS institution. Final report] Stockholm: Statens Institutionsstyrelse, Institutionsvard i fokus 2012: 2.
Potter, J. (1996/2007). Representing Reality. Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage Publications.
Ragin, C. C. (1992). “Casing” and the Process of Social Inquiry, pp. 217-226. In C. C. Ragin, & H. S. Becker (Eds.) 1992, What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ragin, C. C. & Becker, S. H. (Eds.) (1992). What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rasmusson, B. (2009) Analys, bedömning och beslut i utredningar enligt BBIC. [Analysis, assessment and decisions in investigations under BBIC]. Stockholm: Socialstyrelsen.
Reitan, T. C. (1998). Theories of Interorganizational Relations in the Human Services. Social Service Review, 72(3): 285-310.
Reitan, T. C. (1997). Municipal Checks and County Balances. The referral process for substance abusers in Vest-Agder. Universitetet i Bergen, Institutt for administrasjon og organisasjonsvitenska.
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative Analysis. Qualitative Research, Method Series 30. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage.
Schruijer, S. G. L. (2008). The Social Psychology of Inter-organizational Relations. In S. Cropper, M. Ebers, C. Huxham, & R. P. Smith (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Inter-organizational Relations (pp. 417-440). New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Silverman, D. (1993/2006). Interpreting Qualitative Data. Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction. London: Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage.
Simmel, G. (1908/70). Kamp! [Conflict and The Web Of Group Affiliations]. Uppsala: Argos.
Simmel, G. (1950/1964). The Sociology of George Simmel. Translated, edited and introduced by Kurt H. Wolff. New York: Glencoe Press.
SiS (2006). Samordnarrollen inom Vårdkedjeprojekt ungdom – MVG. [The coordinator role in enhanced care chain of care for young people - MVG]. Stockholm: Statens institutionsstyrelse.
Söderholm, C. K., & A. Hermodsson (2004). ADAD och utvecklingen av ett dokumentationssystem för ungdomar. [ADAD and the development of a documentation system for young people]. Nordisk sosialt arbeid, 24(2): 110-123.
Wieviorka, M. (1992). Case Studies: History or Sociology?, pp. 159-172. In C. C. Ragin, & H. S. Becker (Eds.) 1992, What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Published
2013-10-01
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Basic, G. (2013). A case of what? Methodological lessons from a reanalysis of conflicts within Swedish Juvenile Care. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 8(2), 222–250. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v8i2.102
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