The FACES Embedded Case Study: Documenting the Methodology and Early Findings

Publication Date: April 15, 1999
Current as of:

The goal of the FACES case study is to provide a more complete profile of Head Start families and children, their neighborhoods, and the nature of their interactions with Head Start. The case study will support and expand on the findings from the larger FACES study, pursue research questions independent of the larger study, and generate hypotheses for future research.

The FACES case study integrates two methodological or analytic strategies. The first strategy integrates qualitative and quantitative data from the case study with data from the FACES parent interview to produce a narrative for each family in the case study. The second strategy involves content coding the families’ responses to open-ended questions.

The purpose of this poster presentation is twofold: First, to demonstrate the unique contributions of this methodology, which combines multiple within-case and across-case methods and analyses with qualitative and quantitative data. Second, to present early findings from the case study including a typical family narrative and emergent themes from across-case data analyses in the following two areas of interest: 1) the expressed goals, hopes, and aspirations Head Start families have for their children and 2) perceptions of their neighborhoods’ strengths and weaknesses as a place to raise their child.