Introduction
This article is a qualitative case study describing and interpreting the intervention by a campus towards a gun shooting case whereby a certain student tried to shoot his classmate. Therefore, this case study entails a well-detailed explanation of the gun incident encompassing the initial weeks prior to the incident, gave information regarding the campus, the city as well as the building where the incident took place (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995).
Due to limited literature concerning gun violence on college campuses, the authors situated the need for study within literature related to gun violence in public schools and, more specifically, strategic intervention plans for schools, individual school’s case studies as well as psychological trauma resulting from homicides. Data were gathered via multiple sources including, audiovisual materials, documents, interviews, and also observations (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995). These data were summarized however; the authors did not interview the students who were being canceled due to the gunman incident as well as the gunman himself.
After analyzing the data, themes of campus planning, fear, retriggering, safety and denial were established. The researchers recommended a campus plan to address and respond to such violence occurring in campuses and also offered a radical question to be taken into consideration when establishing the campus plan (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995). The researchers also gave their individual view through the presentation of information regarding the extent of the data collection as well as the number of questions and specific questions that needed to be resolved for the preparation of the campus plan responding to the situation. This study ended with a summary that described the details, including edited quotations obtained from informants as well as explaining our events interpretations, specifically an interpretation in a psychological and organizational setting (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995). The ultimate theme emphasized on the necessity of the campus in designing a plan that would respond to another different incident while practically implicating on the study for the people in the campus.
The following information depicts how this study uses the case study:
- This article identified the case of the study, including the whole campus as well as the campus’ capacity to respond to a possibly violent crime.
- This case included six month of data gathering in one campus.
- Our intent was to report a single, instrumental case study.
- The case in this study was a bounded system, limited to the reactions of a single case, the group on campus, and by a time of 8 months (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995).
- This case study should not be seen as an intrinsic case study because campus violence is prevalent on several college campuses.
- The intention of the research focused in reporting an investigative qualitative research opted due to the unavailability of variables and models to be used to assess the campus intervention to such a gun case in campuses (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995).
- Data collection sources, such as the two-week chronology of each event were inserted to provide details about the incident.
- Description of the context or setting (classroom, building, and tranquil campus) was provided along with detailed events following the incident.
- Five themes throughout the study were listed by the researchers.
- Assertions were included of two overriding responses of the campus community and the assertions were supported by current literature.
Broad, multiple types of sources of information when collecting data were used in providing a detailed comprehensive understanding of the response developed by the campus (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995).