CASE STUDY
A case study is a research approach in which one or a few instances of a phenomenon are studied in depth. Case studies were the predominant research approach at the beginning of modern social science. For example, this is reflected in the work of the Austrian born anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski and the Chicago School of sociology, both of which embraced case study research.
Case studies focus on one or a few instances, phenomena, or units of analysis, but they are not restricted to one observation and boundaries are not clear.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Case Studies
The main difference between case studies and experiments is that in experiments cases are created by the researcher and factors of influence can be controlled.
It is broadly accepted that case studies have been the major source of theoretical innovation.
Case studies are often concerned with pinning down the specific mechanisms and pathways between causes and effects rather than revealing the average strength of a factor that causes an effect.
Even positivist methodologists accept that case studies have a strong comparative advantage with respect to the “depth” of the analysis, where depth can be understood as empirical completeness and natural wholeness or as conceptual richness and theoretical consistency.
Case studies have advantages with respect to construct and internal validity. The argument for better construct validity is based on the fact that case studies can use more and more diverse indicators for representing a theoretical concept and for securing the internal validity of causal inferences and/or theoretical interpretations for these cases.
Three Different Views on Case Studies are naturalism, positivism, and constructivism.
Choosing Cases
There are several appropriate designs for case studies (according to Yin -1994 and Winston- 1997) such as exploratory, explanatory, and descriptive.
Exploratory Case Studies: When conducting exploratory case studies, fieldwork and data collection may be undertaken before defining a research question. This type of study may be seen as a prelude to a large social scientific study. The study must have some type of organizational framework that has been designed prior to beginning the research.
Explanatory Case Studies: Explanatory case studies are useful when conducting causal studies. Particularly in complex studies of organizations or communities, one might desire to employ multivariate cases to examine a plurality of influences. This might be accomplished using a pattern-matching technique suggested by Yin and Moore (1988).
Descriptive Case Studies: Descriptive case explorations require that the investigator present a descriptive theory, which establishes the overall framework for the investigator to follow throughout the study. This approach is the formation and identification of a viable theoretical orientation before enunciating research questions.
Yin (1994, p. 20), in creating formal designs for case-study investigations recommends five component elements:
1- Study questions
2- Study propositions (if any are being used) or theoretical framework
3- Identification of the unit(s) of analysis
4- The logical linking of the data to the propositions (or theory)
5- The criteria for interpreting the findings
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