Case study

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A case study is a report about a person, group, or situation that has not been studied.[1] If the case study, for
instance, is about a group, it describes the behavior of the group as the behavior of each individual, not the
behavior of whole in the group.

Case studies can be produced by following a informal research method. These case studies are likely to appear
in formal research venues, as journals and professional conferences, rather than popular works. The resulting
body of 'case study research' has long had a prominent place in many disciplines and professions, ranging from
psychology, anthropology, sociology, and political science to education, clinical science, social work, and
administrative science.[2][3]

In doing case study research, the "case" being studied may be an individual, organization, event, or action,
existing in a specific time and place. For instance, clinical science has produced both well-known case studies
of individuals and also case studies of clinical practices.[4][5][6] However, when "case" is used in an abstract
sense, as in a claim, a proposition, or an argument, such a case can be the subject of many research methods,
not just case study research. Case studies may involve both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Case studies in research may be mistaken for the case method used in teaching.

Contents
1 Case selection and structure
2 Types of case studies
3 Generalizing from case studies
4 History
5 Related uses
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Case selection and structure

An average, or typical case, is often not the richest in information. In clarifying lines of history and causation it
is more useful to select subjects that offer an interesting, unusual or particularly revealing set of circumstances.
A case selection that is based on representativeness will seldom be able to produce these kinds of insights.
When selecting a subject for a case study, researchers will therefore use information-oriented sampling, as
opposed to random sampling. Outlier cases (that is, those which are extreme, deviant or atypical) reveal more
information than the potentially representative case. Alternatively, a case may be selected as a key case, chosen
because of the inherent interest of the case or the circumstances surrounding it. Alternatively it may be chosen
because of a researchers' in-depth local knowledge; where researchers have this local knowledge they are in a
position to "soak and poke" as Fenno[7] puts it, and thereby to offer reasoned lines of explanation based on this
rich knowledge of setting and circumstances.

Four types of cases may thus be distinguished for selection:

1. Key cases
2. Outlier cases
3. Local knowledge cases
 4. Comparative case studies.

Whatever the frame of reference for the choice of the subject of the case study (key, outlier, local knowledge),
there is a distinction to be made between the subjestorical unity[8] through which the theoretical focus of the
study is being viewed. The object is that theoretical focus the analytical frame. Thus, for example, if a
researcher were interested in US resistance to communist expansion as a theoretical focus, then the Korean War
might be taken to be the subject, the lens, the case study through which the theoretical focus, the object, could
be viewed and explicated.[9]

Beyond decisions about case selection and the subject and object of the study, decisions need to be made about
purpose, approach and process in the case study. Thomas[10] thus proposes a typology for the case study
wherein purposes are first identified (evaluative or exploratory), then approaches are delineated (theory-testing,
theory-building or illustrative), then processes are decided upon, with a principal choice being between whether
the study is to be single or multiple, and choices also about whether the study is to be retrospective, snapshot or
diachronic, and whether it is nested, parallel or sequential. It is thus possible to take many routes through this
typology, with, for example, an exploratory, theory-building, multiple, nested study, or an evaluative, theory-
testing, single, retrospective study. The typology thus offers many permutations for case-study structure.

A closely related study in medicine is the case report, which identifies a specific case as treated and/or
examined by the authors as presented in a novel form. These are, to a differentiable degree, similar to the case
study in that many contain reviews of the relevant literature of the topic discussed in the thorough examination
of an array of cases published to fit the criterion of the report being presented. These case reports can be
thought of as brief case studies with a principal discussion of the new, presented case at hand that presents a
novel interest.

Types of case studies

In public-relations research, three types of case studies are used:[11]

1. Linear,
2. Process-oriented,
3. Grounded.

Under the more generalized category of case study exists several subdivisions, each of which is custom selected
for use depending upon the goals and/or objectives of the investigator. These types of case study include the
following:

Illustrative case studies. These are primarily descriptive studies. They typically utilize one or two
instances of an event to show the existing situation. Illustrative case studies serve primarily to make the
unfamiliar familiar and to give readers a common language about the topic in question.
Exploratory (or pilot) case studies. These are condensed case studies performed before implementing a
large scale investigation. Their basic function is to help identify questions and select types of
measurement prior to the main investigation. The primary pitfall of this type of study is that initial
findings may seem convincing enough to be released prematurely as conclusions.
Cumulative case studies. These serve to aggregate information from several sites collected at different
times. The idea behind these studies is the collection of past studies will allow for greater generalization
without additional cost or time being expended on new, possibly repetitive studies.
Critical instance case studies. These examine one or more sites for either the purpose of examining a
situation of unique interest with little to no interest in generalization, or to call into question or challenge
a highly generalized or universal assertion. This method is useful for answering cause and effect
questions.

Case Studies in Business

At Harvard Law School In 1870, Christopher Columbus Langdell departed from the traditional lecture-and-
notes approach to teaching contract law and began using cases pled before courts as the basis for class
discussions [12]. By 1920, this practice had become the dominant pedagogical approach used by law schools in
the United States [13]; it also was adopted by Harvard Business School.

Research in business disciplines is usually based on a positivist epistemology, [14] namely, that reality is
something that is objective and can be discovered and understood by a scientific examination of empirical
evidence. But organizational behavior cannot always be easily reduced to simple tests that prove something to
be true or false. Reality may be an objective thing, but it is understood and interpreted by people who, in turn,
act upon it, and so critical realism [15] which addresses the connection between the natural and social worlds is
a useful basis for analyzing the environment of and events within an organization.

Case studies in management are generally used to interpret strategies or relationships, to develop sets of best
practices, or to analyze the external influences or the internal interactions of a firm. [16] With several notable
exceptions (i.e., Janis on Groupthink [17]), they are rarely used to propose new theories.

Generalizing from case studies

A critical case is defined as having strategic importance in relation to the general problem. A critical case
allows the following type of generalization: "If it is valid for this case, it is valid for all (or many) cases." In its
negative form, the generalization would run: "If it is not valid for this case, then it is not valid for any (or valid
for only few) cases."

The case study is effective for generalizing using the type of test that Karl Popper called falsification, which
forms part of critical reflexivity. Falsification offers one of the most rigorous tests to which a scientific
proposition can be subjected: if just one observation does not fit with the proposition it is considered not valid
generally and must therefore be either revised or rejected. Popper himself used the now famous example: "All
swans are white", and proposed that just one observation of a single black swan would falsify this proposition
and in this way have general significance and stimulate further investigations and theory-building. The case
study is well suited for identifying "black swans" because of its in-depth approach: what appears to be "white"
often turns out on closer examination to be "black".

Galileo Galilei built his rejection of Aristotle's law of gravity on a case study selected by information-oriented
sampling and not by random sampling. The rejection consisted primarily of a conceptual experiment and later
on of a practical one. These experiments, with the benefit of hindsight, are self-evident. Nevertheless,
Aristotle's incorrect view of gravity had dominated scientific inquiry for nearly two thousand years before it
was falsified. In his experimental thinking, Galileo reasoned as follows: if two objects with the same weight are
released from the same height at the same time, they will hit the ground simultaneously, having fallen at the
same speed. If the two objects are then stuck together into one, this object will have double the weight and will
according to the Aristotelian view therefore fall faster than the two individual objects. This conclusion seemed
contradictory to Galileo.

History
It is generally believed that Frederic Le Play first introduced the case-study method into social science in 1829
as a handmaiden to statistics in his studies of family budgets.[18][19]

Other roots stem from the early 20th century, when researchers working in the disciplines of sociology,
psychology, and anthropology began making case studies. In all these disciplines, case studies were an occasion
for postulating new theories, as in the grounded-theory work of sociologists Barney Glaser (1930- ) and
Anselm Strauss (1916-1996).[20]
The popularity of case studies in testing theories or hypotheses has developed only in recent decades. One of
the areas in which case studies have been gaining popularity is education and in particular educational
evaluation.[21][22]

Educators have used case studies as a teaching method and as part of professional development, especially in
business and legal education. The problem-based learning (PBL) movement offers an example. When used in
(non-business) education and professional development, case studies are often referred to as critical incidents.

Ethnography exemplifies a type of case study, commonly found in communication case studies. Ethnography is
the description, interpretation, and analysis of a culture or social group, through field research in the natural
environment of the group being studied. The main method of ethnographic research is thorough observation,
where the researcher observes study participants over an extended period of time within the participants' own
environment.[23]

Comparative case studies have become more popular in social science, policy, and education research. One
approach encourages researchers to compare horizontally, vertically, and temporally.[24]

Related uses
Using case studies in research differs from their use in teaching, where they are commonly called case methods
and casebook methods. Teaching case studies have been a highly popular pedagogical format in many fields
ranging from business education to science education. Harvard Business School has possibly been a developer
and user of teaching case studies.[25][26] Business school faculty generally develop case studies with particular
learning objectives in mind. Additional relevant documentation, such as financial statements, time-lines, and
short biographies, often referred to in the case study as exhibits, and multimedia supplements (such as video-
recordings of interviews with the case subject) often accompany the case studies. Similarly, teaching case
studies have become increasingly popular in science education. The National Center for Case Studies in
Teaching Science[27] has made a growing body of case studies available for classroom use, for university as
well as secondary school coursework.[28] Nevertheless, the principles in doing case study research contrast with
those in doing case studies for teaching. Teaching case studies need not adhere strictly to the use of evidence, as
they can be manipulated to satisfy educational needs. The generalizations from teaching case studies also may
relate to pedagogical issues rather than the substance of the case being studied.

Case studies are commonly used in case competitions and interviews for consulting firms such as McKinsey &
Company, CEB Inc. and the Boston Consulting Group, in which candidates are asked to develop the best
solution for a case in an allotted time frame.[29]

See also
Anecdotal evidence
Casebook method
Case method
Case study in psychology
Case competition
Case report
Washington County Closed-Circuit Educational Television Project

References
1. "Merriam-Webster" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/case%20study). Case study.
2. Mills, Albert J.; Gabrielle Durepos; Elden Wiebe. (Eds.). (2010).Encyclopedia of Case Study Research. Sage
Publications. California. p. xxxi.ISBN 978-1-4129-5670-3.
 3. Robert K. Yin. Case Study Research: Design and Methods(http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book
232182). 5th Edition. Sage Publications. California, 2014. Pages 5-6.ISBN 978-1-4522-4256-9
4. Rolls, Geoffrey (2005). Classic Case Studies in Psychology. Hodder Education, Abingdon, England.
5. Suzanne Corkin. Permanent Present Tense: The Unforgettable Life of the Amnesic Patient, H.M.. Basic Books. New
York. 2013. ISBN 978-0-4650-3159-7
6. Rodger Kessler & Dale Stafford. Editors. Collaborative Medicine Case Studies: Evidence in Practice . Springer. New
York. 2008. ISBN 978-0-3877-6893-9
7. Fenno, R. (1986). "Observation, context, and sequence in the study of politics". American Political Science Review. 80
(1): 315. doi:10.2307/1957081 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1957081).
8. M. Wieviorka (1992) Case studies: history or sociology? InRagin, Charles C.; Becker, Howard Saul, eds. (1992). What
Is a Case?: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry(https://books.google.com/books?id=vSNp2jtzCbEC) .
Cambridge University Press. p. 10.ISBN 9780521421881. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
9. Gary Thomas, How to do your Case Study(Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2011)
10. Thomas, G. (2011). "sonia is typing..... A typology for the case study in social science following a review of definition,
discourse and structure".Qualitative Inquiry. 17 (6): 511521. doi:10.1177/1077800411409884 (https://doi.org/10.117
7%2F1077800411409884).
11. Stacks, Don W. (2013). "Case Study". In Heath, Robert L.Encyclopedia of Public Relations(https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=AgpzAwAAQBAJ). SAGE Publications. p. 99.ISBN 9781452276229. Retrieved 2016-06-20. "There are three
major types of case studies common to public relations: linear , process-oriented and grounded."
12. Kimball, B. A. (2009). The Inception of Modern Professional Education: C. C. Langdell, 18261906 (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2009)
13. Jackson, G. (2011). Rethinking the case method. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(5), 142-164.
14. Wai Fong, C. (1986). Radical developments inaccounting thought. Accounting Review , 61(4), 606.
15. Bhaskar, R., & Danermark, B. (2006). Metatheory , interdisciplinary and disability research: A critical realist
perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 8(4), 280. doi:10.1080/15017410600914329
16. Klonoski, R. (2013) The case for case studies: Deriving theory from evidence. Journal of Business Case Studies, 9(3),
264.
17. Janis, I. L. (1973). Groupthink and group dynamics: A social psychological analysis of defective policy decisions.
Policy Studies Journal. 2(1), 19-25. doi: 10.1
111/1541-0072.ep11737416.
18. (Les Ouvriers Europeens (2nd edition, 1879)
19. Sister Mary Edward Healy, C. S. J. (1947). "Le Play's Contribution to Sociology: His Metho d". The American Catholic
Sociological Review. 8 (2): 97110. doi:10.2307/3707549 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3707549).
20. Barney G. Glaser and Strauss,The discovery of grounded theory: Strategiesfor qualitative research (New York: Aldine,
1967). ISBN 978-0202302607
21. Robert E. Stake, The Art of Case Study Research (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1995).ISBN 0-8039-5767-X
22. (MacDonald, B., & Walker, R. (1975) "Case Study and the social philosophy of educational research". Cambridge
Journal of Education 5, pp. 211.) (MacDonald, B. (1978) The Experience of Innovation, CARE Occasional
Publications #6, CARE, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK) ( Kushner , S. (2000) Personalizing Evaluation.
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications)
23. Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture
24. Bartlett, Lesley and Vavrus, Frances (2017).Rethinking Case Study Research. Routledge.
25. D.A. Garvin (Sept.-Oct.2003) Making the Case: Professional Education for the oWrld of Practice. Harvard Magazine,
106, 1, 56-107
26. W. Ellet. The Case Study Handbook: How to Read, W rite, and Discuss Persuasively about Cases. Harvard Business
School Press. Boston, MA. 2007.ISBN 978-1-422-10158-2
27. http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/
28. Palmer, Grier; Iordanou, Ioanna (2015).Exploring Cases Using Emotion, Open Space and Cr eativity. Case-based
Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century. Libri. pp. 1938. ISBN 978 1 909818 57 6.
29. Mamou, Victor. "Consulting Case Study"(http://management-consulting-formula.com/consulting-case-study/) .
Management Consulting Formula. Retrieved 13 June 2016.

Further reading
Bakarada, S. (2014) "Qualitative Case Study Guidelines", in The Qualitative Report, 19(40): 1-25.
Available from [1]
Bartlett, L. and Vavrus, F. (2017). Rethinking Case Study Research. New York: Routledge.
Baxter, P and Jack, S. (2008) "Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study design and implementation
for novice researchers", in The Qualitative Report, 13(4): 544-559. Available from [2]
Dul, J. and Hak, T. (2008) Case Study Methodology in Business Research. Oxford: Butterworth-
Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-8196-4.
 Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). "Building theories from case study research". The Academy of Management
Review. 14 (4): 532550. doi:10.2307/258557.
George, Alexander L. and Bennett, Andrew. (2005) Case studies and theory development in the social
sciences. London: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-57222-2
Gerring, John. (2005) Case Study Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-
67656-4
Klonoski, Robert (2013) The case for case studies: Deriving theory from evidence, Journal of Business
Case Studies 9/3, pp. 261-266. Available at: JBCS
Kyburz-Graber, Regula (2004). "Does case-study methodology lack rigour? The need for quality criteria
for sound case-study research, as illustrated by a recent case in secondary and higher education".
Environmental Education Research. 10 (1): 5365. doi:10.1080/1350462032000173706.
Mills, Albert J., Durepos, Gabrielle, and Wiebe, Elden. Eds. (2010) Encyclopedia of Case Study
Research. (2 vols.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 978-1-4129-5670-3
Ragin, Charles C. and Becker, Howard S. Eds. (1992) What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of
Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42188-8
Scholz, Roland W. and Tietje, Olaf. (2002) Embedded Case Study Methods. Integrating Quantitative and
Qualitative Knowledge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-1946-5
Straits, Bruce C. and Singleton, Royce A. (2004) Approaches to Social Research, 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-514794-4. Available from: [3]
Thomas, Gary. (2011) How to do your Case Study: A Guide for Students and Researchers. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Yin, Robert. (2014) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. (5th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.

External links
Case Studies from Colorado State University

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