Case study research

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What is a “case study”

• A detailed study of a particular instance of a phenomenon. Any phenomenon

• Focusing on one or more aspects of the phenomenon, but bounded.

• Aspects can be broken down into units of analysis.

• Usually thought of as being in the qualitative paradigm – but they can and do use quantitative methods to collect data.

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Why do case studies?

• Describe a real life situation

• Explaining why something is the way it is in a given context

• Evaluating an intervention.

• Tend to generate a great deal of data

• Well written studies are often engaging and have strong persuasive power.

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Why NOT do case studies

• Sometimes seen (typically by positivists) as not having adequate explanatory power.

• Can be very difficult to get access to the case you want to study.

• Can involve complex ethical issues• Data collection can be time consuming,

and often, expensive. • Data analysis is a major challenge.

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Features of case study

• Generalise to theory, not to population– Construct validity– Internal validity– External validity– Reliability

• Designs– Single/multiple– Holistic/embedded

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A case to study?

Daily Lunch Programme for Vulnerable Schoolchildren in Albania (2004-5)

$3.2 million was given to improve child nutrition, and improve health and nutrition awareness in economically depressed regions of Albania

http://www.mercyusa.org/pp_albania.cfm

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Albanian lunch program study

• What type of case study would this be?

• What phenomenon is being investigated?

• What are the boundaries of this case

• What are the aspects of the case?

• What units of analysis could we look at?

• Would other research methods be more appropriate?

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Case study tools

• The protocol– Overview of the

project– Field procedures– Case study questions– “data shells”– A guide for the final

report

• The database– Case study notes– Case study documents– Tabular material– narratives

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Some (real) case study topics

• Drug selling and licit income in distressed neighbourhoods (Fagan, 1992)

• Participation in playground activities (Boulton, 1992)

• Coping with computers (Blease & Cohen 1990)• Sport, the media and the construction of

compulsory heterosexuality: A case study of women's rugby union (Wright & Clarke, 1999)

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Pros and cons

• Results often accessible to wide audience

• Show up unique features that (e.g. surveys) can hide

• Strong on reality• Very flexible – they

can cope with unexpected events

• Not easy to generalise

• Not easily replicable• Prone to observer

bias and can be selective and subjective.

• Unexpected ethical issues can surface.

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ReferencesBlease & Cohen (1990) Coping with computers: An ethnographic study in

primary classrooms. London, Paul Chapman Publishing.Boulton, M. J. (1992) Participation in playground activities at middle school.

Education research, 34 (3) 167-182Fagin, Jeffrey ( 1992) Drug selling and licit income in severely distressed

neighbourhoods: The economic lives of street level drug users and dealers. In Harrel & Peterson (1992) Drugs, Crime and Social Isolation. – Washington D.C. Urban Institute Press, p 99ff

Wright, Jan & Clarke, Gill, (1999) Sport, the media and the construction of compulsory heterosexuality: A case study of women's rugby union. – International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 34 (3) 227-243

Yin, Robert (2009) Case Study Research: Design & Methods. 4th ed. – London, Sage, 2009

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