QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY RESEARCH

Sage Publications Limited 2008 Michael D. Myers

All Rights Reserved
Introduction
Case studies can be used in
teaching and research
The following is concerned
with the use of research
cases only
Teaching and Research Cases
Teaching cases Research cases

Written primarily for Written primarily for

students researchers
Designed to illustrate an Designed to contribute to
existing theory or principle a new theory or
Published on its own as a explore/test an existing
teaching case, often with theory
notes for the instructor Published as part of a
research article in a
journal, conference or book

Table 7.1 A comparison of teaching and research cases

What is a case?
Any Organization
Any Organization
Any Person
Any Technology
Any Product
 5

Focuses of Study

Case studies are classified according to the focus of study. This

can include:
Individuals
Communities
Social groups
Organizations and institutions, and
Events, roles, relationships, and interactions.
Examples of case studies
Single organisation - company, school: what is happening
with a particular tool/strategy
A particular community - rural village ongoing issue/dispute
On a particular group ......... Issue to a group
An individual - career criminal - examination designed to
understand motivations of a career criminal.
(a person who earns his income through criminal
activities )
A decision merging to 2 schools, why was decision taken,
how was it implemented , what was outcome
An event an election campaign
(Henn et al)
 Definition of Case Study
Yin defines the case study research method as an empirical
inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within
its real-life context; when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which
multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin, 1984, p. 23).
Yins approach to case study research is basically positivist,
since he recommends the use of hypotheses and/or
propositions
Case study research can be positivist, interpretive or critical
 8

WhyCaseStudyResearch?

The case study method is amongst the most flexible of

research designs, and is particularly useful in
researching issues related to sustainability and
institutional systems. It incorporates a number of data-
gathering strategies: document analysis, surveys,
participant or non-participant observation, and
participatory or action research.
 9

WhyCaseStudyResearch?[contd]
Case study research can serve a variety of functions:
exploratory (enabling researchers to get a feeling for
potentially important variables and to describe
phenomena in the appropriate contextual setting), for
testing hypotheses or theories (relating to cause and
effect in a quasi-experimental fashion), and for policy
analysis (teasing out prescriptions for action).
Why a case study?
Because you want to investigate a certain phenomena
(learning situation, technology for learning) with a
certain group of people/person

The case = the people/person

Why a case study?

Allows for exploration

Takes a holistic view of a situation
Accessibility/convenience (situations where
sampling can be difficult)
Flexible
Case studies used in large number of social science
research theses/dissertations
 12

Types of Case Studies

Most Favorable: to illustrate a theory and show it

in a positive light
Exceptional: to validate or falsify a hypothesis by
choosing a least favorable case
Critical Case: using a case to show the limitations
of previous theories and other factors that might be
operating.
Case study research 13
Case study research 14
 Case study research 15

Positivist Case Studies

Yin (1994) suggests five components of good case
study design:
1. a studys questions
2. its propositions, if any
3. its unit(s) of analysis
4. the logic linking the data to the propositions
5. the criteria for interpreting the findings
 16

Interpretive Case Studies

Interpretive case studies generally attempt to
understand phenomena through the meanings that
people assign to them
Interpretive case studies focus on the social
construction of reality how and why people see the
world the way they do
 17

Critical case studies

Critical case study research involves critical reflection
on current practices, questions taken-for-granted
assumptions, and critiques the status quo based on the
theories of one or more critical theorists
Words such as validity and reliability, are not
normally used in interpretive or critical studies
 18

Doing case study research

Make sure that you find an interesting case

Make sure you have good people skills
Gather rich data and try to establish the context
 19

Generalizing From Cases

Ones ability to generalize from case studies

increases with the number of case studies.
However, one way to overcome the limitations of a
small number of cases is to choose ones that have
the greatest variety of characteristics.
Misunderstandings about case studies
1. General theoretical knowledge is more valuable than
concrete case knowledge
2. One cannot generalize on the basis of case studies; so
useless for scientific development
3. Case studies useful for generating hypotheses in first
stages of a total research process, but other methods
needed for theory building
4. The case study contains a bias towards verification, a
tendency to confirm researchers preconceived ideas
5. Difficult to summarize and develop general theories on
the basis of specific case studies
Issues
Critics of the case study method often claim:
Studying a small number of cases is insufficient for
establishing reliability or generality of findings;
The intense involvement of the researcher in the study
of the case could bias the findings;
Some critics suggest case study research is useful only
as an exploratory tool or for establishing a hypothesis;
Some would claim it is unscientific.
How many cases?
Eisenhardt (1989), suggests from 4 to 10 is ideal;
Yin (1984) and Stake (1995) suggest that one can be
acceptable;
The key is to justify your choice.
 Case study research 23

Critique of case study research

A disadvantage of case study research is that it can be
difficult to gain access to the particular company or group
of companies that you want to study
Another disadvantage is that the researcher has no
control over the situation
Case study research can be time consuming
 Case study research 24

What makes an exemplary case study?

The case study must be interesting
The case study must display sufficient evidence
The case study must be complete
The case study must consider alternative perspectives
The case study should be written in an engaging
manner
The case study should contribute to knowledge