1. CASE STUDY RESEARCH METHOD

2. One of the several ways of doing social science research
Preferred strategy when:
“how” or “why” questions are being posed
investigator has little control over events
focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context

3. Case study is used in:
Policy, political science and public administration research
Community psychology and sociology
Organizational and management studies
City and regional planning research
Conduct of dissertations and theses in the social sciences

5. Defining the Research Questions
What – exploratory, surveys, archival analysis
How and Why – case studies, experiments, history

6. History VS Case Study VS Experiment
History – preferred strategy when there is virtually no access or control
Case Study – preferred in examining contemporary events when the relevant behaviors cannot be manipulated
Experiment – done when an investigator can manipulate behavior directly, precisely and systematically

7. Traditional Prejudices Against Case Study Strategy
Viewed as a less desirable form of inquiry
Provides little basis for scientific generalization
Takes too long and results in massive, unreadable documents

8. Technical Definitions:
A case study is an empirical inquiry that:
Investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are not clearly evident

9. The case study inquiry:
Copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than data points, and as one result
Relies on multiple sources of evidence, with data needing to converge a triangulating fashion, and as another result
Benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis