Key Ideas
- Case study research is used to describe complex phenomena and how people interact with them.
- Case studies often generate thick, rich descriptions of educational and social programs.
- Whereas survey research involves gathering wide-ranging surface-level data, by contrast case studies examine single instances in greater depth.
- Research questions help bound and focus the case study in ways that are meaningful to stakeholders and other audiences.
- A case study's design includes identifying the case, setting boundaries, developing research questions, employing methods of data collection that increase the validity of findings, and analyzing and synthesizing these data in reporting results.
- In addition to disclosing personal biases about the case, researchers often use triangulation and member checking to increase the validity of findings.
Case study research is an investigative approach used to thoroughly describe complex phenomena, such as recent events, important issues, or programs, in ways to unearth new and deeper understanding of these phenomena. Specifically, this methodology focuses on the concept of case, the particular example or instance from a class or group of events, issues, or programs, and how people interact with components of this phenomenon. For example, a case study of the 2010 U.S. Gulf Coast oil spill disaster (event) would represent an instance (a case) of offshore oil drilling accidents. A case study of an immigration law in Arizona (issue) would be an example of the issue of immigration policies instituted by governments. And the investigation of an effort to prevent drug use at a local high school is an example of a program case study.
Researchers focus case studies on defined portions of the phenomenon of interest, inquiry that is ordinarily limited to the investigation of contemporary events, issues, or programs rather than historical ones. In addition, the overarching purpose of this approach is to comprehensively “catch the complexity” (Stake, 1995, p. xi) of the activities, decisions, and human interactions. Case study results offer those directly affected by the case (stakeholders) and others interested in the event or program (audiences) extended awareness by providing rich detail about highlighted aspects of the case.
To provide a frame of reference for case study research, Scriven (1991) defines it as the polar opposite of survey research. Survey studies seek to gather broad surface-level data about a topic, such as state, regional, or national incidences of food poisoning. Conversely, case studies set out to examine the particular, portraying local topics or single instances, such as the case of food poisoning incidences and treatments at one health care facility. Lapan and Armfield (2009) explain the special nature of case study efforts as “a microscopic approach where intensive examination of the ‘particular’ is emphasized; this is what some call ‘peeling the onion’ to carefully view each layer of identified case-related program activity” (p. 166).
The term case study is not a new one and has been applied to many endeavors that are easily confused with case study research. Merriam (2009) crisply notes, “Case study research is not the same as casework, case method, case history, or case record” (p. 45). These uses of the term should be understood as distinct from the concept of case study research outlined here. As Merriam further explains,
Casework is a term used in social service fields and usually refers to determining appropriate strategies for dealing with developmental or adjustment problems. Case method is an instructional technique whereby the major ingredients of a case study are presented to students for illustrative purposes and problem-solving experiences. Case studies as teaching devices have become very popular in law, medicine, and business. … Case history—the tracing of a person, group, or institution's past—is sometimes part of a case study. In medicine and social work, case histories (also called case records) are used in much the same sense as casework—to facilitate service to the client. (p. 45)
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
There are many uses in various fields for case study research, for example in the development of thick descriptions of educational and social programs. These studies are driven by research questions that determine the selection of program segments to investigate. Case studies can be focused in even more specialized ways or combined with other recognized methodologies, such as when ethnographers use thorough descriptions to study beliefs and practices to produce cultural interpretations (see Chapter Seven), when biography and life story researchers study how people interact with a significant event (see Chapter Five), or when researchers evaluate social and educational programs (see Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen).