9 – Case Study

Why Should I Care?

If you wish to study business, or any other applied field of study such as law, or medicine, much of the “how-to” knowledge comes from the accumulation of real-life events. Each “case” can help to design your playbook, which you will use to decide what to do when a real-life scenario needs your attention.

Definition

Case: An object of interest, such as a person, an organization, or an event.

Case study: Research based on one case of interest that is studied in great detail.

Data collection tools: All that can possibly apply, except the experiment.

Usefulness: Generate hypotheses. Build Profiles.

Scientific Power

Descriptive.

Sampling

Sampling is non-random, on purpose. Sample size is ONE!

Types of Case Studies

1. Snapshot case studiesOne point in time
2. Longitudinal case studiesMany points in time
3. Pre-post case studiesBefore and After a Critical Event
4. Patchwork case studiesLots of approaches for Holistic effect
5. Comparative case studies2 cases compared

Case studies are controversial. Many scientists refuse to use them as a scientific method. This said, there are many advantages to case studies.

Advantages

1. Detail
2. Inductive Process
3. Crazy Cases

Disadvantages

1. Tiny Sample
2. Need for Rhetoric

Preferred Disciplines

 Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Political Science, Psychology

Other Non-scientific Disciplines

Applications in Journalism, Business Administration, Law, Medicine, Engineering of Unique Projects

Not useful for

Economists, Historians