Thursday 4 November 2021

Is "Case Study" a method or Research Design?

Case studies are particularly appropriate for investigating situated, complex/complicated, social/societal settings, often: organisations, social nexuses, social phenomena, human structures. The objects of research interest are also the audience for its learning (Flyvbjerg, 2001).

'Case Study' is a category (a style) of research design, rather than being a singular research method. A 'Case Study' is built on a selection of applied methods: interview, observation, document analysis, content analysis etc. It is the component methods that employ protocols and actions taken to generate data. The written case study is a descriptive holism that integrates the various data in the attempt to address research goals.

Notes:

Brent Flyvbjerg on scholar.google.com