Case Studies and the Statistical Worldview: Review of King, Keohane, and Verba's Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research

1999 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
Classical Statistics ◽  
Carl Hempel ◽  
Social Scientific

Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, and Sydney Verba's Designing Social Inquiry exploits the metaphor of researcher-as-statistician to develop guidelines for conducting social scientific research that are allegedly applicable to all empirical investigations. Their approach has sharp and often unflattering implications for case studies and similar research strategies. Because their statistical worldview is unable to make sense of important aspects of case study research or of the importance that is sometimes attached to the findings of a single case, their argument seemingly casts doubt on the wisdom of producing or consuming such studies.I argue that the foundation of classical statistics and the epistemology of Carl Hempel and Karl Popper is an inadequate and misleading basis for a critical evaluation of case studies. I then present examples of research that are not easily accommodated within the authors' framework and sketch the elements of an alternative epistemological framework rooted in a “pattern” model of explanation. The latter is a standpoint that is much more helpful in understanding and criticizing case studies than the framework presented in Designing Social Inquiry.

scholarly journals Can We Generalize from Case Studies?

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
Large N ◽  
Climate Change Politics ◽  
The Comparative Study

This article considers the role of generalization in comparative case studies, using as exemplars the contributions to this special issue on climate change politics. As a research practice, generalization is a logical argument for extending one’s claims beyond the data, positing a connection between events that were studied and those that were not. No methodological tradition is exempt from the requirement to demonstrate a compelling logic of generalization. The article presents a taxonomy of the logics of generalization underlying diverse research methodologies, which often go unstated and unexamined. I introduce the concept of resonance groups, which provide a causeway for cross-system generalization from single case studies. Overall the results suggest that in the comparative study of complex political systems, case study research is, ceteris paribus, on par with large-N research with respect to generalizability.

Case Study Research

2014 ◽  
pp. 454-470
Author(s):  
Helen Simons
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Political Interests

This chapter explores case study as a major approach to research and evaluation. After first noting various contexts in which case studies are commonly used, the chapter focuses on case study research directly Strengths and potential problematic issues are outlined and then key phases of the process. The chapter emphasizes how important it is to design the case, to collect and interpret data in ways that highlight the qualitative, to have an ethical practice that values multiple perspectives and political interests, and to report creatively to facilitate use in policy making and practice. Finally, it explores how to generalize from the single case. Concluding questions center on the need to think more imaginatively about design and the range of methods and forms of reporting requiredto persuade audiences to value qualitative ways of knowing in case study research.

The Use of Case Studies in Law and Social Science Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Social Scientific

This article reviews classic and contemporary case study research in law and social science. Taking as its starting point that legal scholars engaged in case studies generally have a set of questions distinct from those using other research approaches, the essay offers a detailed discussion of three primary contributions of case studies in legal scholarship: theory building, concept formation, and processes/mechanisms. The essay describes the role of case studies in social scientific work and their express value to legal scholars, and offers specific descriptions from classic and contemporary works.

Case Study Research: In-Depth Understanding in Context

2020 ◽  
pp. 675-703
Author(s):  
Helen Simons
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Political Interests

This chapter explores case study as a major approach to research and evaluation. After first noting various contexts in which case studies are commonly used, the chapter focuses on case study research directly. Strengths and potential problematic issues are outlined, followed by key phases of the process. The chapter emphasizes how important it is to design the case, to collect and interpret data in ways that highlight the qualitative, to have an ethical practice that values multiple perspectives and political interests, and to report creatively to facilitate use in policymaking and practice. Finally, the chapter explores how to generalize from the single case. Concluding issues center on the need to think more imaginatively about design and the range of methods and forms of reporting required to persuade audiences to value qualitative ways of knowing in case study research.

scholarly journals Case Study Research Methodology

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Widdowson
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Process Measures ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Research Resources

Commenting on the lack of case studies published in modern psychotherapy publications, the author reviews the strengths of case study methodology and responds to common criticisms, before providing a summary of types of case studies including clinical, experimental and naturalistic. Suggestions are included for developing systematic case studies and brief descriptions are given of a range of research resources relating to outcome and process measures. Examples of a pragmatic case study design and a hermeneutic single-case efficacy design are given and the paper concludes with some ethical considerations and an exhortation to the TA community to engage more widely in case study research. 

scholarly journals Categorization of case in case study research method: new approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Khalifa Ababacar Sy Diop ◽  
Ersi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Study Design ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Multiple Case Studies

This study was inspired by two of the leading papers in the case study method: Eisenhardt (1991) and Dyer and Wilkins (1991). The work of those authors could be considered a benchmark for research based on a case study. Additionally, this research comes as a complement to re-categorize case study research design. After reviewing those papers, the authors identified certain misunderstandings relative to when a case study should be addressed as single or multiple case studies. This study reviewed both recent and ancient research papers that used the case study research design in their investigations based on this misunderstanding. Thus, the previously identified misinterpretation of case study categorization is the gap this study filled. For this study, the case study research design was to be re-categorized to understand which case study design suits which research study. Accordingly, based on the identified gap, the study used secondary data to re-categorize the case study research design through a literature review method. As a result, the study identified three case study categories: single setting case study with single sub-case, single setting case study with multiple sub-cases, and multiple case studies. Consequently, the result re-categorizes single case study design into single sub-case and multiple sub-cases. This study makes recommendations through the proposed approach that filled the gap identified in the case study design categorization. In terms of adding to knowledge, this study’s proposed approach will augment the optimal use of case study research design by management, economics, and other disciplines’ researchers in the future.

The traceback method and the early constructicon: theoretical and methodological considerations

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Koch ◽  
Stefan Hartmann ◽  
Antje Endesfelder Quick
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Language Corpus

AbstractUsage-based approaches assume that children’s early utterances are item-based. This has been demonstrated in a number of studies using the traceback method. In this approach, a small amount of “target utterances” from a child language corpus is “traced back” to earlier utterances. Drawing on a case study of German, this paper provides a critical evaluation of the method from a usage-based perspective. In particular, we check how factors inherent to corpus data as well as methodological choices influence the results of traceback studies. To this end, we present four case studies in which we change thresholds and the composition of the main corpus, use a cross-corpus approach tracing one child’s utterances back to another child’s corpus, and reverse and randomize the target utterances. Overall, the results show that the method can provide interesting insights—particularly regarding different pathways of language acquisition—but they also show the limitations of the method.

scholarly journals Assessing organisational governance maturity: A retail industry case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Hendrik Marius Wessels ◽  
Naomi Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Retail Industry ◽  
Maturity Level ◽  
Johannesburg Stock Exchange ◽  
Tone At The Top ◽  
High Level

For any business to operate effectively, a governance framework that operates at the relevant maturity level is required. An organisational governance maturity framework is a tool that leadership can use to determine governance maturity. This study aims to determine whether the organisational governance maturity framework (developed by Wilkinson) can be applied to the selected retail industry organisation to assess the maturity of the organisation’s governance, limited to the ‘leadership’ attribute. Firstly, a high-level literature review on ethical leadership, ethical decision-making, ethical foundation and culture (‘tone at the top’), and organisational governance and maturity was conducted. Secondly, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed South African-based company was selected for the empirical part of the study using a single case study research design. The empirical results confirmed that the organisational governance maturity framework can be used to determine the maturity level of organisational governance for the selected attribute of ‘leadership’.

scholarly journals Lean Hospital Management, Studi Empirik pada Layanan Gawat Darurat

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 257
Author(s):  
Indrianawati Usman ◽  
Mira Ardiyana
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Hospital Service ◽  
Lean Management ◽  
Time Service ◽  
Value Stream

This research focuses on implementing lean management in hospital service, in order to elimination of waste to make a better performance.  It’s a qualitative single case study research. This study will identified waste and show how to reduce waste using lean management by empirically research in intensive care unit of Islamic hospital in Surabaya. Quantitative tools and measurement also used in this research using value stream analysis tools, and process activity mapping in order to identify the value added and non value added activities.  The results of the analysis indicate that there are seven kind of waste. Next the value stream analysis and process activity mapping show that the most frequent waste that cause ineffective performance of hospital service are waiting time, service defect and inappropriate process.  

scholarly journals Work Values in the Content of Vocational Education. Instrumentalism and Improvement

Pedagogika ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Kristina Krikštolaitienė ◽  
Sigitas Daukilas ◽  
Ričardas Krikštolaitis
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Education ◽  
Work Values ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
A Value ◽  
Psychological Structure ◽  
Instrumental Values ◽  
Methodological Approaches

The article analyses the instrumental, social-individual coherence, prestige, cognition, and improvement values of the work, which allows disclosing relevant methodological approaches to the content of vocational education. It is stated that during vocational training, work is usually presented to students not as a value, but as a technological process, with little attention paid to knowing the value context of the work. Therefore, the learning of work technological processes often does not take place in the context of the student’s critical thinking and reflection, during which little attention is paid to the survival of the emotional significance of the work of the student’s chosen profession.To ensure the validity and reliability of the results of the research object quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative (case study) research strategies were used. The study involved 495 students from 27 Lithuanian vocational schools. The study found statistically significant differences between gender in the groups of values of cognition and social-individual coherence.As a result, work often does not become a psychological structure of the student’s value position, which manifests itself in the psychological structure of work values, beliefs, interests, and needs. In such circumstances of cognition of professions, instrumental values, which are characterized by the values of salary, safe, interesting, engaging, and individual-friendly work, are usually established in the curriculum.

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