案例研究设计与方法Case Study Research Design and MethodsWord下载.docx

案例研究设计与方法Case Study Research Design and MethodsWord下载.docx

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boundariesbetweenphenomenonanditscontextarenotclearlyevident

Suitableforstudyingcomplexsocialphenomena

-Proceduralcharacteristicsinthesituationinclude:

Manyvariablesof

interest;

multiplesourcesofevidence;

theoreticalpropositionstoguidethe

collectionandanalysisofdata

-Typesofcasestudiesmightbe:

explanatory;

exploratory;

descriptive

-Designscanbesingle-ormultiple-casestudies

-Usedmethodscanbequalitative,quantitative,orboth

Typicalcriticismstowardscasestudies&

correctinganswers:

-Lackofsystematichandlingofdata->

Systematicreportingofallevidence

-Nobasisforscientificgeneralization->

Purposeistogeneralizetotheoretical

propositions,nottopopulationasinstatisticalresearch

-Taketoolong,endupwithunreadabledocuments->

Timelimits&

writing

formuladependonthechoicesofinvestigatorsCasestudyresearchdesign

Centralcomponentsofacasestudydesign&

theirfunctions:

1）Astudy’squestions–“how”,“why”

2）Study’s（theoretical）propositions–pointingattention,limitingscope,

suggestingpossiblelinksbetweenphenomena

3）Study’sunitsofanalysis–mainunitsmustbeatthesamelevelasthe

studyquestions&

typicallycomparabletothosepreviouslystudied4）Logiclinkingthedatatothepropositions–matchingpiecesofinformationtorivalpatternsthatcanbederivedfromthe

propositions

5）Criteriaforinterpretingthefindings–iterationbetweenpropositions

anddata,matchingsufficientlycontrastingrivalpatternstodata;

there

isnoprecisewayofsettingthecriteria1

Researchdesignlinksthedatatobecollectedandconclusionstobedrawntothe

initialquestionsofthestudy–itprovidesaconceptualframework&

anactionplan

forgettingfromquestionstosetofconclusions.

Preliminarytheory&

blueprintofthestudy:

havingsolvedthefivesteps

mentionedaboveleadstotheformationofaloosetheory&

ablueprintrelated

tothetopicofstudy

-Initialtheory&

understandingofwhatisbeingstudiedisnecessary

beforeanyfieldcontacts;

thecompleteresearchdesignembodiesa“theory”

ofwhatisbeingstudied

Decidingbetweenexplanatory,exploratoryanddescriptivedesigns:

-Dependsontherichnessoftherivalpropositionsintheoriesrelatedtothe

topicofthestudy;

richesttheoriesallowexplanatorydesigns

->

Searchfortheoreticalpropositionsthatcanbeelaboratedtocoverstudy

questions,propositions,unitsofanalysis,data-propositionlinks&

criteriaof

interpretation

Reviewingliterature,discussingwithinvestigators,askingchallenging

questions,thinkingwhatistobelearnedfromthestudy

Beingawareoftherangeoftheories&

selectingtherequiredlevel

（individual,organization,societal）

Constructionofthedesign/conceptualframeworktakestime&

canbe

difficult,butisacrucialstepforthesuccessofthestudy

Selectionofthecases:

-Casesshouldbeselectedinthesamewayasthetopicofanexperimentis

selected

Developedpreliminarytheoryisusedasatemplatewithwhichtocompare

thecharacteristics&

empiricalfindingsfromthecase（s）

Selectedcasesshouldreflectcharacteristics&

problemsidentifiedinthe

underlyingtheoreticalpropositions/conceptualframework

Thelevelofgeneralizationofthestudyresults=appropriatelydeveloped

preliminarytheory/studydesign

-Modeofgeneralization=theory-relatedanalyticgeneralization,not

statistical

-AnalyticgeneralizationpossiblefromoneormorecasesHOWMANYOFCASES&

UNITSOFANALYSIS?

1）Case–representssomehowtheinterestingtopicofthestudyempirically（e.g.

theroleoftheUnitedStatesintheworldeconomy）2）Unitofanalysis–istheactualsourceofinformation:

individual,

organizationaldocument,artifact,forexample（e.g.thecapitalflowbetween

countries,aneconomicpolicy）1）Cases:

A）Singlecases–ifcaseseemstorepresentacriticaltesttoexistingtheory;

rareoruniqueevents->

Importanttoselectcase&

unitofanalysisproperly

2

B）Multiplecases–ifa“replicationlogic”issupposedtorevealsupportfortheoretically

i.Similarresults

ii.Contrastingresultsforpredictablereasons

Theoreticalframeworkmustidentifyclearlytheconditions,when

particularphenomenonislikelytobefound（i.）andwhenitisnotlikely（ii.）

Theoreticalframeworkisthevehicleforgeneralizingtonewcases;

if

empiricalcasesdonotworkaspredicted,modificationsmustbemadetothe

theory

Numberofcasereplicationsdependsuponthecertaintywantedtoachieve

richnessoftheunderlyingtheoreticalpropositions2）Unitsofanalysis:

A）Holisticdesigns–includeasingleunitofanalysis;

ifaimistostudytheglobalnatureofthephenomenon;

whennologicalsub-unitscanbepointed->

dangerofabstractness

B）Embeddeddesigns–includemultipleunitsofanalysis;

studymayinclude

main&

smallerunitsondifferentlevels->

lookingforconsistentpatternsof

evidenceacrossunits,butwithinacase

Note:

Theflexibilityofcasestudydesignisinselectingcasesdifferentfrom

thoseinitiallyidentified,notinchangingthepurposeorobjectivesofthe

studytosuitthecasesConductingcasestudies

Desiredskillsoftheinvestigator:

-Goodknowledgeofthephenomenon（->

collectionproceduresarenotroutinized）

-Sensitivityfornovel&

unexpectedissuesindatacollection

-Askinggoodquestions

-Beingagood“listener”-Adaptiveness&

flexibility

Acasestudyprotocolshouldbeessentialpartofeverycasestudyproject-Aprotocolcontainstheinstrumentfortheresearch,butalsotheprocedures

andgeneralrulesthatshoudbefollowedusingtheinstrument:

-Overviewofthestudyproject（objectives,issues,readings,literature&

research）

-Fieldprocedures（accesstofieldsites,sourcesofinformation）

-CasestudyquestionsposedtoINVESTIGATORS;

key

classifications;

suggestionsforlikelysourcesofevidence（nottheliteralquestionstobeasked）

-Aguideforthecasestudyreport

-Note:

Casestudyprotocolshouldbeco-authoredbyallstudyinvestigators

Importanttoidentifydifferentlevelsofquestions:

A）Singlecase-level

1.Questionsaskedofspecificinterviewees3

2.QuestionsaskedoftheindividualcaseB）Moregenerallevels

1.Findingsacrossmultiplecases

2.Findingsacrossanentirestudy（includingreviewedliterature）3.Normativequestionsaboutpolicyrecommendations&

conclusions

SometimesapilotstudymayprovideusefulhelpCollectingtheevidence

Sixsourcesofevidence:

1）Documents（letters,agendas,progressreports）

2）Archivalrecords（Servicerecords,organizationalcharts,budgetsetc.）

3）Interviews（typicallyopen-ended,butalsofocused,structured&

surveysarepossible）

4）Directobservations（formalorcasual;

usefultohavemultipleobservers）

5）Participantobservation（assumingaroleinthesituation&

gettingan

insideviewoftheevents）6）Physicalartefacts

Threeprinciplesofdatacollection:

1）Usemultiplesourcesofevidence

-Triangulation=searchingconvergingfindingsfromdifferentsources->

increasesconstructvalidity

2）Createacasestudydatabase

-Adatabaseseparatefromthefinalreporttobewritten,containing

-Casestudynotes（clear&

availableforlateruse）

-Casestudydocuments

-Tabularmaterials（collected&

created）

-Narratives（initialopen-endedanswerstothestudyquestionssuggestedbyinvestigators）

3）Maintainachainofevidence

Thelinkbetweeninitialstudyquestionsandcasestudyprocedure

shouldbepointedoutinthecasestudyprotocol,asalsothecircumstances

oftheevidencetobecollected

Puttingthedatacollectiontopracticeonthebasisoftheprotocol

Actualevidencestorageinthedatabaseforlaterchecks（specific

collectioncircumstancesindicated）

Sufficientcitingofthecasestudydatabase&

evidenceinthefinal

reportandconclusionstobedrawnAnalysingtheevidence

Analysisofevidenceisonetheleastdevelopedandmostdifficultaspectsofdoing

casestudies.Mostimportantistohaveageneralanalyticstrategy,whichhelpsto

chooseamongdifferenttechniques.Inabsencepreliminarytechniques–matrixes,

4

tabulationoffrequencies,temporalschemesetc.–canbetriedouttogettheanalysis

started.

Twogeneralanalyticstrategies:

1）Relyingontheoreticalpropositions:

theoreticalorientationguiding

theanalysis;

followingtheoreticalpropositionsthathaveformedthe

designofthecasestudy->

helpstofocusattentiononcertaindata

toignoreotherdata

2）Developingacasedescription:

adescriptiveframeworkfororganizingthecasestudy;

analysisorganizedon