Encyclopedia of Case Study Research

Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos, Elden Wiebe, Albert J Mills, Gabrielle Durepos, Elden Wiebe

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781412956703
• eBook ISBN: 9781506320274
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

Case study research has a long history within the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, dating back to the early 1920?s. At first it was a useful way for researchers to make valid inferences from events outside the laboratory in ways consistent with the rigorous practices of investigation inside the lab. Over time, case study approaches garnered interest in multiple disciplines as scholars studied phenomena in context. Despite widespread use, case study research has received little attention among the literature on research strategies.

The Encyclopedia of Case Study Research provides a compendium on the important methodological issues in conducting case study research and explores both the strengths and weaknesses of different paradigmatic approaches. These two volumes focus on the distinctive characteristics of case study research and its place within and alongside other research methodologies.

Key Features

• Presents a definition of case study research that can be used in different fields of study
• Describes case study as a research strategy rather than as a single tool for decision making and inquiry
• Guides rather than dictates, readers? understanding and applications of case study research
• Includes a critical summary in each entry, which raises additional matters for reflection
• Makes case study relevant to researchers at various stages of their careers, across philosophic divides, and throughout diverse disciplines

Key Themes

• Academic Disciplines
• Case Study Research Design
• Conceptual Issues
• Data Analysis
• Data Collection
• Methodological Approaches
• Theoretical Traditions
• Theory Development and Contributions

From Case Study Research

• Types of Case Study Research

Index

---

Note: Entry titles and page numbers are in bold.

Aaltio-Marjosola, Iiris, 1:69–70

Abbott, Andrew, 1:143–144

Abduction, 1:1–3

application of, 1:2

conceptual overview and discussion of, 1:1–2

critical summary of, 1:3

deduction and induction vs., 1:1

definition of, 1:1

departures from expectation and, 1:2

fallibility of, 1:2

imaginative elements in, 1:2

induction vs., 2:680–681

inference from effects to causes and, 1:1

inference to the best explanation vs., 1:1

observations from research and, 1:2

Charles Sanders Peirce and, 1:1

Karl Popper critic of, 1:2

surprise element in, 1:1–2

theorizing and, 1:2

See also Chicago School of sociology; Genericization; Institutional theory, old and new; Philosophy of science; Pragmatism; Situational analysis; Underdetermination

Abel, Willie

concept mapping as clinical teaching-learning activity and, 1:198

Abu-Lughod, Lila

Writing Women’s Worlds, reflexive ethnographic narratives study of Egyptian Bedoin women by, 2:596–597

Acker, Joan

Class, Gender and the Relations of Distribution written by, 1:414

conceptualization of social and organizational structures as gendered concept of, 1:414

gendering at Pan American Airways archival case study of, 1:414–415

“Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations” written by, 1:414

Ackroyd, Stephen

case study research designs, critical realism and, 1:255–256

Action-based data collection, 1:3–5

action research longitudinal case study research and, 2:536

advantages of, 1:4

application of, 1:4–5

conceptual overview and discussion of, 1:3–4

critical summary of, 1:5

Descriptive Question Matrix of, 1:3–4

elements of, 1:3

Ladder of Inference concept in, 1:4–5

observation protocol format of, 1:4

positivistic vs. hermeneutic view points and, 1:5

praxis-oriented research vs., 2:726

research participants’ day-to-day activities and, 1:3

Spradley’s descriptive question matrix of, 1:3–4

systematic observations and documentation of situations category of, 1:4

three question examples in, 1:5

See also Abduction; Consciousness raising; Interactive methodology, feminist; Knowledge production; Participatory action research; Participatory case study; Researcher as research tool

Activity theory, 1:5–8

actions element of, 1:5, 1:6

activity change through individual participation and, 1:7–8

activity-level case study and, 1:7

activity systems characteristics in, 1:5

application of, 1:7–8

collective activit...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Entries
• Reader’s Guide
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• Introduction
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• Cover Page 2
• Title Page 2
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• Appendix
• Selected Bibliography: Case Study Publications by Contributing Authors
• Index