8.

3 Research
Strategy/Methods
Case study
 Definition
• This is a study that focuses on one instance of a thing
that is to be investigated for instance and organisation, a
department, a development project, a wetland, a river
basin, Limpopo crocodile behaviour,
• This one instance must be studied in depth using variety
of data generation methods such as questionnaire,
interviews, observation, documentation
• The aim of the study is to obtain rich, detailed insight into
the life of that case and its complex relationship and
processes
• A case study does not test hypothesis as experiments
but concentrate on gaining insight and knowledge that
might be relevant to other situations
 Other definitions
• A case study is an empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon
within its real life context, especially when
the boundaries between phenomenon and
context are not clearly evident (Yin 2003b)
Characteristics of a Case study
• Focus on depth rather than breadth
• Natural setting: the instance or case is examined
in its natural setting not in a lab. Aim not to
disturb the setting as little as possible
• Holistic study: researcher focuses on the
complexities of relationship and how they are
interconnected and inter related
• Multiple source and methods: both quantitative
and qualitative data can be used, interview,
participatory observation
 Planning and conducting a case
study
• 1. Choosing type of case studies from
• The type dimension:
• Exploratory study: used to gain insight where there is limited
knowledge in order to identify topics to be covered in subsequent
study
• Descriptive study: analysis of past events building a picture of what
transpired leading to current events: its like telling a story
• An explanatory study: it is a development from the descriptive where
the WHY issues are elaborated. The case tries to explain the
happenings in relationship to given theories and which theory
matches the case better than the other
• NOTE: Case study can use multiple cases but single case is
common
 Planning Cont’
• Time dimension
• Historical study: it is an examination of what
happened in the past based on documents and
memories of people involved or analysis of past
events eg El nino floods in Beitbridge
• Short term, contemporary study: current
happening and the interaction with people in the
now
• A longitudinal study: focuses on issues that have
taken place in past but are continuous in nature
and have an effect in the now
 Planning cont’
• 2. Selecting cases: that one instance choice
must be reasonably justified. The following must
be considered:
• Typical instance: this case must have stand out
characteristics that enable generalization to the whole
class
• Extreme instance: provides a contrast to the norm eg a
case of extreme pollution in the oil industries
• Test bed for theory: contains attributes that are suitable
for testing a theory for its suitability in explaining certain
happening hence need to further test the theory
• Convenience; accessibility or cost effectiveness
• Unique opportunity: chance to explore unique event
 Planning cont’
• 3. Generalization
• Case study are limited in providing generalization due to
uniqueness of each case but good case selection can
provide reasonable amount of generalisation
• The case must have typical traits eg small food
manufacturing companies’ hygiene practice
• If findings are not largely generalisable then that must be
categorically stated to readers
• Give details of the case to enable readers decide
whether your case is similar to the one they are familiar
to: for instance, physical location, history, social mix,
technical basis or organisational type
 Planning cont’
• Generalisation can be based on the following:
• Concept: create new concept that can be applied across
the field or industry
• A theory: elaborated a theory that can be sufficiently
applied to explain certain happening/ events although
some believe a theory can be developed in a case study
• Implication: What can happen if certain events or
processes exist hence provide for recommendation on
practice and education.
• Rich insight: a glean through the case provide valuable
understanding about the situation
 Planning and conducting Cont’
• 4.Reporting
• Must give background information about the
case and why it was chosen, the participants,
timescale and analysis
• Try to give alternative explanation and justify
explanation based on evidence or grounded
theory or paradigm
• Consider the issue of length and publication,
journal or conference paper require limited
number of words as compared to a thesis
 Evaluating case study based
research
• Advantages
• It can deal with complex situations where it is difficulty to
study a single factor in isolation
• It is appropriate to situation where the researcher has no
control over events
• It is suitable for both theory building and theory testing
• It allows researcher to show the complexities of life and
explore alternative meaning and explanation
• It produces data that is close to people’s experiences
and can be highly accessible as compared to the
numerical studies – in fact most people like reading
stories
 Evaluation cont’
• Disadvantages
• It is discredited by positivist as lacking rigour and
leading to generalisation that lack credibility
• It might be time consuming especially
negotiating access to necessary setting,
documents etc
• Presence of researcher might cause people or
objects to change behaviour hence misleading
the study hence the outcome
 Exercise
• Think of research question that could be
addressed via a case study research
strategy. Now think about how a survey
could be used to address the same
question. What aspects of the question
could the survey answer? What aspects
could the case study answer? What would
the advantages be of using a case study
rather than a survey to address your
question