Key Theories and Theorists
"Yin, Stake and Merriam are seen as three foundational methodologists in the area of case study research whose methodological suggestions largely impact educational researchers’ decisions concerning case study design" (Yazan, 2015, p. 134)
Robert E. Stake
Postpositivist; constructivism
"Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand its activity within important circumstances" (1995, p. xi).
“All research is a search for patterns, for consistencies” (Stake, 1995, p. 44)
As a constructivist researcher, Stake insists that context is clarified, and must be connected to the theme of the case (Ridder, 2020). In his 1995 book, The Art of Case Study Research, Stake quotes Finnish philosopher Georg Henrik von Wright ‘s (1971) text “Explanation and Understanding” to make the point that a distinction between what knowledge is sought is what separates quantitative and qualitative inquiry (p. 37).
“Understanding is...connected with intentionality in a way that explanation is not” (von Wright, 1971).
Von Wright goes on to acknowledge that although explanations are “intended to promote understanding, and understanding is sometimes expressed in terms of explanation – the two aims are epistemologically quite different” (Stake, 1995; p. 38).
Stake posits that although qualitative researchers place high priorities on direct interpretation of events, which will be influenced by the researchers own ontology, case study researchers are noninterventionists. Subjectivity is seen as an essential element of understanding.
When it comes to analysis and interpretation of case study research results, Stake and Trumbull (1982) put forward the notion of “naturalistic generalization”. Stake (1995) argues that people learn by receiving generalizations, and form generalizations from their experiences. These naturalistic generalizations are conclusions “arrived at through personal engagement in life’s affairs” (p. 85). Case study researchers need to provide vicarious experience opportunities for readers, perhaps through narrative accounts or personalistic descriptions.
Sharan B. Merriam
Constructivism
Merriam notes that the unit of analysis, not the topic of investigation, characterizes a case study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015)
Merriam notes that the unit of analysis, not the topic of investigation, characterizes a case study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). The phenomenon that the researcher is interested in studying needs to be intrinsically bounded for it to be a case. Merriam argues that this sets the case study approach apart from other types of qualitative research, which are defined by the focus of the study, not the unit of analysis. Furthermore, Merriam states that particular philosophical assumptions that lend themselves to qualitative approaches also foreground the case study methodology. For example, the view that reality is constructed by individuals interacting with their social worlds (1998, p. 6). She continues to define the case study approach as looking at what is is not – it is not casework, case method, case history, or case record (p. 32). She views the case study as a suitable design if as a researcher you are interested in process, which can be viewed in two ways. The first – monitoring; describing the context, investigating the extent to which a program or treatment has been implemented, and providing immediate feedback. The second – causal explanations; “discovering or confirming the process by which the treatment had the effect that it did” (p. 33). Finally, Merriam argues, a case study might be chosen for its uniqueness. Unique, or atypical, cases can provide us access to the range of the human experience, that might otherwise be silenced as an outlier in a quantitative approach.
Merriam (1998) states that all aspects of the case study are affected by its theoretical framework (p.47). Quoting Schwandt (1993, p. 7), Merriam notes “Atheoretical research is impossible”. No research study could be designed without some question being asked, and the manner in which the question is phrased and formed into a problem statement will reflect a theoretical orientation.
“{theory}...determines what we do not see, do not ask, and do not attend to” (Merriam, 1998, p. 48).
Robert K. Yin
Positivism (objectivity)
In practice, Yin identifies "five components of a research design" for case study (p. 27), as well as the use of a "case study protocol" (p. 80-81).
As a positivist researcher, Yin (2009) describes analytic processes in case study research design, stemming from epistemological assumptions including the role of the researcher in revealing scientific and true theories. In practice, Yin identifies “five components of a research design” for case study (p. 27), as well as the use of a “case study protocol” (p. 80-81).
The five components of a research design include:
-
a study’s questions
-
its propositions, if any
-
its units of analysis
-
the logic linking the data to the propositions; and
-
the criteria for interpreting the findings
The case study protocol, Yin notes, is much more than a questionnaire or an instrument, rather, it contains the instrument in addition to the procedures and rules to be followed in using the protocol. Yin argues that this greatly increases the reliability of case study research.
Yin notes the importance of the case study researcher having a thorough understanding of theories potentially applicable to their field of study – including individual, group, organizational, and societal theories (p. 37). In turn, the five components of a research design embody a “theory” of what is being studied.
“The simple goal is to have a sufficient blueprint for your study, and this requires theoretical propositions” (Yin, 2009, p. 36).
Other Key Authors
In addition to the three foundational theorists mentioned above, we have compiled a list of additional resources from key authors in the case study methodology field.