Case Study Research: The Quick Guide Series , livre ebook

Case Study Research
The Quick Guide Series

Dan Remenyi

Case Study Research: The Quick Guide Series

Published by UJ Press under the Hoopoe Press imprint
University of Johannesburg
Library
Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
PO Box 524
Auckland Park
2006
https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/

Compilation © Dan Remenyi 2022

Chapters © Dan Remenyi 2022

Published Edition © Dan Remenyi 2022

First published 2012 by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited

(978-1-909507-17-3)

This edition 2022

https://doi.org/10.36615/9781776413409

978-1-7764056-8-8 (Paperback)

978-1-7764134-0-9 (PDF)

Cover design: Hester Roets, UJ Graphic Design Studio

Typeset in 12/14pt Calibri

Myunderstandingofcasestudyresearchhasdeveloped
steadilyoverthepast20yearswhenIfirstusedthistechnique
myself.IhavelearntmuchfrommanyresearchdegreecandiͲ
dateswhomIhavesupervised,mentoredorexamined.Oneof
thegreatoutcomesofbeinginvolvedinacademicresearchis
thatwecanlearnfromeachother’sexperiences.

HoweverIwouldliketopointoutmydebttoDrPaulGriffiths
whohasmadeaspecialcontributiontomythinkinginthis
book.PaulisahighlyskilledpractitionerintheartofCase
StudyResearchandhehasmadeanumberofimportantsugͲ
gestionswhichhavebeenincorporatedinthisbook.

Acknowledgement...................................................................i
Contents...................................................................................i
PrefacetotheSecondEdition................................................vii
PrefacetotheFirstEdition...................................................viii
Chapter1ͲWhatconstitutesCaseStudyResearch?................1
1.1.Observationasabasisofresearch................................1
1.2.Definitionsofacasestudy.............................................2
1.3.Researchmethodologyandresearchmethods.............5
1.4.Qualitativeresearch.......................................................5
1.5.Hypothesesandtheorydevelopment...........................6
1.6.Afullerdefinitionofcasestudy.....................................6
1.7.Astoryiscentraltoacasestudy...................................7
1.8.Thescientificlogicofthecasestudy.............................9
1.9.Summaryandconclusion.............................................14
Chapter2ͲDifferentTypesofCaseStudiesandChoosing
AppropriateSituationstoStudy.............................................15
2.1.Differentmeaningsofthetermcasestudy.................15
2.2.Teaching–learningcasestudy....................................15
2.3.Theresearchcasestudy...............................................19
2.4.Descriptivecasestudiesorexploratorycasestudies..20
2.5.Aonecasestudyresearchproject...............................22
2.6.Morethanonecasestudyresearchproject................23
2.7.Theunitofstudy–theorganisationistheunitof
study.............................................................................24
2.8.Multipleunitsofanalysis.............................................26
2.9.Suitabilityandgatekeepers..........................................28
2.10.SuitabilityProfileforaCaseStudy...............................29
2.11.Summaryandconclusion.............................................32

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CaseStudyResearch

Chapter3ͲData:QuantitativeandQualitative......................33
3.1.Theimportanceofdata...............................................33
3.2.Adefinitionofdata......................................................33
3.3.Do,dare,dedi,datum..................................................36
3.4.Unitofanalysis.............................................................37
3.5.Quantitativeandqualitativedata................................38
3.6.Differentrealitiesordifferentlens..............................41
3.7.Naturalandeliciteddata.............................................43
3.8.Hardandsoftdata.......................................................44
3.9.Datacanbeoverwhelming–dataoverload................45
3.10.Commonlyavailablesourcesofqualitativedata.........48
3.11.Combiningquantitativeandqualitativedata..............52
3.12.DataAcquisitionPlan...................................................53
3.13.Summaryandconclusions...........................................54
Chapter4ͲTheresearchproposalandprotocol....................57
4.1.Understandingandplanningacademicresearch........57
4.2.Theneedforflexibility.................................................58
4.3.Organisationandplanning...........................................59
4.4.TheResearchProposal.................................................60
4.5.Theresearchprotocol..................................................69
4.6.Thepartsofaresearchprotocol..................................70
4.7.Part1ͲFindingthestartingpoint................................71
4.8.Part2–Establishingandcollectingthedata...............72
4.9.Part3ͲAfterdatacollectioniscomplete....................75
4.10.Part4ͲWhatdoesthedatamean................................79
4.11.Part5ͲWhattheresearchdeliverstothe
community...................................................................81
4.12.Part6ͲTheresearchends...........................................82
4.13.Summaryandconclusion.............................................83
Chapter5ͲCollectingthedata...............................................85
5.1.DatacollectionͲamajorchallenge.............................85
5.2.Empiricalresearch........................................................86
5.3.Opportunisticattitudetodatacollection....................87
5.4.Logalldatacollectionactivities...................................87
ii

Contents

5.5.Datacollectionisnoteasy...........................................89
5.6.Firstcontactwiththeorganisation..............................90
5.7.Mixeddata...................................................................91
5.8.Dataaccess...................................................................92
5.9.Sourcesofdata............................................................94
5.10.Triangulation................................................................97
5.11.Reflections...................................................................98
5.12.Apilotcasestudyalsoreferredtoasafieldtest.......100
5.13.Crosscaseanalysis.....................................................101
5.14.Summaryandconclusion...........................................103
Chapter6ͲDataAnalysisforaCaseStudy.............................105
6.1.Theartofthepossible...............................................105
6.2.Thejigsawpuzzlemetaphor......................................105
6.3.Answertheresearchquestion...................................106
6.4.Thetoolboxforanalysisofcasestudydata..............108
6.5.Creatingaconvincingcasestudynarrative...............108
6.6.Producinglistsofconstructsandconcepts................109
6.7.Demonstratingtherelationships...............................111
6.8.Hypothesistesting.....................................................112
6.9.Theoreticalconjecturedevelopment.........................112
6.10.Dataanalysisbegins...................................................113
6.11.Onecaseatatime.....................................................114
6.12.Findingsuitablecasestudies.....................................115
6.13.Writingupthecasestudy..........................................117
6.14.Dataoverload.............................................................117
6.15.Usingoneholisticcasestudyresearchfortheory
creation......................................................................118
6.16.Oneholisticcasestudyresearchforhypotheses
testing........................................................................125
6.17.Multiplecasestudyresearchfortheorycreation......126
6.18.Summaryandconclusions.........................................132
Chapter7ͲThecasestudywriterasastorytellerͲsomestyleandform
issues....................................................................135
7.1.Introduction...............................................................135
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CaseStudyResearch

7.2.Theimportanceofthewriteup.................................135
7.3.Thetranscriptsarenotthecasestudy......................136
7.4.Writingasacraftskill.................................................136
7.5.Thenarrativenatureofthecasestudy......................137
7.6.Stylesofthenarrative................................................138
7.7.Importantdimensionofacasestudywriteup..........139
7.8.Writteninanengagingmanner.................................140
7.9.Carewithlanguage....................................................141
7.10.Differentstoryframeworksorforms.........................142
7.11.Achronologyortimelineapproach...........................143
7.12.Aplayformat.............................................................144
7.13.Abiography................................................................144
7.14.Arecollectionofvoices..............................................145
7.15.Notmutuallyexclusive...............................................145
7