Applications of Case Study Research (Applied Social Research Methods)

This volume provides extensive applications of actual case-study research, as well as discussions of how case-study research can be applied to broad areas of inquiry. Each of the applications is designed to help readers identify solutions to problems encountered when doing case study research.

The book is organized in three parts. Part I shows how to integrate theoretical concerns into exploratory case studies, descriptive case studies or causal case studies, and shows how theory can shape the case-selection process. Part II provides examples from education and management information systems, covering important steps in case study research, such as how to select the units of analysis, how to define the data collections needs and how to establish rival hypotheses. Finally, Part III examines the use of case studies as an evaluative tool, including distinctions among different qualitative research strategies and evaluating highly complex interventions.