The Case Study in Social Research: History, Methods and Applications

Abstract

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of tables -- Introduction -- 1. Social research and its methods: An introductory overview -- 1. Social research and its specificity -- 1.1 What is social research? -- 1.2 Sociology and the other social sciences -- 2. The positivist orientation and quantitative research -- 3. The interpretivist orientation and qualitative research -- 4. The methodological debate between quantitative and qualitative -- 5. A new trend: towards mixed methods research -- Summary -- 2. The origins and development of the case study -- 1. The case study in the Chicago school -- 2. The decline of the case study -- 3. The revival of the case study in sociological literature -- 4. Criticism of the case study -- Summary -- 3. First question: How to define a case study? -- 1. Some preliminary questions of a linguistic-methodological nature -- 1.1 Research method or research approach? -- 1.2 The meaning of case -- 2. Positivist definitions of the case study -- 3. Interpretivist definitions of the case study -- 4. A proposal for synthesis -- Summary -- 4. Second question: Why choose the case study approach? -- 1. The case study research project -- 1.1 The phases of a project -- 1.2 The protocol or operational research plan -- 2. Research questions -- 2.1 Research questions and types of investigation -- 2.2 Case study research questions -- 3. How to identify a case and unit of analysis -- 3.1 The unit of analysis in the case study -- 3.2 Choosing between single and multiple case studies -- 4. The issue of the generalization of results -- 5. The role of theory -- Summary -- 5. Third question: How to conduct social research based on the case study? -- 1. How to collect information -- 1.1 The interview -- 1.2 The use of documents -- 1.3 Observation -- 2. Analyze the data collected.