Some research questions are best answered by using a case study research design. This Let's see what this research design involves, and how it can be used in political research.
Qualitative case study design
Read this article on case study design. It describes what case studies are good for, what kind of research questions they answer, what kind of case study designs exists, and what they are suitable for.
Following this, the activities below will help you master the designs of case studies.
The following activities will help you test yourself an your understanding of:
- Reasons for selecting a case study research design
- A unit of analysis
- Case study design types
Case study research design
- What are possible reasons for selecting a case study design?
Fill in blanks. Use your cursor or "tab" key to advance to the next answer.
- the focus of the study is to answer “how” and “why” questions;
- the researcher cannot manipulate the behaviour of those involved in the study;
- the researcher wants to cover contextual conditions, because the researcher believes that they are relevant to the phenomenon under study;
- the boundaries are not clear between the phenomenon and context.
Quiz
- Reasons for selecting a case study design
Which of the following is a valid reason for selecting a case study?
- The research question addressed is "how much", "how many", or "how often"
- Incorrect. These questions typically require a quantitative exploratory design
- The researcher has direct control over elements in the study
- Incorrect. When the researcher has control over elements, they will typically prefer experimental design.
- Contextual conditions need to be covered, because they may be relevant to the phenomenon under study
- Correct. A case study design allows the inclusion contextual issues, which may be an important part of the phenomenon.
- There are clear boundaries between the phenomenon under study, and its context
- Incorrect. When the boundaries between the phenomenon under study and the context are clear, there is no need for a case study design.
- What is a unit of analysis?
A unit of analysis is a term describing the main focus of the researcher during analysis. To identify the unit of analysis, the question to ask is "what do I want to analyse?". Below are four statements on units of analysis. Please select the correct statement.
- A process can be a unit of analysis.
- Nations cannot be units of analysis because they are too complex.
- Not entirely correct. Nations are complex, but there will base comparative cases which examine differences between nations.
- A unit of analysis is not relevant to the research question.
- Incorrect. A good research question will reflect the unit of analysis.
- The unit of analysis is only defined during the analysis stage.
- Incorrect. The unit of analysis has to be defined during the research design.
What is a unit of analysis?
- A unit of analysis is a term describing the main focus of the researcher during analysis. To identify the unit of analysis, the question to ask is "what do I want to analyse?". Below are four statements on units of analysis. Please select the correct statement.
- A process can be a unit of analysis.
- Nations cannot be units of analysis because they are too complex.
- Not entirely correct. Nations are complex, but there will base comparative cases which examine differences between nations.
- A unit of analysis is not relevant to the research question.
- Incorrect. A good research question will reflect the unit of analysis.
- The unit of analysis is only defined during the analysis stage.
- Incorrect. The unit of analysis has to be defined during the research design.
Identifying the unit of analysis
Here is a short description of the research (You can access the full article if you need to):
The study examines reasons why Italian graduates leave Italy and move to the UK. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with Italian graduates who have recently migrated to the UK. The study examined the social processes and the chronological progress of each respondent’s migratory experience from the origin of their migratory project to the day of the interview. The researchers focused on the ways in which participants rationalised and ‘explained’ their decision to migrate.
The study investigated a wide range of topics including: personal background; previous experiences abroad and attitudes towards mobility (in particular as a student); timing and the development of the idea to migrate; reasons and motivations for migration; current assessment of the migratory experience, and future intentions.
The study resulted with a conclusion that alongside 'practical' reasons to migrate – mostly the stagnation of the Italian labour market and the difficulty of gaining access to qualified occupations – Italian graduate migration to the UK is conditioned, and in some cases is driven, by personal, cultural and ethical motivations.
- The unit of analysis in this case was:
- The participant
- Incorrect. It may seem like the participant is the unit of analysis, because each participant is the focus of the data collection, but this research focuses on something else
- The nation
- Incorrect. Although this case is situated in one specific nation (Italy), the nation is only the specific context for the case.
- The migration experience
- Incorrect. The migration experience is just a means to explore the real issues of this study. It is the focus of the data collection method, but not the focus of the research.
- The reasons for migrating
- Correct. Across participants and across the interview data, the reasons for migrating are the focus of this study.
Identify the type of a case study
- The case study described in full article is:
- Descriptive
- Correct. The case describes the phenomenon of migration of Italian graduates to the UK.
- Exploratory
- Not entirely correct. Although the case explores reasons for migration, it does not try to identify diverse and unexpected outcomes.
- Explanatory
- Incorrect. Although the case aims to provide an explanation for a phenomenon, it does not critically evaluate the link between the causes and the outcome.
- Multiple case studies
- Incorrect. The study does not examine differences within and between cases.
What type of case study design would you choose?
- Fill in blanks. Use your cursor or "tab" key to advance to the next answer.
- A study aiming to identify the views children in detention centers form about their detaining country would use a/n descriptive case study design;
- When aiming to explore the effects of foreign aid workers' activity in detention centres on detained children, the research would use a/n exploratory case study;
- A study examining the role of gender in forming an opinion about a detailing country among detained children's views would require multiple case studies ;
- A study examining the link between detention centre physical conditions and the views that detained children form of the detaining country would use a/n explanatory case study design.
Single holistic case study or multiple case studies?
- Fill in blanks. Use your cursor or "tab" key to advance to the next answer.
- When the context of the study is unique or extreme, that is a good reason to use a single holistic case study;
- When the researcher wants to understand the similarities and differences between cases, it is best to use multiple case studies.
- When similar results in one case study can be predicted based on other case studies, it is a literal replication;
- When the results of one case study are different from results in other cases, but the differences have predictable reasons, it is a theoretical replication;
Single holistic case study or multiple case studies?
- Charlie wants to explore how religious dialogue can promote peace actions. He chooses the activities of a Jewish-Muslim encounter group in the West Bank as his case study. Lola wants to explore how universities respond to political direction to adopt online education. She chooses 13 universities in the EU who were part of a digital education grant. Which of the following statements best describes their selections of case study design?
- Charlie selected a single holistic case study because the circumstances were extreme; Lola selected multiple case studies because she wanted to identify differences and similarities between cases.
- Charlie selected a single holistic case study because the topic is controversial; Lola selected multiple case studies because the topic was not contentious, and it was easy to recruit participants.
- Incorrect. The statements about the cases may be true, but they are not valid reasons for deciding on single or multiple case studies.
- Charlie should have had multiple case studies, because religious dialogues occur world-wide.
- Incorrect. Although the topic exists world-wide, the case charlie selected is extreme in terms of how prolonged the conflict is, how much attention it received world-wide, how much it has affected international events etc.
- Lola could have selected a single holistic case study design because the case is complex enough.
- Not entirely correct. Yes, the case is complex - that's why Lola is using a case study design. However, she would need to find an angle which is specific to her case. For example, if she chose a Swedish university, her research question would be "How does a non-English speaking university in a technologically advanced country respond to political direction to adopt online education?"
Reflective Activity: Show your case study expertise
Time to sum up everything you have learned about case studies! The next few questions will ask you to examine a few articles reporting case-study based research, and identify research design elements. Remember to share your answers in the discussion forum.
- The article available here examines the state of governance in various EU states. The article here examines recovery proposals made at Congressional hearings after Hurricane Katrina in Florida. Pick one article (or both, if you are keen), and answer the following questions for each?
- What is the research question of this study?
- Is the study design appropriate for this research question? Why or why not?
- What is the unit of analysis examined in this case study? How did you identify it?
- What type of a case study is used in this research?
- How did the case study design support the results of the study?
Tip: You don't have to read the whole article to answer these questions. Usually, the abstract and the introduction will give you an understanding of what the researcher was trying to do, and the methods section will tell you how they were trying to do it.
- Finally, describe how your research question can be answered with a case study. How would your question have to change to reflect the research design? Share with the group in the discussion forum.
Key points summary: reasons for selecting a case study approach
A researcher would use a case study approach if:
(a) the focus of the study is to answer “how” and “why” questions;
(b) the researcher cannot manipulate the behaviour of those involved in the study;
(c) the researcher wants to cover contextual conditions, because the researcher believes that they are relevant to the phenomenon under study;
or (d) the boundaries are not clear between the phenomenon and context.
Unit of analysis
The "case" studied in the research is the unit of analysis. It is the "object" which the study examines and analyses. For example, it can be either of the following:
- individuals
- programs or processes
- different organisations
- cultural groups
- nations
Types of case study
- Explanatory - explain the presumed causal links in real-life interventions that are too complex for the survey or experimental strategies
- Exploratory - explore results when there is no clear, single set of outcomes
- Descriptive - used to describe an intervention or phenomenon and the real-life context in which it occurred
- Multiple (comparative) - A multiple case study enables the researcher to explore differences within and between cases. The goal is to replicate findings across cases.
Reasons for using a single case
A single holistic case study is appropriate when the context is unique or extreme.
Reasons for using multiple cases
Multiple case studies are needed to understand similarities and differences between cases.
Multiple case studies are used to:
- Predicts similar results in similar situations (literal replication)
- Predicts contrasting results based on predictable reasons (theoretical replication)
