RESEARCH METHOD
11 Case Studies
The case study is a research strategy involving in-depth investigation of single events or instances in context, using multiple sources of research evidence.1
Case studies have a long history in social science research, and in the teaching practices of law and business.2 More recently, it has been proposed that this method has value for design practice and education, in both the use of case studies for design research and teaching, and in the writing of case studies by designers.3 Case studies are useful in exploratory research for understanding existing phenomena for comparison, information, or inspiration, but can also be used to study the effects of change, new programs, or innovations.
The case study method focuses on gaining detailed, intensive knowledge about a single instance or a set of related instances. These instances, or cases, may be of individuals, organizations, entire communities, events, or processes. The details of cases emerge during data collection and analysis, which typically include the following features:4
• Selection of a case or small set of cases for a situation or area of concern
• Study of the case in context, in its social and physical setting
• Collection of information using multiple, triangulated methods such as interviews, observations, unobtrusive trace measures, and document analysis
Case studies are inclusive, assuming that consideration of the whole, covering interrelationships, is more advantageous than a reductionist study of parts, and that this depth compensates for any shortcomings in breadth and the ability to generalize. Furthermore, the case study method does not look for representative instances, but welcomes extraordinary cases and outliers. However, descriptions from a single researcher should be cross verified to enhance the reliability of participant accounts, while still recognizing that each individual point of view may be valid. While single cases are not enough to support or reject hypotheses, they may shed light on theory.5
Case studies have been proposed as useful for designers, bearing some resemblance to the design process. Case studies require the researcher to determine a problem, make initial hypotheses, conduct research through interviews, observations, and other forms of information gathering, revise hypotheses and theory, and tell a story.6 The telling of case studies should in fact be designed, and when well composed, can result in compelling human narratives, meaningful for research yet enjoyable to read, with vivid details that make the case more memorable.7 Furthermore, the documenting of design process has the potential to contribute to a repository of design case studies.
1. Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002.
2. Harvard Law School introduced the concept of case study beginning in the late 1870s, taking advantage of existing cases natural to the practice of law, and in reaction to traditional teaching methods requiring memorization and recall. By the 1920s, the Harvard Business School followed, with the added challenge of writing its own cases. Harvard Medical School introduced the use of case studies in the 1980s. The adoption of case studies as an educational approach fostered in-depth reading of cases, analysis, and the dialectic of classroom discussion. In professional programs, case studies proved to be a needed bridge between the scholarship of theories, and connections to real-life experience to inform decision making. See:
Breslin, Maggie, and Richard Buchanan. “On the Case Study Method of Research and Teaching in Design.” Design Issues 24, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 36–40.
3. Breslin, Maggie, and Richard Buchanan. “On the Case Study Method of Research and Teaching in Design.” Design Issues 24, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 36–40.
4. Robson, Colin. Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers, 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
5. Sommer, Robert, and Barbara Sommer. A Practical Guide to Behavioral Research: Tools and Techniques. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
6. See note 3 above.
7. See note 5 above.
