A Review of Case Study

1Introduction

The case study is an excellent method for obtaining a thick description of a complex social issue embedded within a cultural context. It offers vivid and in-depth insights that no other method can yield, allowing researchers to examine how an intricate set of circumstances comes together and interact in shaping the social world around us.（Drnyei，2007）The case study has been applied to a wide range of fields in social science and regarded as a typical tradition of qualitative inquiry in education and language teaching. Despite weaknesses and challenges of a case study as a choice of what is to be studied the potential of the particular case study with high quality and details can still contribute to thorough and in-depth understandings of a target phenomenon, its uniqueness and its complexity.

2Definition of Case Study

A diversity of researchers and scholars has produced various definitions with their own particular emphasis and direction for research. Yin（2003）mentions a case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. While Stake（1995）emphasizes a bounded system, Johnson（1992）refers to the unit of analysis. Also, Van Wynsberghe and Khan（2007）defined a case study as a transparadigmatic and transdisciplinary heuristic that involves the careful delineation of the phenomena for which evidence is being collected(event, concept, program, process, etc.). Notwithstanding a variety of definitions and descriptions pertinent to a case study by a number of researchers, it is not easy to define a case study and identify its characteristics precisely and clearly.

3Main Characteristics of Case Study

Particularity: Case studies focus on a specific situation or phenomenon, exploring the particularity of a single case（Stake 1995）. Specifically, a particular case or a unit is studied intensively with the understanding of complex social circumstances. The case can be an individual, an event, an institution or even a nation and so on.

Complexity: Case studies researchers collect sufficient data, analyze complex social interactions and generate a rich thick description which can offer in-depth insights and holistic understanding of complex phenomena. According to Ponterotto（2006）,a thick description guides thick interpretation, which leads to abundant meaning of research findings for researchers and participants and provides readers with a sense of verisimilitude. In addition, Van Wynsberghe and Khan refer to expendability（2007∶84）because case studies can deepen and potentially transform a reader’s understanding of a phenomenon with regards to expanding the reader’s experience.

Contextualization: Case studies entail the study of phenomena in their natural contexts, which are unique, dynamic and information-rich（Cohenetal 2007;Yin 2003）. As a result, case studies are concentrated in reality. Researchers construct cases in natural settings without controlling or creating specific temporal and spatial boundaries in social situations.

Multiplicity: As McDonough（1997）pointed out,a case as an object is crucially related to an understanding of people’s own meaning and multiple perspectives. In addition, case studies are ideally suited for combining with multiple approaches and utilize multiple sources of data which facilitate triangulation and present diverse perspectives on the phenomena being studied.

Flexibility:Unlike the experimental research, a case study has a flexible design which is further developed as the study progresses. Johnson（1992∶85）regards it as a working design which may need to refocus or refine research questions depending on new emerging issues. Moreover, researchers generate a working hypothesis while collecting and analyzing data. However, such flexibility can be also a weakness of case studies. Hence, it requires a rigorous, disciplined and systematic approach to the research design.

4Strengths and Limitations of Case Study

The potential strengths are mainly based on possible advantages of case study suggested by Adelmanetal.（1976∶148）. First of all, case study data is strang in reality, down-to-earth, attention holding, and in harmony with the reader’s own experience which leads to a naturalistic generalisation. Secondly, the subtlety and complexity of the case provide the scope of analytic generalisation in contrast with generalizability as a weak point. Thirdly, case studies recognise the complexity and unboundedness of social truth, which can correspond to conflicts or discrepancies between participants and offer support to alterative interpretations. Fourthly, case studies are thickly described, which permits interpretation and reinterpretation subsequently as mentioned in complexity. Fifthly, case studies are a step to action. That is, case studies contribute to a world of action and its development for staff or institutional development and for formative evaluation. Last but not least, case studies present information in a more publicly accessible form which allows readers to judge the applicability of research for themselves.

Despite the impressive strengths above, case study research has been criticized and viewed as a less desirable and incomplete form of inquiry for the following reasons. Firstly, they argue from the positivism point of view that case studies fail to draw general conclusions, more specifically, a basis for conventional scientific generalization. As the case is limited to the context in which it is studied, indicated in particularity and contextualization. Some researchers question the external validity or generalisability of case study research. Besides, the opponents of the case study argue that it is almost impossible to find anything like a definitive account of case study approaches to educational evaluation（Bassey，1999）.Secondly,as Yin（2003）pointed out, the greatest concern is the lack of rigour which may fail to generate systematic procedures and lead to equivocal evidence. As a weak point of flexibility, it is dangerous to regard a case study as a simple product of a description and detail. Thirdly, considering the role or position of the researcher conducting data collection and analysis, a problematic issue, namely, subjectivity can arise. It is challenging for a case study researcher to develop a sufficiently operational set of measurements and subjective judgments are used to collect data which may threaten validity. Lastly, there is need for intensive time-consuming and labour demanding processes in case studies in order to generate a rich, in-depth and thick description for transparency of presentation.

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References：

［1］Adelman, C.,D. Jenkins and S. Kemmis.Re-thinking case study:Notes from the Second Cambridge Conference［J］.Cambridge Journal of Education,1976：139―150.

［2］Bassey, M.Case study research in educational settings［M］.Buckingham: Open University Press，1999.

［3］Creswell, J.W.Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches(2nd ed)［Ｍ］.London: Sage，2003.

［4］Creswell, J.W.Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches(2nd ed)［Ｍ］. London: Sage，2007.