Case Studies: Design, Methods, and Reporting

The following workshop will be held by Professor Gibbert on Week 1 (17 - 21 August, 2020).

Workshop contents and objectives
The overall aim of this workshop is to help participants who intend to use, or are already using, the case-study method for research purposes. The fundamental difference between case studies and other (quantitative) methods is that in case studies, there are more variables than data points. This difference makes case studies very "rich", but has also led to a good deal of criticism about the rigor of the case study method, particularly in terms of validity, and reliability.

During the workshop, we take a problem-oriented approach that looks across research stages into the question of how to craft methodologically sound case studies. Specifically, we look into each stage of the case-study project, including design (research question, case selection, etc.), data collection and analysis (employing multiple sources of data including surveys, interviews, archival data, and participant-observation, pattern matching, etc.), as well as reporting and write-up (issues of rhetoric and style).

The participants are invited to bring their own data to the summer school, and will have a chance to discuss and work on their case-study project during the course.

Prerequisites
No particular prerequisites are required. Readings in the bibliography are intended to give an overview of the kind of literature we will look into; they are not manadatory prep. readings.

 

Bibliography
Background reading

  • Yin, Robert K. 2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods (3rd edition). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Basic texts

  • Bennet, A., & Elman, C. (2006). Qualitative research: Recent developments in case study methods. Annual Review of Political Science, 9, 455-476.
  • Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532-550.
  • McGee, A. 1973. An introduction to Karl Popper. La Salle, IL.: Open Court (first three chapters).
  • Lee, Allen S. 1989. A Scientific Methodology for MIS Case Studies. MIS Quarterly, 13.1: 33-50.
  • Verba, S. (1967). Some Dilemmas in Comparative Research. World Politics, 20 (1), 111-27