Case study as a research strategy: Some ambiguities and opportunities

Abstract

From a general methodological point of view the status of the case study as a type of research is not quite clear. There are some ambiguities as to the object and the way we look at it, the research methods that are used, and the results to be obtained. One piece of background of its unclear status is that the case study is mostly defined as the study of one single case, rather than as a way of doing the research. Another one is that, in the eyes of many quantitative social science researchers, the results of a case study are of poor quality. This article aims to clarify some misconceptions and ambiguities of the case study as it is used in modern social science disciplines, and to define it as a research strategy of its own, clearly distinguished from and complementary to the quantitative or large scale survey type of research, the experiment, and (other) qualitative research strategies.