B46

Case Study Summary

1. The case is a special something to be studied, a student, a classroom, a committee, a program, perhaps. but not a problem, a relationship, or a theme. The case to be studied probably has problems and relationships, and the report of the case is likely to have a theme, but the case is an entity. The case, in some ways, has a unique life. It is something that we don't sufficiently understand and want to--therefore we do a case study.

2. To carry out our study of the case, we need to organize our data gathering and reporting. It is often useful to organize the study around issues. Issues are problems about which people disagree, complicated problems within situations and contexts. Our readers need to know all of these.

3. Choosing issues helps us define data sources and data gathering activities. We are likely to make observations, to interview to get observations of things we cannot see ourselves, and to review documents. Doing these things will usually cause us to reconsider our issues. Certain new issues will emerge. Case study work is often said to be "progressively focussed;" i.e., the organizing concepts change somewhat as the study moves along.

4. Usually it will be important to seek out and present multiple perspectives of activities and issues, discovering and portraying the different views. Seldom will it be necessary to resolve contradictory testimony or competing values--any of them may help us understand the case.

5. We try to observe the case in its ordinary activities and places. We try to minimize our intrusion, avoiding special tests and assignments characteristic of survey and laboratory study. We recognize that case study is subjective, relying heavily on our previous experience and our sense of worth of things. We try to let the reader know something of the personal experience of gathering the data. And we use techniques to minimize misperception and the invalidity of our conclusions.

6. We seek an accurate but limited understanding. Seldom are we primarily trying to generalize about other cases. Still, some comparison with other cases is inevitable. We and our readers often modifiy our previous generalizations somewhat as a result of acquaintance with a new case. Often the case is handed to us--we don't choose it. When we have opportunity to choose the case, it is often more useful to pick the one most likely to enhance our understanding than to pick the one most typical. In fact, highly atypical cases can sometimes contribute to our understanding of other cases.

6. We use ordinary language and narratives to describe the case. We seek to portray the case comprehensively, using ample but non-technical description and narrative. The report may read something like a story. Our observations cannot help but be interpretive and our descriptive report is laced with and followed by interpretation. We offer opportunity for readers to make their own interpretations of the case but we offer ours too. Stake & Mabry 9/21/92