Types of case study work: a conceptual framework for case-based research

Abstract

This paper describes a conceptual framework for understanding the phases of casebased research. Case-based strategies in research are widely used in case study methodology as well as in a number of qualitative methodologies including grounded theory development, phenomenological research method and psychotherapy process research. The epistemological principles upon which casebased research is based are fundamentally different those which inform groupbased research using quantitative multivariate statistics. The case-based research process is divided into three general phases: descriptive, theoretical-heuristic, and theory-testing. Each of these phases is subdivided into two categories. The aims and epistemological principles related to each phase are discussed and illustrated with examples from contemporary research. The principles for establishing validity in case-base research are also reviewed and, in order to assist research students and supervisors, some common pitfalls are noted. The paper shows that rigorous work with single cases or series of cases using case-based principles and methodology is indeed, as Bromley (1986) claimed, "the bedrock of scientific investigation".