A case study in Research

A case study in research is a strategy and empirical investigation which includes an analysis of the real phenomenon. Many students pursuing master’s or PhD have certain questions such as how and when to do a case study.

In this article, our professional by providing the guideline about a case study is resolving the queries of students.

Before gaining knowledge about How to do case studies, you should first develop an understanding of what is a case study?

Case study

A  Research case study is a detailed survey on a specific topic or subject. It can also refer to as an in-depth investigation perform for analyzing a particular situation. The researcher mainly uses case study design for conducting research in the field of education, science clinical field, etc.

It mainly includes the Qualitative method, but sometimes also includes quantitative methods. You can utilize case study design in such a situation where you intend to describe and compare different aspects of the research problem.

How to do case studies in Research?

The 4 steps of doing a case study in research are:

Step 1: Need to choose a specific case

After writing a problem statement and designing research questions, you need to select a particular case. A characteristic of a good case study is that

• It provides new insight into the subject
• A good case study challenges assumptions and existing theories.
• An effective case provides practical courses of action for resolving issues.
• It provides a new direction for future research.

One important characteristic of the case study design is that it does not need any representative sample.  In the context of the case study research design, the researcher mainly emphasizes unusual and neglected research problems.

Step 2:Putting Together a Theoretical Framework

Research Case studies mainly emphasize providing great detail. While making a selection of cases you should ensure that it has some link with existing theory related to the field. The case study research design will help you in increasing your knowledge about a specific topic.

The main aim of the case study design is to:

• Represent a theory by demonstrating the way it provides an explanation of the case under investigation.
• Expansion of a theory by introducing new theories and implementation of ideas.
• Challenging a theory by exploring an outlier case that does not fit with established beliefs.

Tip: You should conduct a literature review of sources relevant to topics and create a theoretical framework. It is a tactic that will help you in making sure that the case which you have selected has strong academic relevancy.  You should address key concepts and hypotheses for guiding analysis and interpretation.

Step 3: Information-gathering strategies

You can use several techniques for the collection of information about the topic. The different techniques which you can utilize for gathering information about the specific case are survey, interview, observation, etc.

These are a technique that you can utilize for accumulating primary information about the case. You can gather secondary data about the case by reading books, newspapers, articles, etc.

Mixed method case study example

In the context of the case study on the establishment of wind farms in rural areas, the researcher needs to collect qualitative data about employment rates and revenue earned by companies.

An investigator by conducting a survey could accumulate information about local people’s views about the establishment of farms in their region.  After that you can analyze the facts. The main objective of the case study to analyze the different aspects of case.

Step 3: Several methods for assessing the case that you can use

At the time of writing a case, you need to integrate different aspects which are essential to complete a picture. After that based on the type of research performed you need to report your finding.

In the case study, you need to write a separate section for methodology, discussion, and results.

You should write a case study in a narrative style. While writing a case study your aim should be to analyze the case from different aspects. Before start writing a case study, you should understand its meaning and importance.

The different techniques which you can utilize for analyzing the case include textual analysis, discourse analysis, etc.

While writing all types of cases you need to provide background detail of the case. After that, you need to link the same with existing literature and theory.

When to do a case study?

A case study research design can be more suitable for gaining a deep understanding of something. It is by analyzing the different cases that researchers can identify important characteristics, implications, and meaning about whatever it may be they’re studying.

Making a selection of case studies for writing a thesis or dissertation is considering the best decision.

By utilizing the case study design you will be able to maintain the relevance of the research project.  It will also help you in managing the research project, especially at that time when you have insufficient time and resources for performing study on a large scale.

The researcher can use a complex case study design for an in-depth analysis of one subject. You can utilize multiple cases for making comparisons and providing illustrations of the specific research problems.

Example of case study

Why do we do research using case studies?

In exploratory research, case studies are frequently used. They may be able to assist us in generating fresh ideas (that might be tested by other methods). They are a useful tool for presenting theories and for demonstrating how different parts of a person’s life are connected.

Conclusion

Gaining an in-depth understanding of a subject can be difficult, especially when the problem is complex. A good way to get around this difficulty may be through utilizing case studies as they can examine individual cases and go into detail about them.

One technique that has been found useful for gathering information on these subjects is called content analysis; it involves developing a system by which one could measure how often certain words or phrases occur within different documents related to the study’s topic area.

It has been summarized above that while gaining in-depth knowledge about something might seem daunting at first glance, there are ways of overcoming this obstacle such as by using case studies and other techniques like content analyses where more detailed examinations can take place based on specific topics being