CASE STUDY

PREPARED BY: GROUP 1

CASE STUDY
Definition
Purpose
Types
Advantage and

Disadvantage

DEFINITION

a form of qualitative research that is focused on providing a

detailed account of one or more cases

A case study is an account of an activity, event or problem that

contains a real or hypothetical situation and includes the
complexities you would encounter in the workplace. Case studies
are used to help you see how the complexities of real life
influence decisions.

PURPOSE

describe in-depth the experience of one person, family, group,

community, or institution

Offer a richness and depth of information by capturing as many

variables as possible to identify how a complex set of
circumstances come together to produce a particular
manifestation

describe that particular case in detail and take learning from that
and develop theory from that approach - it is particularlistic and
contextual

TYPES

The GAO (Government Accountability Office) has described six

different types of case study:

1. Illustrative: This is descriptive in character and intended to

add realism and in-depth examples to other information about a
program or policy. (These are often used to complement
quantitative data by providing examples of the overall findings).

2. Exploratory: This is also descriptive but is aimed at

generating hypotheses for later investigation rather than simply
providing illustration.

TYPES

3. Critical instance: This examines a single instance of unique

interest, or serves as a critical test of an assertion about a
program, problem or strategy.

4. Program implementation. This investigates operations, often

at several sites, and often with reference to a set of norms or
standards about implementation processes.

5. Program effects. This examines the causal links between the

program and observed effects (outputs, outcomes or impacts,
depending on the timing of the evaluation) and usually involves
multisite, multimethod evaluations.

TYPES

Cumulative. This brings together findings from many case

studies to answer evaluative questions.

ADVANTAGES
1.

Provides detailed( rich qualitative ) information

2.

Good alternative or complement to the group focus of

psychology

3.

Provides insight for further research or new theories

DISADVANTAGES
1.

Can't generalize the results to wider population

2.

Researcher's own subjective feeling may influence the case

study( researcher bias)

3.

Time Consuming

4.

Costly

CASE STUDY

Analysing a case study requires you to practice applying your

knowledge and your thinking skills to a real situation. To learn
from a case study analysis you will be "analysing, applying
knowledge, reasoning and drawing conclusions" (Kardos & Smith
1979).

According to Kardos and Smith (1979) a good case

has the following features:

1.It is taken from real life (true identities may be concealed).

2.It consists of many parts and each part usually ends with
problems and points for discussion. There may not be a clear cut
off point to the situation.

3.It includes sufficient information for the reader to treat

problems and issues.

4.It is believable for the reader (the case contains the setting,
personalities, sequence of events, problems and conflicts)

SOURCES:

http://
www.studylecturenotes.com/social-research-methodology/advanta
ges-disadvantages-of-case-study-method-of-data-collection
http://betterevaluation.org/en/plan/approach/case_study

https://explorable.com/case-study-research-design.com

http://
libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Introduction%20to%20Rese
arch%20and%20Managing%20Information%20Leicester/page_61.htm