Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Aims to provide a general understanding of the case study method as well as specific tools for its successful implementation. It breaks down traditional boundaries between qualitative and quantitative, experimental and nonexperimental, positivist and interpretivist.
Synopsis
This book aims to provide a general understanding of the case study method as well as specific tools for its successful implementation. Topics include the definition of a 'case study,' the strengths and weaknesses of this distinctive method, strategies for choosing cases, an experimental template for understanding research design, and the role of singular observations in case study research. It is argued that a diversity of approaches - experimental, observational, qualitative, quantitative, ethnographic - may be successfully integrated into case study research.
About the Author
John Gerring is currently associate professor of political science at Boston University, where he teaches courses on methodology and comparative politics. His books include Party Ideologies in America, 1828-1996 (1998), Social Science Methodology: A Criterial Framework (2001), Global Justice: A Prioritarian Manifesto (under review), and Centripetalism: A Theory of Democratic Governance (under review).
Table of Contents
1. The conundrum of the case study; Part I. Thinking about Case Studies: 2. What is a case study?: the problem of definition; 3. What is a case study good for?: case study versus Large-N cross-case analysis; Part II. Doing Case Studies: 4. Preliminaries; 5. Techniques for choosing cases; 6. Internal validity: an experimental template; 7. Internal validity: singular observations; Epilogue: single-outcome studies.