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A case study, basically, is a depiction either of a phase or the totality of relevant experience of some selected datum. (Foreman 1948, p. 408)

A case study is expected to catch the complexity of a single case… Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand its activity within important circumstances. (Stake 1995, p. xi)

[T]he single most defining characteristic of case study research lies in delimiting the object of study, the case… If the phenomenon you are interested in studying is not intrinsically bounded, it is not a case. (Merriam 1998, p. 27)

An educational case study is an empirical enquiry which is: conducted within a localized boundary of space and time… into interesting aspects of an educational activity, or programme, or institution, or system; mainly in its natural context and within an ethic of respect for persons; in order to inform the judgements and decisions of practitioners or policy-makers; or of theoreticians who are working to these ends; in such a way that sufficient data are collected for the researcher to be able… to explore significant features of the case… create plausible interpretations… test for the[ir] trustworthiness… construct a worthwhile argument… [and] convey convincingly to an audience this argument. (Bassey 1999, p. 58, emphasis in original)

A case can be an individual; it can be a group – such as a family, or a class, or an office, or a hospital ward; it can be an institution – such as a school or a children’s home, or a factory; it can be a large-scale community – a town, an industry, a profession. All of these are single cases; but you can also study multiple cases: a number of single parents; several schools; two different professions. (Gillham 2000, p. 1, emphasis in original)

A case study is a research strategy that can be qualified as holistic in nature, following an iterative-parallel way of proceeding, looking at only a few strategically selected cases, observed in their natural context in an open-ended way, explicitly avoiding (all variants of) tunnel vision, making use of analytical comparison of cases or sub-cases, and aimed at description and explanation of complex and entangled group attributes, patterns, structures or processes. (Verschuren 2003, p. 137)

A ‘case study’… is best defined as an intensive study of a single unit with an aim to generalize across a larger set of units. (Gerring 2004, p. 341)

[C]ase study is a transparadigmatic and transdisciplinary heuristic that involves the careful delineation of the phenomena for which evidence is being collected. (VanWynsberghe and Khan 2007, p. 80)

A case study is a study in which (a) one case (single case study) or a small number of cases (comparative case study) in their real life context are selected, and (b) scores obtained from these cases are analysed in a qualitative manner. (Dul and Hak 2008, p. 4)

A case study refers to the study of a social phenomenon: carried out within the boundaries of one social system (the case), or within the boundaries of a few social systems (the cases)… in the case’s natural context… by monitoring the phenomenon during a certain period or, alternatively, by collecting information afterwards with respect to the development of the phenomenon during a certain period… in which the researcher focuses on process-tracing… where the researcher, guided by an initially broad research question, explores the data and only after some time formulates more precise research questions, keeping an open eye to unexpected aspects… using several data sources, the main ones being (in this order) available documents, interviews with informants and (participatory) observation. (Swanborn 2010, p. 13, emphasis in original)

Case studies are analyses of persons, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions or other systems which are studied holistically by one or more methods. The case that is the subject of the inquiry will be an instance of a class of phenomena that provides an analytical frame – an object – within which the study is conducted and which the case illuminates and explicates. (Thomas 2011a, p. 23)

The first three definitions usefully focus on key elements of our common understanding of case study. Thus, Foreman, in the earliest of the definitions given, stresses that case study is about a particular item, thing or case; or, in his words, ‘some selected datum’. Stake points out that the case being studied is both particular and complex; after all, if it were not the former, it would not be a case, and, if it were not the latter, it would scarcely be worth studying. And Merriam notes that the case needs to be bounded or delimited; as she says, if it isn’t, it isn’t a case, and you are not then engaged in case study but in some other kind of research.

Seven of the other eight definitions stress other aspects of case study which most of its proponents would agree with. Thus, Bassey, Verschuren, Dul and Hak and Swanborn all emphasise that the case is to be studied in its ‘natural’ or ‘real life’ context. Cases are not artificial entities, they are not experiments, but are part of our reality, from which – even though, as cases, they are bounded – they cannot be separated.

Both Verschuren and Thomas point out that case study is a holistic research strategy. We study (or, at least, attempt to study) the entirety of the case, not selected aspects of it. In practice, this may mean that we study as much of the case as we can in a given period of time. Gillham, Dul and Hak and Swanborn stress that case study need not be confined to single cases, but might involve the comparative study of two or more cases.

Some of the elements of the different definitions could, however, be said to fall into the categories of desirable or idealistic. Bassey writes of case studies focusing on ‘interesting aspects’ and ‘significant features’, leading to the construction of a ‘worthwhile argument’, all of which is definitely a desirable quality, and most probably sought for at the outset of the case study, but not necessarily guaranteed. What is interesting or significant for one researcher may not be so for another, though all would hope and aim for their arguments to be worthwhile.

Gerring states that the aim of case study is ‘to generalize’, which might not always be feasible, and indeed would be rejected as an aim by some case study researchers. The case might be of interest for its own sake, or might be too particular, or the researcher might be unsure about whether their findings were generalisable. The issue of generalisability is a key one in discussions of case study, and we will return to it in more detail in Chapter 3.

Verschuren’s argument that case studies should be observed in ‘an open-ended way’ might also be questioned in terms of its practicality. Most researchers do not have indefinite time to devote to a piece of research, and, after all, one of the main attractions of case study research is that it is small-scale and focused. In Verschuren’s definition, it is also by no means clear what is signified by ‘an iterative-parallel way of proceeding’, which seems to introduce unnecessarily complicated jargon to what is meant to be a straightforward definition.

Other elements of some of the definitions are more particular, and might be debated or disagreed with. Thus, when Dul and Hak specify that case studies are to be analysed ‘in a qualitative manner’, they are revealing both their own preference and the most common strategy (although their preference seems to be immediately compromised by their reference to ‘scores’). It is also possible to analyse case studies, either wholly or partly, in a quantitative manner; though, as we shall see, Dul and Hak are not alone in their view.

Something similar is going on when Swanborn unnecessarily restricts case study to the study of ‘social phenomenon’ which is presumably his focus and interest. Other kinds of natural phenomena (e.g. the dissemination of diseases, weather patterns, the hunting strategies of particular animals) might also lend themselves to a case study approach.

Perhaps the most unusual of the eleven definitions offered is that of VanWynsberghe and Khan, who describe case study as a ‘transparadigmatic and transdisciplinary heuristic’, or, in other words, a way of researching that can be applied in almost any circumstance. That seems rather an obscure way of setting out a definition. While the second part, ‘the careful delineation of the phenomena for which evidence is being collected’, seems more straightforward, it could be applied equally well to many research designs.

Of course, when we are discussing anything of significance, which case study certainly is, there are bound to be differences of opinion and variations in understanding. This is how academics and researchers work to advance and develop our thinking. So it is not surprising that we can readily identify differences and disagreements between these definitions (and there are many others that could have been used). But the commonalities between them are stronger, and, as well as clarifying what case study is, they also help to make it clear what case study is not.

We can be reasonably confident, then, in stating that case study involves the following:

 The study of a particular case, or a number of cases.

 That the case will be complex and bounded.

 That it will be studied in its context.

 That the analysis undertaken will seek to be holistic.

Case study is not, as we have already noted, an experiment (though it might be combined with an experimental research design: see Chapter 6). Nor is it a survey or a large-scale analysis. Case study is small-scale research with meaning (this interpretation is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4).