Читать книгу Understanding Case Study Research - Malcolm Tight - Страница 16

In some disciplines, case study is used as a teaching method as well as, or instead of, a research method. This is common, for example, in various disciplines in the health/medicine field (e.g. Bair 1980), in law (e.g. Caulley and Dowdy 1987) and social work, and in business/management studies (e.g. Forman 2006; Garvin 2003; Zhao 1996). Case studies are used, for example, to explore and exemplify particular medical conditions, legal precedents or business problems.

To take the example of business/management, Romm and Mahler (1991) offer ‘a new approach to an old method’, focusing on the use of case studies in teaching. They provide sets of guidelines for their usage, arguing that:

By tailoring the use of cases to specific objectives and by matching these objectives with a diverse and imaginative case-related repertoire of methodologies, we can turn case analysis into a theoretically relevant, personally meaningful, and thoroughly enjoyable experience. (p. 300)

Contardo and Wensley (2004) also focus on the use of case studies in teaching and, in particular, on how the Harvard Business School has been both celebrated and constrained by its adherence to a particular form of the case method.

While recognising this broader usage, and accepting that teaching and research case studies may overlap, the focus in this book will be primarily on case study as a research method.