How to Do Your Case Study

Front Cover
SAGE, Oct 24, 2015 - Social Science - 288 pages

Vibrant and insightful, this book introduces students and researchers to the basics of case study research. Adopting jargon-free language, it grounds its advice in concrete experience and real-world cases. Using examples from across the social sciences, Gary Thomas provides practical guidance on how best to read, design and carry out case study research with a focus on how to manage and analyze data.

The new edition of this bestselling book addresses crucial issues around ethics and has improved coverage of key themes such as rigor, validity, generalization and the analysis of case studies. It demystifies case study research and answers important questions such as:

  • What is a case study?
  • When and why should case study methods be used?
  • How are case studies designed?
  • What methods can be used?
  • How do we analyze and make sense of our data?
  • How do we write up and write about our case?

Bursting with real-world examples and multidisciplinary cases, and supported by a dynamic new website, this book is essential reading for any student or researcher in the social sciences and humanities.

 

Selected pages

Contents

PART 1 GETTING YOUR BEARINGS
1
CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS A CASE STUDY?
3
CHAPTER 2 THE CASE STUDY AND RESEARCH DESIGN
25
SEEING A COMPLETE PICTURE
46
WHATS IMPORTANT?
62
CHAPTER 5 ETHICS
78
PART 2 SELECTING A CASE AND CONDUCTING THE STUDY
95
SELECTING A SUBJECT FOR YOUR CASE STUDY
97
THEORY TESTING OR THEORY BUILDING INTERPRETATION OR ILLUSTRATION
134
THE SHAPE STYLE AND MANNER OF YOUR CASE STUDY
161
PART 3 COLLECTING EVIDENCE ANALYSING AND WRITING UP
185
SOME WAYS TO COLLECT DATA AND EVIDENCE
187
A TOOLKIT FOR ANALYSING AND THINKING IN CASE STUDY
203
CHAPTER 12 WRITING YOUR STUDY
236
REFERENCES
253
INDEX
261

THINKING ABOUT THE OBJECT OF YOUR STUDY
119
Copyright

Other editions - View all

How to Do Your Case Study
Gary Thomas
Limited preview - 2015
How to Do Your Case Study
Gary Thomas
No preview available - 2015
How to Do Your Case Study
Gary Thomas
No preview available - 2015

Common terms and phrases

analysis analytical frame approach argument behaviour Berlin Wall Building a theory called Chapter choose classroom comparative method context culture design frame develop Diachronic diary discussion draw ecological ecological psychology elements ethics example expectations experience explanation explanatory facie question Figure focus generalisation give going grounded theory happened Hawthorne effect Hurricane Katrina ideas idiographic IKEA imagine important inquiry interesting interpretative interviews involved issues Kerala kind of research knowledge literature review look means methodology narrative nested observation offer organisation outlier participant observer participants particular people’s phronesis potential problem psychology purpose readers reading sample Sennett situation social research social sciences sociogram story storyboard structure study research systems thinking talking teacher Testing a theory themes thick description things understanding unstructured unstructured interview validity variables vCJD words writing

About the author (2015)

Gary Thomas is a professor of education at the University of Birmingham. His teaching and research have focused on inclusion, special education, and research methodology in education, with a particular focus on case study. He has conducted research funded by the AHRC, the ESRC, the Nuffield Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the Department for Education, Barnardos, local authorities, and a range of other organisations. He has coedited the British Educational Research Journal and is currently an executive editor of Educational Review. He is author of many books, most recently Education: A Very Short Introduction published by Oxford University Press.

Bibliographic information

TitleHow to Do Your Case Study
AuthorGary Thomas
Edition2, unabridged
PublisherSAGE, 2015
ISBN1473943612, 9781473943612
Length288 pages
Subjects › 

Business & Economics / Research & Development
Reference / Research
Social Science / Methodology
  
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