Types of case study research
2.2 Review of methodological discussions on case study research
A number of journals in business research have published articles in which the methodology of case study research is discussed and, sometimes, promoted as a valuable research strategy see below. These articles: ■ argue that case study research is useful for some topics or questions or research objectives objectives; ■ claim that case study research can meet general quality criteria such as validity and reliability and illustrate this by giving lists of advice and criteria guidelines; or, ■ use such guidelines in evaluations of published research evaluation. We will comment on these three themes objectives, guidelines, and evaluation, rather than discuss these articles in detail, because the fol- lowing chapters of this book will explicitly or implicitly deal with the arguments of these articles.2.2.1 Objectives of case study research
Case study research has been advocated as a valid research strategy in marketing Bonoma, 1985, operations management McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993, management information systems Benbasat et al., 1987, and strategy Mintzberg, 1979; Eisenhardt, 1989; Larsson 1993. Most of these authors consider case study research as a useful research strategy a when the topic is broad and highly complex, b when there is not a lot of theory available, and c when “context” is very important. It is claimed that all these three conditions hold for many topics in business research. Based on such arguments, most authors advocate the use of case study research for studies with exploratory aims. Several authors provide a list of topics or questions for which they deem case study research particularly useful. Suggested topics in marketing include, marketing strategy development and implementa- tion, business reengineering and customer service, and the formation of organizational ethical orientations as they pertain to marketing 24 Valentin, 1996; Perry, 1998; Johnston et al., 1999. In Operations, the management of environmental policies in operations, the dynamics of technology implementation, and differences between manufacturing and service operations management provide, according to these authors, interesting opportunities for case study research McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993; Ellram, 1996; Meredith, 2002; Stuart et al., 2002. Some authors elaborate on the use of case study research for testing purposes. Bonoma 1985, for instance, proposes a four-step process for conducting case study research that is oriented to theory-testing. Johnston et al. 1999, Wilson and Woodside 1999, and Hillebrand et al. 2001 also advocate case study research as a strategy that is useful for theory-testing.2.2.2 Guidelines for case study research
Several articles such as McCutcheon and Meredith 1993, Ellram 1996, Perry 1998, Hill et al. 1999, Stuart et al. 2002, and Voss et al. 2002, provide broad guidelines for applying case study research. Perry 1998 provides a blueprint for case study research in marketing at the Master’s and PhD level. The section on implementing case study research methodology discusses how to formulate questions and set up an interview protocol, how to select cases for replication, how many cases to select based on the information richness, and how to analyse the cases within case and cross-case analysis. McCutcheon and Meredith 1993 give a basic introduction to the methodology of case study research in which they focus on case study research for explo- ration, although they also acknowledge that it can be used for explana- tion. Based on their experience as reviewers of papers using case study research in academic operations management journals, Stuart et al. 2002 describe a number of weaknesses that they believe are common in case study research papers. Based on this analysis, they provide sug- gestions for designing and conducting the research itself but also for writing the research paper. They discuss how to anticipate the common criticisms of reviewers in order to increase the chances of acceptance of the paper. Voss et al. 2002 provide guidelines for the design, execution, and analysis of case study research. The paper discusses both theoretical issues and practical recommendations. Halinen and Törnroos 2005 provide general guidelines for doing case study research on business networks in a similar vein. They provide a list of 11 consecutive steps with specific issues related to each of them, from problem formulation to the publication of the case study results. OtherParts
» BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Our definition of a case study
» Chapter 2: Case studies in business research
» Chapter 3: Principles of research Chapter 4: Theory-testing research general
» Chapters 10–11: Practice-oriented research Overview of the book
» Reading specific topics Overview of the book
» Suggestions for students How to read this book
» References BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Types of case study research
» Objectives of case study research
» Guidelines for case study research
» Evaluations of case study research
» Conclusion BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» General research objectives of theory-oriented and practice-oriented research
» Orientation: how to choose between theory-oriented or practice-oriented research
» Theory Principles of theory-oriented research
» Theory-oriented research: contribution to theory development
» Replication Principles of theory-oriented research
» Representativeness, external validity, and generalizability
» Exploration of theory Exploration for theory-oriented research
» Exploration of practice for finding a proposition
» Exploration of practice for confirming the relevance of a proposition
» Contributions to theory development
» Practice Principles of practice-oriented research
» Practice-oriented research: contribution to a practitioner’s knowledge
» Exploration of practice Exploration for practice-oriented research
» Research objectives in theory-testing research
» Propositions that express a sufficient condition
» Propositions that express a necessary condition
» Propositions that express a deterministic relation
» Propositions that express a probabilistic relation
» Business relevance of propositions
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a sufficient condition
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a necessary condition
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a deterministic relation
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a probabilistic relation
» Testing more complex conceptual models
» Outcome and implications BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Summary BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Introduction How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Candidate cases How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Case selection How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Hypothesis How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Measurement How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Data presentation Data analysis
» Replication strategy How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Domain Conceptual model Theory
» Research objective Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Research strategy Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Candidate cases Case selection
» Hypotheses Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Measurement Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Radical innovation projects Data presentation
» Incremental innovation projects Data presentation
» Data analysis Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Replication strategy Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Hypothesis Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Replication strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research strategy Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Candidate cases Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Case selection Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Hypothesis Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Measurement Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Hypothesis Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Replication strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Introduction How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Candidate cases How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Case selection How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Hypothesis How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Data analysis How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Replication strategy How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Introduction Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Research objective Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Research strategy Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Hypotheses Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Measurement Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Research objective Research strategy
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Case selection Hypotheses Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Measurement Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Introduction How to test a probabilistic relation with a case study
» Introduction Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Research objective Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Research strategy Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Candidate cases Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Case selection Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Hypotheses Measurement Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Data presentation Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Data analysis Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 4
» Specifying the relation between known concepts
» Discovering a not yet known concept
» Discovering concepts and their relation
» Discovering concepts Principles of theory-building research
» Research strategies in theory-building research
» Outcome and implications Summary
» Introduction How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Candidate cases How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Case selection How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Extracting relevant evidence How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Coding How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Data presentation How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Sufficient condition Data analysis
» Necessary condition Data analysis
» Deterministic relation Data analysis
» Sufficient condition An example of data analysis
» Necessary condition An example of data analysis
» Deterministic relation Probabilistic relation
» Outcome How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Introduction Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Candidate cases Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Case selection Extracting relevant evidence
» Coding Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Outcome Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Justification of a theory-building case study
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Outcome Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Research objective in hypothesis-testing research
» Research strategy in hypothesis-testing research
» Research objective in hypothesis-building research
» Research objective of descriptive practice-oriented research
» Research strategy of practice-oriented descriptive research
» Introduction How to design and conduct a practice-oriented case study
» Case selection How to design and conduct a practice-oriented case study
» Implications of the research results
» Introduction Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Hypothesis Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Measurement Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Data analysis Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Results and implications Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Practice Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Implications for practice Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Introduction Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Absence of guidelines or criteria
» Measurement Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Data presentation Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Concept definition Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Implications Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Practice Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Case selection Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
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