How to do your case study / Gary Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Gary, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social sciences--Research--Methodology.

Social sciences.

Physical Description:

xii, 269 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Los Angeles ; London : SAGE, 2016.

Summary:

Adopting jargon-free language this book grounds its advice in concrete experience and real-world cases to provide a vibrant and insightful introduction to the basics of case study research.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. 1 GETTING YOUR BEARINGS

1. What is a case study?

Is the case study scientific?

Some definitions

What is a case?

What is and is not a case?

What is the case study good and not good for?

If you take only one thing from this chapter, take this

Further reading

2. case study and research design

Doing the right kind of research

What is design?

First things first: your purpose

Next, your question

Literature review

How to go from idea to question to case study

Questions and different approaches to research

Design frames and methods

Using storyboards to help you design your case study

3. whole is more than the sum of the parts: seeing a complete picture

Break things down or see them as wholes?

Gestalt psychology

Dramas, theatres and stages

Ecological psychology

Systems thinking

4. Rigour and quality in your case study: what's important?

Is the 'sample important in case study?

Do I have to worry about reliability and validity in a case study?

Triangulation

Positionality

Generalisation

Finding or regularising

Quality

If you take only one thing from this chapter, take this...

5. Ethics

Your participants

Vulnerable groups

Participants' activity

Deception or concealment

Confidentiality and anonymity

Data security and stewardship

Consent

Contacting participants

Care for your participants

and yourself

Where do I put discussion about ethics in my case study write-up?

Getting clearance

ethical review

pt. 2 SELECTING A CASE AND CONDUCTING THE STUDY

6. Different kinds of case studies: selecting a subject for your case study

How do you select your case study subject?

Same starting points, different paths

there's no right way

Kinds of case studies

7. Your purpose: thinking about the object of your study

Intrinsic

Instrumental

Evaluative

Explanatory

Exploratory

8. Your approach: theory testing or theory building; interpretation or illustration

Theory testing or theory building

Drawing a picture

illustrative-demonstrative

Interpretative

Experimental

9. Your process: the shape, style and manner of your case study

single case

Time as a dimension of the case study

multiple or collective or comparative case (or cross-case analysis)

Nested case studies

Parallel and sequential studies

pt. 3 COLLECTING EVIDENCE, ANALYSING AND WRITING UP

10. Out in the field: some ways to collect data and evidence

Interviews

Accounts

Diaries

Group interviews and focus groups

Interrogating documents

Questionnaires

Observation

Image-based methods

Measurements and tests

Official statistics and other numerical data

11. Analysis: a toolkit for analysing and thinking in case study

Interpretative inquiry: eliciting themes

Constant comparative method

Theme mapping

NVivo

Grounded theory

Thick description

Word clouds

Sociograms

Drawing storyboards

the nuts and bolts

Developing your theory

Using narrative

Think drama

Being intuitive and imaginative

12. Writing your study

Structure

Writing up your case study

Two examples of good analysis, argument and writing

Some rules for writers

... and this

a final thought

Other reading.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-260) and index.

ISBN:

1446282651

9781446282656

9781446282649

1446282643

OCLC:

924619490