Case study

A case study is an intensive investigation of a bounded person, group, organization, event, or setting. It examines that case in context using detailed evidence.

Case selection: The process of choosing cases for detailed investigation or comparison. Selection determines which features of a case study can support broader claims.
Unit of analysis: The entity or process about which a study makes claims. Defining the unit sets the boundaries of the case being investigated.
Survey research: A research approach that collects standardized responses from a sample to describe or analyze a population. Surveys trade intensive contextual detail for broader coverage across sampled cases.
Phineas Gage: A nineteenth-century railroad worker whose severe brain injury became a landmark case in neuroscience. His injury and reported behavioral changes illustrate how one case can shape scientific questions.
Triangulation: The use of multiple methods, sources, or investigators to examine a phenomenon. Combining evidence sources can strengthen or challenge an interpretation of one case.
Research design: The plan that connects research questions, evidence, and methods of analysis. A case study is one design choice within a larger research plan.
Randomized controlled trial: An experiment that randomly assigns participants to treatment and control groups to estimate causal effects. Random assignment targets causal effects through comparison rather than deep study of one bounded case.
The Hawthorne effect: A proposed change in behavior associated with awareness of being observed. Studies of workplace behavior at Hawthorne Works became a prominent, contested case in social research.
Process tracing: A method for testing causal explanations by examining evidence about sequences and mechanisms within a case. It turns detailed case evidence into tests of how an outcome occurred.
Qualitative research: Research that analyzes meaning, experience, or social processes using nonnumeric evidence. Many case studies rely on qualitative evidence to explain context and process.

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