RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Case Study Method

BY MK SINGH
 Case Study Method
Evolution and scope:
• The case study method is a widely used systematic field research technique
in sociology these days. The credit for introducing this method to the field
of social investigation goes to Frederic Le Play who used it as a hand-
maiden to statistics in his studies of family budgets.
• Herbert Spencer was the first to use case material in his comparative
study of different cultures.
• Dr. William Healy resorted to this method in his study of juvenile
delinquency, and considered it as a better method over and above the mere
use of statistical data.
• Similarly, anthropologists, historians, novelists and dramatists have used
this method concerning problems pertaining to their areas of interests. Even
management experts use case study methods for getting clues to several
management problems.
• In brief, case study method is being used in several disciplines. Not only
this, its use is increasing day by day.
 Case Study Method
• Meaning:
• The case study method is a very popular form of qualitative
analysis and involves a careful and complete observation of a social
unit, be that unit a person, a family, an institution, a cultural group
or even the entire community.
• It is a method of study in depth rather than breadth.
• The case study places more emphasis on the full analysis of a
limited number of events or conditions and their interrelations. The
case study deals with the processes that take place and their
interrelationship.
• Thus, case study is essentially an intensive investigation of the
particular unit under consideration.
• The object of the case study method is to locate the factors that
account for the behaviour-patterns of the given unit as an integrated
totality.
 Case Study Method
• According to H. Odum, “The case study method is a technique by which individual
factor whether it be an institution or just an episode in the life of an individual or a
group is analysed in its relationship to any other in the group.” Thus, a fairly
exhaustive study of a person (as to what he does and has done, what he thinks he
does and had done and what he expects to do and says he ought to do) or group is
called a life or case history.
• Burgess has used the words “the social microscope” for the case study method.”
• Pauline V. Young describes case study as “a comprehensive study of a social unit
be that unit a person, a group, a social institution, a district or a community.”
• In brief, we can say that case study method is a form of qualitative analysis where
in careful and complete observation of an individual or a situation or an institution
is done; efforts are made to study each and every aspect of the concerning unit in
minute details and then from case data generalisations and inferences are drawn.
 Case Study Method
Characteristics: The important characteristics of the case study
method are as under:
1. Under this method the researcher can take one single social unit or
more of such units for his study purpose; he may even take a situation
to study the same comprehensively.
2. Here the selected unit is studied intensively i.e., it is studied in
minute details. Generally, the study extends over a long period of time
to ascertain the natural history of the unit so as to obtain enough
information for drawing correct inferences.
3. In the context of this method we make complete study of the social
unit covering all facets. Through this method we try to understand the
complex of factors that are operative within a social unit as an
integrated totality.
 Case Study Method
4 .Under this method the approach happens to be qualitative and not
quantitative. Mere quantitative information is not collected. Every possible
effort is made to collect information concerning all aspects of life. As such,
case study deepens our perception and gives us a clear insight into life. For
instance, under this method we not only study how many crimes a man has
done but shall peep into the factors that forced him to commit crimes when we
are making a case study of a man as a criminal. The objective of the study may
be to suggest ways to reform the criminal.
5. In respect of the case study method an effort is made to know the mutual
inter-relationship of causal factors.
6. Under case study method the behaviour pattern of the concerning unit is
studied directly and not by an indirect and abstract approach.
7. Case study method results in fruitful hypotheses along with the data which
may be helpful in testing them, and thus it enables the generalised knowledge
to get richer and richer. In its absence, generalised social science may get
handicapped.
 Case Study Method
Assumptions:
The case study method is based on several
assumptions. The important assumptions may be
listed as follows:
(i) The assumption of uniformity in the basic
human nature in spite of the fact that human
behaviour may vary according to situations.
(ii) The assumption of studying the natural history
of the unit concerned.
(iii) The assumption of comprehensive study of the
unit concerned.
 Case Study Method
Major phases involved: Major phases involved in case
study are as follows:
(i) Recognition and determination of the status of the
phenomenon to be investigated or the unit of attention.
(ii) Collection of data, examination and history of the
given phenomenon.
(iii) Diagnosis and identification of causal factors as a
basis for remedial or developmental treatment.
(iv) Application of remedial measures i.e., treatment and
therapy (this phase is often characterised as case work).
(v) Follow-up programme to determine effectiveness of
the treatment applied.
 Case Study Method
Advantages:
There are several advantages of the case study method that follow from the various characteristics
outlined above. Mention may be made here of the important advantages.

(i) Being an exhaustive study of a social unit, the case study method enables us to understand fully
the behaviour pattern of the concerned unit. In the words of Charles Horton Cooley, “case study
deepens our perception and gives us a clearer insight into life…. It gets at behaviour directly and
not by an indirect and abstract approach.”
(ii) Through case study a researcher can obtain a real and enlightened record of personal
experiences which would reveal man’s inner strivings, tensions and motivations that drive him to
action along with the forces that direct him to adopt a certain pattern of behaviour.
(iii) This method enables the researcher to trace out the natural history of the social unit and its
relationship with the social factors and the forces involved in its surrounding environment.
(iv) It helps in formulating relevant hypotheses along with the data which may be helpful in
testing them. Case studies, thus, enable the generalised knowledge to get richer and richer.
(v) The method facilitates intensive study of social units which is generally not possible if we
use either the observation method or the method of collecting information through schedules. This
is the reason why case study method is being frequently used, particularly in social researches.
 Case Study Method
(vi) Information collected under the case study method helps a lot to the researcher in
the task of constructing the appropriate questionnaire or schedule for the said task
requires thorough knowledge of the concerning universe.
(vii) The researcher can use one or more of the several research methods under the
case study method depending upon the prevalent circumstances. In other words, the use
of different methods such as depth interviews, questionnaires, documents, study reports
of individuals, letters, and the like is possible under case study method.
(viii) Case study method has proved beneficial in determining the nature of units to be
studied along with the nature of the universe. This is the reason why at times the case
study method is alternatively known as “mode of organising data”.
(ix) This method is a means to well understand the past of a social unit because of its
emphasis of historical analysis. Besides, it is also a technique to suggest measures for
improvement in the context of the present environment of the concerned social units.
(x) Case studies constitute the perfect type of sociological material as they represent a
real record of personal experiences which very often escape the attention of most of
the skilled researchers using other techniques.
(xi) Case study method enhances the experience.
 Case Study Method
(xi) Case study method enhances the experience of the researcher and
this in turn increases his analysing ability and skill.
(xii) This method makes possible the study of social changes. On
account of the minute study of the different facets of a social unit, the
researcher can well understand the social change then and now. This
also facilitates the drawing of inferences and helps in maintaining the
continuity of the research process. In fact, it may be considered the
gateway to and at the same time the final destination of abstract
knowledge.
(xiii) Case study techniques are indispensable for therapeutic and
administrative purposes. They are also of immense value in taking
decisions regarding several management problems. Case data are quite
useful for diagnosis, therapy and other practical case problems.
 Case Study Method
Limitations: Important limitations of the case study method may as well be
highlighted.
(i) Case situations are seldom comparable and as such the information
gathered in case studies is often not comparable. Since the subject under case
study tells history in his own words, logical concepts and units of scientific
classification have to be read into it or out of it by the investigator.
(ii) Read Bain does not consider the case data as significant scientific data
since they do not provide knowledge of the “impersonal, universal, non-
ethical, non-practical, repetitive aspects of phenomena.” Real information is
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often not collected because the subjectivity of the researcher does enter in the
collection of information in a case study.
(iii) The danger of false generalisation is always there in view of the fact that
no set rules are followed in collection of the information and only few units are
studied.
(iv) It consumes more time and requires lot of expenditure. More time is
needed under case study method since one studies the natural history cycles of
social units and that too minutely.
 Case Study Method
(v) The case data are often vitiated because the subject, according to
Read Bain, may write what he thinks the investigator wants; and the
greater the rapport, the more subjective the whole process is.
(vi) Case study method is based on several assumptions which may
not be very realistic at times, and as such the usefulness of case data is
always subject to doubt.
(vii) Case study method can be used only in a limited sphere., it is not
possible to use it in case of a big society. Sampling is also not possible
under a case study method.
(viii) Response of the investigator is an important limitation of the
case study method. He often thinks that he has full knowledge of the
unit and can himself answer about it. In case the same is not true, then
consequences follow. In fact, this is more the fault of the researcher
rather than that of the case method.
 Case Study Method
Conclusion:
• Despite the above stated limitations, we find that case studies are
being undertaken in several disciplines, particularly in sociology, as
a tool of scientific research in view of the several advantages
indicated earlier.
• Most of the limitations can be removed if researchers are always
conscious of these and are well trained in the modern methods of
collecting case data and in the scientific techniques of assembling,
classifying and processing the same.
• Besides, case studies, in modern times, can be conducted in such a
manner that the data are amenable to quantification and statistical
treatment. Possibly, this is also the reason why case studies are
becoming popular day by day.

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