Relevance and Refinements of Case Studies

Abstract

Case studies are an interesting phenomenon in the social sciences. On the one hand, they have played a pivotal role in theory development and are still popular in almost all fields of the social sciences, with the notable exception of economics. On the other hand, they have been treated by most methodologists with skepticism and disdain. Many classic works in the social sciences illustrate the relevance — even prevalence — of case study research for most of the twentieth century. Developments in ontological reasoning, theory building, and epistemology, together with the sophistication of statistical techniques, seemed to reduce the appeal of the case study approach in the last decades of the twentieth century and led to the rise of large-N studies. Nevertheless, in recent years, we have witnessed a resurgent interest in case study research, accompanied by intensive methodological reflection.