Case Study as a Research Method

In a research, case study plays an important role that helps the researcher to develop the
understanding about the particular situation, with the help of a suitable example, in order
to create effective research study. This paper helps the readers to understand the various
perspectives of the case study along with its positive and negative approaches and
limitations.
Case Study
The case study method can be used for research purpose by the researcher as it is based
on the evaluation of the current and visible facts of the real world (Gerring 200!. "ith
the help of case study research method, it becomes easy for the researcher to collect
contemporary data without assessing behaviour and actual situations (#ui$s, 200%!.
The researcher can collect data for the case from various sources such as brochures,
annual report, sales receipt and newspaper or can be from articles. &ase study helps the
researcher to understand various perspectives of the single problem ('llinger, "at(ins
and #arsic( 200)!. &ase study can be on organi*ation, situation, event or process.
It helps the researcher to critically analyse and understand the research problem, so that
researcher can solve extreme and unusual cases. Generally, researchers choose multiple
sub$ects rather than single topic, as it provides opportunities for cross case analysis
(Gillham 2000!. The case study research strategy uses exploratory and explanatory
method of research to collect the valid and reliable data and information for the given
research ob$ectives.
This is used by researcher when he has limited time and he wants to find actual and real
facts with strong evidences (!. The observational case study led to discover various
alternatives as the researcher can understand the real problems and can predict the
optimum solution for the problem. &ase study research strategy does not have any fixed
or standard procedure to follow (+wanborn 20,0!. The researchers must be flexible to
understand the applied the information wherever they find them. This freedom to search
data by the investigator deems important results in to success of this research strategy.
-lso, the success of the cease study will highly depend on the creativity, intelligence and
the motivation of the individual performance (.in 20,,!.
Positive and Negative Approaches and Limitations
/ne of the main positive aspects of this type of research study is the greater depth. This
research strategy enables the research to explore the study bac(ground in0depth manner.
It enables researcher to highly concentrate on the research problem and the event
occurred in the research problem to understand the relation between the given events
("oodside 20,0!. This interrelation among the events results, individually or entirely to
understand the case properly and helps in finding the effective and efficient solutions.
-lso, case study helps the researcher to being open0minded at the time of defining the
problem. This type of research strategy also results into finding the reliable solution for
the problem, as they are based on exploration not predictions (+wanborn 20,0!.
Limitations: /ne of the biggest limitations of this (ind of research strategy is
generalisation of the conclusion i.e. the results produced are tentative not fix. -lso, the
generali*ing the result from few cases may be dangerous for the research study, as most
of the situations is typical in most of the cases ('llinger, "at(ins and #arsic( 200)!. It is
a well0(nown fact that each person has a different outloo( towards various events thus
result into different outloo( for the same problem and finds different solutions. Thus the
result might be biased in disclosing some of the research issues or ignored some (ey
facts. Therefore the case study research strategy will not show the actual position of the
problem and it is $ust a photocopy of the original research (.in 20,,!.
Conclusion
1rom the above discussion, it can be concluded that case study helps the researcher to
understand the various aspect of the particular situation. It also results in understanding
the strengths and wea(ness of this research method. This study develops the
understanding among the researcher about how and when to apply this method for
understanding the situation effectively.
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