The Art of Case Study Research

Unique in his approach and style, Robert E. Stake draws from naturalistic, holistic, ethnographic, phenomenological, and biographic methods to present a disciplined, qualitative exploration of case study methods. In his exploration, Stake uses and annotates an actual case, at Harper School, to demonstrate to readers how to resolve some of the major issues of case study research; for example, how to select the case (or cases) that will maximize learning, how to generalize what is learned from one case to another, and how to interpret what is learned from a case. Uniquely, this book legitimizes direct interpretation as a case research method. It covers such topics as the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches to case study; data gathering, including document review; coding, sorting, and pattern analysis; the roles of the researcher, triangulation; and reporting a case study.