Case Study Research in Practice

Helen Simons is Professor Emeritus of Education and Evaluation, University of Southampton

′This is a particularly useful book for educational research students, for researchers looking to use case study methods for the first time, or for those about to teach a course on case study methods...For a book on research methodology, this is also a remarkably lively read. A case study is like great art, to adapt Simons′ quote from MacDonald and Walker, in which ′content and intent emerge in form′. As such, Simons has written a manual for creating great art in educational research′ - Teacher Development ′Practical and immensely helpful… With its highly readable style, it is well suited to the needs of research students. Throughout it addresses the practicalities at a level that connects immediately to thorny issues in relation to the quality of the data, the quality of the analysis: in short the quality of the research′ - Jane Payler, University of Winchester ′…unravelling the complexity of ′the case′…makes this kind of research very challenging. This book provides a practical and reflective approach to doing case study research and will be a valuable resource for students, supervisors and researchers′ - Professor Brendan McCormack, University of Ulster′From soundings of the depths of her experience in art, teaching, cinema, program evaluation and policy study, Helen Simons brings counsel to the making of case studies. She locates… particularization and situated generalization centrally in qualitative inquiry, an inquiry that reckons with story telling and contested meaning as much as with the functional relationships of social science′- Professor Robert E. Stake, University of Illinois′′This book prompts readers and researchers to consider ways in which the robustness of their work can be improved. It is the clarity with which this is achieved and the encouragement it provides to readers that are the real strengths of this book′ - Nurse Researcher

• PART ONE: GETTING STARTEDEvolution and Concept of Case Study ResearchPlanning, Designing, Gaining AccessListen, Look, Document: Methods in Case Study ResearchPART TWO: IN THE FIELDWho Are They? Studying OthersWho Are We? Studying Our ′Self ′Whose Data Are They? Ethics in Case Study ResearchMid-term LetterPART THREE: MAKING SENSEBegin at the Beginning: Analysis and InterpretationFrom Data to Story: Examples in PracticePART FOUR: TELLING THE STORYStart at Any Point: Reporting and WritingDispelling Myths in Case Study Research