Case study
In the social sciences and life sciences, a
case study is a descriptive, exploratory or explanatory analysis of a person, group or event. An explanatory case study is used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles. Case studies may be prospective or retrospective. Thomas offers the following definition of case study: "Case studies are analyses of persons, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions, or other systems that are studied holistically by one or more methods. The case that is the
subject of the inquiry will be an instance of a class of phenomena that provides an analytical frame — an
object — within which the study is conducted and which the case illuminates and explicates." According to J. Creswell, data collection in a case study occurs over a "sustained period of time." Another suggestion is that
case study should be defined as a
research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context.