Nature of Case Study: Case study provides a systematic and scientific way of perceiving or examining events, collect data, analyse information, and prepare a report. As a result the researcher may gain a sharpened understanding of why the instance happened as it did, and what might become important to look at more extensively in future research. Case studies lend themselves to both generating and testing hypotheses. In other words, case study should be defined as a research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context. Case study research means single and multiple case studies, can include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions. Case studies based on any evidence of quantitative and qualitative research.

Single subject-research provides the statistical framework for making inferences from quantitative case-study data. According to Lamnek (2005) “The case study is a research approach, situated between concrete data taking techniques and methodological paradigms.” In the past years, case study method was used in the field of clinical psychology to examine the patient’s previous history regarding the person’s mental health status. To know about the patient’s physical and mental health, and to make an accurate diagnosis, it is very important to know about the patient’s past and present health related and environmental problems and issues.

Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud used case study method to assist his subjects in solving personality problems. The detailed accounts of interviews with subjects and his interpretations of their thoughts, dreams and action provide excellent examples of case studies. Guidance counselors, social workers and other practitioners conduct case studies for diagnosing particular condition or problem and recommending remedial measures. They collect data from a particular individual and confine their interest to the individual as a unique case or collect data from a small group of individuals, which form a unit for depth study.

The case study approach is based on reality. Some of these studies have been conducted in school environment, which have mostly centered on behavioural problems of children. Observation, interviews, psychological tests and inventories have been used for collecting relevant data about the case or cases. However, subjective bias is a constant threat to objective data gathering and analysis techniques. The researcher must be thoroughly familiar with the skills which are associated with the conduct of case-studies.

Types of Case Study
There are four types of case studies which are:

(1) Illustrative Case Studies: These are primarily descriptive studies. They typically utilise one or two instances of an event to show what a situation is like. Illustrative case studies serve primarily to make the unfamiliar familiar and to give readers a common language about the topic in question.

(2) Exploratory (or pilot) Case Studies: This type of case studies performed before implementing a large scale investigation. Their basic function is to help identify questions and select the types of measurement prior to the main investigation. The primary pitfall of this type of study is that initial findings may seem convincing enough to be released prematurely as conclusions.

(3) Cumulative Case Studies: These serve to aggregate information from several sites collected at different times. The idea behind these studies is the collection of past studies will allow for greater generalisation without additional cost or time being expended on new, possibly repetitive studies.

(4) Critical Instance Case Studies: These examine one or more sites for either the purpose of examining a situation of unique interest with little to no interest in generalisability, or to call into question or challenge a highly generalised or universal assertion. This method is useful for answering cause and effect questions.

Steps for Case Study
The following steps are used in the conduct of a case study:
Step 1. Determining the present status of the case or cases: The first step is to determine the present status of

the case or cases through direct observation. In addition to physical examination of the case or cases, a psychological evaluation is required to determine the general ability level etc. For example, to make a case study of a ‘slow learner’, the first thing to do is to determine the present status of the child by making an assessment of his physique cognitive factors through direct observation and psychological test.

Step 2. Identifying the most probable antecedents of the case or cases: Determining the most probable antecedents of the case or cases is the next important steps. This information helps in formulating a workable hypothesis or a set of hypothesis. For example, in case of ‘slow learner’ cited in Step 1, the researcher may formulate a hypothesis that occurrence of slow learning behaviour in the child is due to unhealthy have environment, bad study habits and poor teaching in the school.

Step3. Verification of Antecedents/Hypotheses : The case is then checked for the presence or absence of the antecedents supposed to apply to the situation under study. For example, the behaviour of slow learning of the child. This involves multi-method approach, which includes observation, past history of the case, interview etc.

Step 4. Diagnosis and Remedial Measures : After the verification of the antecedents or hypothesis (es , the next step is directed towards the diagnosis of the causes (example, causes of slow learning) and suggesting remedial measures in the light of the causes.

Step 5. Follow-up of the case or cases : The last step of the case study is the follow-up of the case (es) to study the impact of remedial measures. If impact is positive, the diagnosis is taken to be correct.

Criteria For Selection of Case Study : For selection of cases for the case study, we often use information oriented sampling. Our cases are based on this information, which is mostly based on the extreme cases or typical cases. The average case is often not the richest in information. Extreme or a typical case reveals more information because they activate more basic mechanisms and more actors in the situation studied. In addition, from both understanding oriented and action oriented perspectives, it is often more important to clarify the deeper causes behind a given problem and its consequences, than to describe the symptoms of the problem and how frequently they occur etc.

Random samples emphasising representativeness will seldom be able to produce this kind of insight. It is more appropriate to select a few cases for their validity, but this is not always the case. Three types of information oriented cases may be distinguished:

• Critical cases
• Extreme or deviant cases
• Paradigmatic cases

Yin (2005) suggested that researchers should decide whether to do single-case or multiple-case studies and choose to keep the case holistic or have embedded sub-cases.

Misconception About Case Study – There is little misconception about the case study for using in research work. Flyvbjerg (2006) define five misconceptions about case study research:

(1) Generally, theoretical knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical knowledge, because one cannot generalise on the basis of an individual case and, therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development.

(2) The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building.

(3) The case study may affect the bias tendency toward verification, i.e., a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions.

(4) Some time it is difficult to summarise and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies.

From MPC-005  Research Methods – IGNOU