Case Study Research and Applications 6e by Yin

Case Study Research and Applications 6e by Yin is the 6th edition of the Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods textbook authored by Robert K. Yin, COSMOS Corporation, and published in 2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

• Analytic generalization. The logic whereby case study findings can apply to situations beyond the original case study, based on the relevance of similar theoretical concepts or principles. Also see external validity. Contrast with statistical generalization.
• Case. Usually the main focus of inquiry in a case study -- a concrete entity (e.g., a person or group, organization, community, program, process, policy, practice, or institution, or events such as decisions); totally abstract "cases" (e.g., arguments, claims, or propositions) can pertain to all social science methods and may be less distinctive as cases for case studies. Also see embedded unit of analysis and unit of analysis.
• Case boundaries. The distinction between the conditions that fall within as opposed to outside of the case in a case study -- such as the time period, social groups, organizations, geographic locations, or other relevant features -- understanding that the boundaries can be fuzzy.
• Case record. An administrative file, usually maintained in medicine, social work, law, and other practices but not in itself a research case study.
• Case study. A social science research method, generally used to investigate a contemporary phenomenon in depth and in its real-world context.
• Case study database. See database.
• Case study designs. Four types of case studies, falling within a 2 × 2 typology (whether a case study is a single- or multiple-case study and whether it is holistic or consists of embedded units of analyses).
• Case study interview. See interview.
• Case study protocol. See protocol.
• Case study research. A mode of social science inquiry using case studies as the primary research method; other common modes and their methods include survey research (surveys), experimental research (experiments), historical research (histories), and statistical research (statistical modeling).
• Chain of evidence. The links showing how a case study's findings came from the collected data and in turn from the guidelines in the case study protocol and from the original research questions; the stronger the links, the greater the reliability of the findings. Also see reliability.
• Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis tools (CAQDAS tools). Computer software designed to support the coding and analysis of qualitative (e.g., narrative) data, including case study data.
• Construct validity. The accuracy with which a case study's measures reflect the concepts being studied. Also see triangulation.
• Cross-case synthesis. Compiling data for a multiple-case study, by first examining the results for each individual case study and only then observing the pattern of results across the case studies; stronger syntheses would have sufficient data to entertain plausible rival cross-case patterns.
• Database. The systematic archive of all the data (field notes, documents, archival records, etc.) from a case study, assembled to enable the later retrieval of specific pieces of evidence, if needed, and sufficiently organized so that the entire archive can be reviewed by an outside reader, if desired. Also see field notes.
• Descriptive case study. A case study whose purpose is to describe a phenomenon (the "case") in its real-world context. Also see explanatory case study and exploratory case study.
• Embedded unit of analysis. A unit lesser than and within the main case in a case study, from which data also are collected (e.g., household data within a neighborhood case study, individual employee data within an organization case study, or project data within a program case study). Also see case and unit of analysis.
• Explanation building. Analyzing case study data by using the data to develop an explanation about the occurrences in a case; stronger analyses would have sufficient data to entertain plausible rival explanations.
• Explanatory case study. A case study whose purpose is to explain how or why some condition came to be (e.g., how or why some sequence of events occurred or did not occur). Also see descriptive case study and exploratory case study.
• Exploratory case study. A case study whose purpose is to identify the research questions or procedures to be used in a subsequent research study, which might or might not be a case study. Also see descriptive case study and explanatory case study.
• External validity. The extent to which the findings from a case study can be analytically generalized to other situations that were not part of the original study. Also see analytic generalization.
• Field notes. The researcher's notes resulting from doing fieldwork; the notes may vary in formality from jottings to formal narratives and can include drawings and other nonverbal material produced by the researcher. Also see database and fieldwork.
• Fieldwork. A common way of collecting case study data, whereby interviews, documentary evidence, and direct observations all may be gathered in the real-world setting of the case being studied. Also see field notes and participant-observation.
• Informant. A case study participant who is a subject of study but who also provides critical information or interpretations about the case and who may suggest other sources of evidence for the researcher to check. Also see participant.
• Internal validity. The strength of the causal or other "how" and "why" inferences made in a case study, in part bolstered by showing the absence of spurious relationships and the rejection of rival hypotheses.
• Interview. Collecting responses (verbal and nonverbal) from a case study participant; case study interviews are usually conversational in nature and guided by the researcher's mental agenda, as the interview questions do not follow the exact same verbalization with every participant interviewed. Also known as "intensive interviews," "in-depth interviews," or "unstructured interviews."
• Literal replication. Selecting two (or more) cases within a multiple-case study because the cases are predicted to produce similar findings. Also see replication logic. Contrast with theoretical replication.
• Logic model. A conceptual scheme specifying a sequence or set of events; analytically, the scheme specified prior to data collection can be compared with the post–data collection (i.e., empirically based) conceptual scheme, and stronger analyses would have sufficient data to entertain plausible rival conceptual schemes.
• Mental line of inquiry. The protocol questions and topics that drive a researcher's thinking (or "mental agenda") in collecting the data for a case study. For data collection involving interviews, contrast with verbal line of inquiry. Also see protocol.
• Mixed-methods study. A single study using both qualitative and quantitative methods, with a case study potentially being one of the methods.
• Multiple-case study. A case study organized around two or more case studies. Also see singlecase study.
• Multiple sources of evidence. Data from different data collection sources (e.g., interviews, documents, direct observations, data archives, artifacts, and participant-observation), the aim being to strengthen findings through the convergence or triangulation of the data from two or more of these sources.
• Participant. A person from whom case study data are collected, usually through interviews; one or more participants may later be asked to review the draft case study report. Also see informant.
• Participant-observation. Case study data collection whereby a researcher observes but also becomes actively involved in the activities of the case being studied. Also see fieldwork.
• Pattern matching. Analyzing case study data by comparing or matching the pattern based on the collected data with a pattern defined prior to data collection; stronger analyses would have sufficient data to entertain and test plausible rival matches.
• Pilot case study. A preliminary case study aimed at developing, testing, or refining the planned research questions and procedures that will later be followed in the formal case study; the data from the pilot case study should not be reused in the formal case study.
• Protocol. The substantive guide for collecting the data for a case study, highlighted by a set of field questions to be addressed by the researcher and thereby representing the researcher's "mental agenda." Also see mental line of inquiry.
• Reliability. The consistency and repeatability of producing a case study's findings. Also see chain of evidence.
• Replication logic. The logic for selecting the two or more cases in a multiple-case study. Also see literal replication and theoretical replication.
• Research design. A plan that logically links the research questions with the evidence to be collected and then to be analyzed in a case study.
• Research question. The driving force for most empirical studies; for case studies, the most appropriate research questions will likely start with a "how" or "why" query, as opposed to a "how many," "what," or "to what extent" query.
• Rival explanation. A plausible alternative -- contrasting with a case study's originally stipulated propositions -- for interpreting the data or findings in a case study (whether descriptive or explanatory).
• Single-case study. A case study organized around a single case; the case might have been chosen because it was a critical, common, unusual, revelatory, or longitudinal case. Also see multiple-case study.
• Statistical generalization. The logic whereby the findings from a sample are claimed to apply to its universe, usually involving some statistical inference; not usually relevant for generalizing from case studies. Contrast with analytic generalization.
• Table shell. The layout for a table, with the rows and columns defined but with (numeric or narrative) data not yet placed in the cells, hence still a "shell"; useful as a tool for identifying the data to be collected in a case study. See word table.
• Teaching-practice case study (or "teaching case"). A case study used for pedagogical or professional training purposes, not to be confused with a case study conducted for research purposes.
• Theoretical replication. Selecting two (or more) cases in a multiple-case study because the cases are predicted to have contrasting findings, but for anticipatable reasons. Also see replication logic. Contrast with literal replication.
• Time-series analysis. Analyzing case study data by arraying the data according to time markers and comparing the trends against those originally stipulated prior to data collection; stronger analyses would have sufficient data to entertain and test plausible rival trends.
• Training (to do a case study). Preparation for understanding the key concepts and methodology for doing a planned case study; the training outcome should be a level of expertise sufficient to deal with the discretionary choices that may arise during data collection and other phases of the research.
• Triangulation. Determining the convergence of the data collected from different sources of evidence, to assess the strength of a case study finding and also to boost the construct validity of measures used in the case study.
• Unit of analysis. The "case" in a case study. Also see case and embedded unit of analysis.
• Verbal line of inquiry. The actual words used in querying a person during a case study interview. Contrast with mental line of inquiry.
• Word table. A properly labeled data table that contains narrative text (words) rather than numerals inside the table's cells; the words represent a valuable form of case study data. See table shell.