Doctoral Course on Case Studies in Management and Business Research

1. Doctoral Course on Case Studies in Management and Business Research Seminar 2: Research design: Case selection and casing

2. In preparation for Seminar 6 • Be prepared to bring along to Seminar 6 a methodology chapter from a published PhD thesis that uses the case approach. We will ask you how the case approach has been written up in the chapter.

3. Purpose of seminar • The ‘traditional’ view of research design: Yin (2009) • Key design tasks • Role of theory • Case selection (number, sampling) • The alternative view of research design • Rethinking the concept of research design • Process of casing (boundaries, unit of analysis, iteration between ideas/evidence)

4. Yin on research design • ‘a research design is a logical plan for getting from here to there, where here may be defined as the initial set of questions to be answered, and there is some set of conclusions (answers) about these questions.’ (Yin 2009, p. 26) • a blueprint dealing with (p. 26) 1) What questions to study, 2) What data are relevant, 3) What data to collect, 4) How to analyse the results • ‘The main purpose of the design is to help avoid the situation in which the evidence does not address the initial research questions.’ (p. 27)

5. Issues to consider in design ‘phase’ • Research questions • Theoretical propositions, constructs • Unit of analysis (what is the case, case boundaries) • Case selection • Number of cases (single vs multiple) • Case selection • Deciding on methods for data collection and analysis Yin 2009; see also Eisenhardt 1989

6. Role of theory development • ‘For case studies, theory development as part of the design phase is essential, whether the ensuing case study’s purpose is to develop or test theory.’ (Yin 2009, p. 35) • ‘This role of theory development, prior to the conduct of any data collection, is one point of difference between case studies and related methods such as ethnography and “grounded theory”’ (p. 35)

7. Theoretical sampling • ‘the goal of theoretical sampling is to choose cases which are likely to replicate or extend the emergent theory. In contrast, tradition, within-experiment hypothesis-testing studies rely on statistical sampling, in which researchers randomly select the sample from the population’ (Eisenhardt 1989, p. 537). • Not sampling from a population, but ‘the concept of a population is crucial, because the population defines the set of entities from which the research sample is to be drawn’ (p. 537)

8. SINGLE Critical case in testing well-formulated theory Extreme or unique case Representative or typical case Revelatory case: previously inaccessible Longitudinal case (Yin 2009, pp. 47-49) MULTIPLE Replication logic as per multiple experiments Literal replication: case selected because similar results predicted Theoretical replication: case selected because contrasting results predicted, but for predictable reasons (Yin 2009, pp. 53-54) Case selection

9. ‘Theory that is born of such deep insights [from a single ‘deep case study’] will be both more accurate and more appropriately tentative because the researcher must take into account the intricacies and qualifications of a particular context’ (Dyer and Wilkins 1991, p. 615) ‘theory building from multiple cases typically yields more robust, generalizable and testable theory than single case research’ (Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007, p. 27) Single vs multiple case studies?

10. Class exercise • How does Leonard-Barton justify her choice of a multiple over single case design? • Does Leonard-Barton follow Yin’s approach to research design? To what extent was she able to implement her research design as intended? • How did Leonard-Barton theoretically sample her cases and what challenges did she encounter when selecting the retrospective cases?

11. Adhering to the research design: Yin’s approach ‘as the case study proceeds, a different orientation may emerge, and the evidence begins to address different research questions. Although some people have claimed such flexibility to be a strength of the case study approach, in fact, the largest criticism of case studies is based on this type of shift – in which the implemented research design is no longer appropriate for the research questions being asked. Because of this problem, you need to avoid such unsuspected slippage; if the relevant research questions really do change, you should simply start over again, with a new research design.’ (2009, p. 52)

12. Class exercise Contrast Ragin and Dubois & Araujo’s views on research design with that of Yin’s. Specify the main differences between the two approaches.

13. Casing ‘casing often involves sifting through empirical evidence to define cases and thus bring a measure of closure to vaguely formulated theoretical concepts or ideas. Cases often must be found because they cannot be specified beforehand. In some research areas, delimiting the case may be one of the steps of the research process. And once cases have been found, they may be used to refine or even refute the theory that provided the initial guidance.’ (Ragin 1992, p. 220)

14. Eisenhardt (1989): where does she fit in? Getting started: ‘A priori specification of constructs … is valuable because it permits researchers to measure constructs more accurately.’ ‘Although early identification of the research question and possible constructs is helpful, it is equally important to recognize that both are tentative in this type of research.’ (p. 536) ‘… theory-building research is begun as close as possible to the ideal of no theory under consideration and no hypotheses to test’. (p. 536)

15. Class exercise • What are your personal experiences of casing in your own research? • What evidence of casing is reported in Leonard-Barton’s article?

16. Eisenhardt 1989 on the implementation phase Entering the field ‘if a new data collection opportunity arises or if a new line of thinking emerges during the research, it makes sense to take advantage by altering data collection, if such an alteration us likely to better ground the theory or provide new theoretical insight.’ (p. 539) ‘This flexibility is not a license to be unsystematic. Rather, this flexibility is controlled opportunism…’ (p. 539)

17. Conclusion • Considerable debate surrounding design issues e.g. • Design/implementation vs casing • Flexibility as a constraint vs resource • Single vs multiple case designs • Seminar 3 (Friday): Why are there such contrasting views on the case study?

18. Reminder: first written class preparation due Thursday Some advice: • This is not just a summary of the individual articles – you are expected to draw out common themes and linkages across the readings • Your own views and opinions matter – your voice should come through (don’t just quote the authors without adding your own comments) • Reflect upon how the readings have been used in this class – it should provide insight into this assignment