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The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods
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The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods

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July 2009 | 560 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
'This book provides a fresh and stimulating approach to causal analysis in the social sciences. International experts provide not just the philosophical arguments for a case-based approach to research but also detailed chapters on: 'why-to', 'when-to' and 'how-to'. Traditional distinctions between qualitative and quantitative are rejected in favour of a case-based approach which is applicable across the social sciences and beyond' - Professor Angela Dale, The University of Manchester

Case-based methods have a long history in the social sciences. They are extensively used and raise many practical and theoretical questions. This book provides a comprehensive, critical examination of case-oriented research. It offers concrete proposals about the best research methods and provides an unparalleled guide to the emergence and complexity of the field.

Key Features

  • Situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues
  • Demonstrates the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods
  • Distinguishes between case-based and case study research
  • Elucidates the philosophical issues around case based methods
  • Relates case-based work to the constellation of social theory and theories of research methods

David Byrne
INTRODUCTION: Case-Based Methods: Why We Need Them; What They Are; How to Do Them
 
PART ONE: THE METHODOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF CASE-BASED METHODS
David L Harvey
Complexity and Case
Lars Mjøset
The Contextualist Approach to Social Science Methodology
Bob Carter and Alison Sealey
Reflexivity, Realism and the Process of Casing
Malcolm Williams and Wendy Dyer
Single-Case Probabilities
David Byrne
Complex Realist and Configurational Approaches to Cases: A Radical Synthesis
 
PART TWO: METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF CASE-BASED RESEARCH
Typologies - Ways of Sorting Things Out

 
Colin Elman
Explanatory Typologies in Qualitative Analysis
Emma Uprichard
Introducing Cluster Analysis: What Can It Teach Us about the Case?
Dianne Phillips and John Phillips
Visualizing Types: The Potential of Correspondence Analysis
Emma Whelan
How Classification Works, Or Doesn't: The Case of Chronic Pain
 
Quantitative Approaches to Case Based Methods
Ray Kent
Case-Centred Methods and Quantitative Analysis
Gisèle De Meur and Alain Gottcheiner
The Logic and Assumptions of MDSO - MSDO Designs
Benoît Rihoux and Bojana Lobe
The Case for Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Adding Leverage for Thick Cross-Case Comparison
Ronald L Breiger
On the Duality of Cases and Variables: Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
David Byrne
Using Cluster Analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis and NVivo in Relation to the Establishment of Causal Configurations with Pre-existing Large N Datasets: Machining Hermeneutics
 
Qualitative Approaches to Case-Based Research
Nigel Fielding and Richard Warnes
Computer-Based Qualitative Methods in Case-Study Research
Seán Ó Riain
Extending the Ethnographic Case Study
Gary Goertz and James Mahoney
Scope in Case-Study Research
Nick Emmel and Kahryn Hughes
Small-N Access Cases to Refine Theories of Social Exclusion and Access to Socially Excluded Individuals and Groups
Fred Carden
Using Comparative Data: A Systems Approach to a Multiple Case Study
 
PART THREE: CASE-BASED METHODS IN DISCIPLINES AND FIELDS
Edwin Amenta
Making the Most of an Historical Case Study: Configuration, Sequence, Casing, and the US Old-Age Pension Movement
John Walton
Poetry and History: The Case for Literary Evidence
Paul Downward and Joseph Riordan
Social Interactions and the Demand for Sport: Cluster Analysis in Economics
James Mahoney and P Larkin Terrie
The Proper Relationship of Comparative-Historical Analysis to Statistical Analysis: Subordination, Integration or Separation?
Peer C Fiss
Case Studies and the Configurational Analysis of Organizational Phenomena
Frances Griffiths
The Case in Medicine
Sue Dopson, Ewan Ferlie, Louise Fitzgerald and Louise Locock
Team-Based Aggregation of Qualitative Case Study Data in Health Care Contexts: Challenges and Learning
Pip Bevan
Working with Cases in Development Contexts: Some Insights from an Outlier
Wendy Olsen
Non-Nested and Nested Cases in a Socioeconomic Village Study
David Byrne, Wendy Olsen and Sandra Duggan
Causality and Interpretation in Qualitative Policy-Related Research
Charles C Ragin
Reflections on Casing and Case-Oriented Research

'[This Handbook] offers concrete proposals about the best research methods, and provides a guide to the emergence and complexity of the field. It also situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues, shows the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods, distinguishes between case-based and case study research, elucidates the philosophical issues around case-based methods, and examines case-based work in the context of both social theory and theories of research methods'
Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment


'This book provides a fresh and stimulating approach to causal analysis in the social sciences. International experts provide not just the philosophical arguments for a case-based approach to research but also detailed chapters on: 'why-to', 'when-to' and 'how-to'. Traditional distinctions between qualitative and quantitative are rejected in favour of a case-based approach which is applicable across the social sciences and beyond.'

Professor Angela Dale, The University of Manchester


'This wide-ranging volume gives an excellent overview of diverse contemporary case study methods. Case study researchers of all kinds will find this book deepens their understanding of the methods they already use and broadens their knowledge of approaches they have not yet explored.'

Professor Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University


'An invaluable resource for social researchers who want to know how and why case studies are conducted. The contributors represent a rich stream of research active practitioners who provide an excellent guide to both qualitative and quantitative approaches to case based enquiry. Illustrations are drawn from a broad range of disciplines and provide a fertile terrain for application'

Professor Dick Wiggins, The Institute of Education, University of London


This is a comprehensive text on case based methods and one that will improve the students knowledge and understanding of the different forms of case based methodologies and approaches.

Dr Penelope Siebert
Social Work and Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University
September 27, 2019

this is a comprehensive detailed text that is a little difficult to read. The presentation of the text is in columns like a newspaper, which combined with the small font makes it difficult to read. Some very specific chapters, which if applicable make this a worthy addition, for example three chapter on typologies and cluster analysis. However many chapters are not that relevant as they are so specific. Selected reading only.

Mrs Julie donald
WBDL, Universityof Lincoln
January 5, 2016

A very useful book for one of the most used research methods in education.

Professor Helena Ribeiro de Castro
Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Piaget
November 3, 2014

This is an excellent book for an experienced researcher. Unfortunately for my MA HRM/D their final research project is often the first time they have been exposed to primary research at case level. This book is too detailed for my students.

Dr Julie Haddock-Millar
leadership, work and organisations, Middlesex University
October 21, 2014

This is a really useful and practical text for any student embarking upon, or using, case-based research.

Miss Juliette Wilson
Faculty of Arts,Media & Social Science, Salford Univ.
July 3, 2014

The multiprofessional approach to the Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods is constructed clearly. The nuances and potential complexities around undertaking case-based research are explored in a logical manner.

Mrs Lyz Howard
Department of Health, Health and Social Care Teaching Team
April 9, 2014

This is a very useful anthology for either specialists/critics of case-based methods, or for doctoral students who need to contextualize and defend a specific method in relation to alternatives. It is dense but readable: and essential book for every university library that will have a long shelf life. I think the author index needs revision so that it includes all authors cited in the individual chapters.

Professor Michael Biggs
School of Creative Arts, University of Hertfordshire
February 3, 2014

This is an essential book for the case-based methods and a very useful manual for a more introductory course in social research methods.

Professor Francisco Branco
Social Work , Portuguese Catholic University
January 31, 2014

In my opinion this was just a difficult book to read and it was did not deliver on content from what I had expected from the title and the table of contents.

Ms Lynne Marsh
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork (NUI)
July 24, 2013

Sample Materials & Chapters

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