Global Classroom: About Case Studies
This research employs the case study approach as a way of
building a catalogue of information on trade and environment
issues. However, there are many types of case study techniques,
ranging from purely qualitative, non-generalizable techniques to
others that can assume some degree of quantitative reliability
through statistical methods. The generalized case study is a set
of cases which share some common aspects, allowing for comparison.
The common aspects may possess many degrees of qualitative or
quantitative attributes.
The basic approach to case study comparison was devised long
ago by John Stuart Mill, who believed that in comparing cases one
sought to distill similarities or differences between the cases and
an explanation for behavior. This explanation could assume the
role of a causal theory.(1) Sometimes the case study is used in
the field of IR. Robert Yin uses the case study approach to
examine international trade and global economy issues and James
Faron examines methodological issues for the use of case studies in
political science.(2)
Research such as the case study is often oriented towards
outlining an area of intellectual interest and is a descriptive
study. This type of study is carried out to: (1) gain familiarity
with a phenomenon, (2) portray the characteristics of a given
group, and (3) determine frequencies of occurrence and what these
occurrences are associated with.(3)
The case study can be narrowly defined as the study of a
particular set of groups, behaviors, or events that possess some
common attribute. The case study has long been utilized as a
primary research tool by anthropologists, and now business schools
are using them, but others find its scientific merits lacking.
Some believe that the case study is not sufficiently scientific due
to its qualitative features and its particular nature, both of
which limits the ability to draw general conclusions. In recent
years the case study has gained popularity as a methodology which
can provide valuable insights, particularly when used for
comparative purposes. Bradshaw and Wallace suggest that "good
comparative case studies do not ignore the historical processes of
each country under investigation, and they do not generalize
indiscriminantly beyond their cases".(4)
Case studies are important research tools because "they help
inform general theory and explain conditions that deviate from
traditional theoretical explanations".(5) In presenting a case
study details arise which contradict general theoretical "truths"
and thus contribute to the reformulation or expansion of current
theories. Case studies are especially useful in examining
conditions in non-Western countries which are often not easily
understood by Western methods for obtaining knowledge. Moreover,
in many non-Western countries there is a lack of good quantitative
data, and therefore the descriptive case study may provide some
useful information.
Bradshaw and Wallace suggest three situations in which one
should use the case study method for comparative purposes: (1) when
there is a lack of knowledge or inappropriate theoretical
orientation, (2) when there is partial validity of a particular
theory, and (3) when the case is a unique situation.(6)
Of the more general types of case studies, there are two
comparative research approaches: (1) the case oriented comparative
method and (2) the variable oriented method.
(1) Case Oriented Comparative Approach:
This methodology requires a very detailed presentation of a few
cases studies and takes a Weberian approach which "employs a
comparative strategy centered on extensive use of ideal types".(7)
Ideal types help explain how different historical contexts
influence the outcome of different social processes.
(2) Variable Oriented Comparative Approach:
This methodology begins with a general theory and proceeds to test
it through use of the largest number of cases possible. "Cases are
not examined as entire entities. The focus is on hypothesis
testing and subsequent confirmation or rejection of general
theories".(8)
This book may be viewed as part of the genre of comparative
case studies because it attempts to bring together a number of
cases with certain common elements in order to determine a
generalized pattern of interactions in the trade and environment
field. The methodology here most closely resembles a "variable
oriented approach" whose aim is to test a general theory (or
theories) through the analysis of the largest number of cases
possible. This effort reflects the type of case study which tests
explanations for why specific events occur as well as assists in
making causal inferences.
This approach raises the question of the amount of scientific
validity in this research. Naturally, a series of case studies,
even if comparative, do not constitute a universe of all such
cases, nor is it possible to ascertain what is an accurate random
sample of the cases. Therefore, one can regard the findings here
as informative more than truly scientific. Perhaps any comparisons
fall under the rubric of "homo-morphic" comparability rather than
"iso-morphic"; the difference is between a semblance of general
processes and their exact replication.
References
(1) John Stuart Mill, "How We Compare," reprinted in Macridis and
Brown, eds., Comparative Politics: Notes and Readings, 6th edition,
Chicago: The Dorsey Press, 1986.
(2) See Robert Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd
edition, Beverly Hills, Sage, 1994; James D. Fearon,
"Counterfactuals and Hypothesis Testing in Political Science",
World Politics, 1990; Miriam Golden, "The Dynamics of Trade
Unionism and National Economic Performance", American Political
Science Review, 87:2, June, 1993; Donald T. Campbell, "'Degrees of
Freedom' and the Case Study", Comparative Political Studies 8:2,
July, 1975; Alexander George, "Case Studies and Theory Development:
The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison", in Paul Gordon
Lauren, ed, Diplomacy: New Approaches in History, Theory and
Policy, New York, Free Press, 1979; and Robert Keohane, Gary King,
and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in
Qualitative Research, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1994.
(3) Claire Selltiz, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, and Stuart W. Cook,
Research Methods in Social Relations, 3rd edition, New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1976, 90. Also see Earl R. Babbie, The
Practice of Social Research, 2nd edition, Belmont, Cal.: Wadsworth
Publishing Company, 1979. Babbie calls these "exploratory" studies
and says they are designed to better understanding, test the
feasibility of more careful studies, and develop methods to be used
in later studies (at 85).
(4) York Bradshaw and Michael Wallace, "Informing Generality and
Explaining Uniqueness: The Place of Case Studies in Comparative
Research", International Journal of Comparative Sociology 32
(January/April, 1991), 165.
(5) Bradshaw and Wallace, 155.
(6) Yin suggests several uses for the case study methodology: as
preliminary research, to describe a situation (referred to as a
case history), or to use to test explanations for why specific
events occur as well as to make causal inferences ("The Case Study
as a Serious Research Strategy", 97-8).
(7) Ragin, The Comparative Method, 34.
(8) Bradshaw and Wallace, "Informing", 57.