What is an example of a case study? How to find them?
“Though everyone who writes about case studies defines a case study differently, the Oxford English Dictionary offers a suitable working definition, describing it as an “attempt to understand a particular person, institution, society, etc., by assembling information about his or its development.”
The information can be either qualitative or quantitative or a combination of the two. It can be collected by an individual or a team. It can consist of interviews with key informants, surveys of representative populations of actors, archival materials, observations by participants (ethnographies), or any other widely accepted source.
It can be analyzed using one or more of a wide variety of analytical methods, including, but by no means limited to, close reading, historical interpretation, the construction of “analytical narratives,” and even the use of inferential statistics. For the most part, however, case studies are distinguished from other social scientific methods by the indefinite article “a” in the aforementioned definition. A case study investigates a person, institution, or society rather than people, institutions, or societies more broadly.” (From A Handbook for Social Science Field Research: Essays & Bibliographic Sources on Research Design and Methods, Sage Research Methods)
How to search for case studies in the library databases? Depends on the database. For example, in Ebsco and ProQuest databases, you may find a “Case Study” filter under Document Type or Publication Type (see below).
