Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research Cover Image

Pięc mitów o badaniach typu studium przypadku
Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research

Author(s): Bent Flyvbjerg
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: case study research; narrative; case selection; validity; scientific generalizability; falsification; hypothesis testing; critical cases

Summary/Abstract: This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (1) Theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (2) One cannot generalize from a single case, therefore the single case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (3) The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, while other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (4) The case study contains a bias toward verification; and (5) It is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. The article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and that a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of more good quality case studies.

  • Issue Year: 177/2005
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 41-69
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Polish
Toggle Accessibility Mode