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Applying Case Study and Ethnographic Approaches
Research Methods in Psychology · Chapter 6: Qualitative Research MethodsSection 6.2 · lesson 36 of 9410 min · free with a free account
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In this lesson
Two traditions for studying particular instances and particular cultures in depth.
- Define case study research and its major variants
- Explain ethnography and its anthropological roots
- Select cases and enter field settings
- Recognize the ethical demands of each
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Qualitative Research Methods
Case Study and Ethnography
This section takes the first two qualitative traditions in detail. Case study and ethnography are the most developed approaches for studying the particular. Both give up breadth deliberately, and buy depth with it. By the end, you will be able to define case study research, and name its major variants. You will define ethnography, and understand where it came from. You will compare the two, and see which questions each answers best. You will pick up practical technique for selecting cases and entering field settings. And you will meet the ethical problems that only close, sustained research creates. Those problems are not an afterthought here. When you study one hospital in depth, anonymity becomes very hard to promise.
Studying The Particular
Two Ways In, One Logic
Start with the logic that both approaches share. Quantitative research aggregates. It pools many participants to find patterns holding across them. Qualitative research often does the opposite. It studies a single school, hospital, family, program, or community. And it goes deep enough that the one instance illuminates something broader. Case study and ethnography are the two most developed approaches built on that logic. A case study takes a single bounded case, drawing on multiple data sources. Engagement is usually time-limited, and the question is what this case can teach us. Ethnography takes a culture or a community, through extended fieldwork and participant observation. Its question is how members live, and how they make sense of their world. Both immerse the researcher in a specific setting. They differ chiefly in scope, in duration, and in intellectual heritage.
Case Study Defined
The Case Has a Boundary
Take case study first, and start with the definition. A case study is an in-depth investigation of a single bounded instance. That instance might be a person, an organization, a program, an event, or a community. It typically uses multiple sources of data rather than relying on one. Now the word doing the real work in that definition is bounded. The researcher specifies what is, and what is not, part of the case under study. Then gathers detailed evidence within that boundary. That sounds like bookkeeping. It is actually the first analytical decision. One ward, or the whole hospital? The answer shapes everything that follows. Without a stated boundary you do not have a case. You have a setting.
Five Variants
Types of Case Study
Case studies come in five common types, and the type follows from the purpose. An intrinsic case study is conducted because that particular case is itself of interest. What it might represent about anything else is beside the point. An instrumental case study is the reverse. It is conducted to illuminate a broader issue or theory, with the case as vehicle. A multiple-case study, also called collective, runs several cases in parallel or in sequence. Comparing and contrasting across them builds a stronger account than one case could. A critical case is selected because it is theoretically pivotal. A revelatory case opens up a phenomenon that was previously inaccessible to systematic study. So ask one question before choosing. Do you care about this case, or about what this case lets you see?
Choosing The Case
Selection Is Purposive, Not Random
Case selection is one of the most consequential decisions in case-study research. And it is not random sampling. It is purposive. The researcher chooses cases that promise to illuminate the question at hand. A case might be selected because it is typical. Or because it is extreme, deviant, paradigmatic, or theoretically critical. Each of those is a different argument for why this case is worth the time. And the argument has to be made out loud. The justification for the chosen case must be explicit. Readers cannot evaluate the findings without understanding why that case was studied. An unexplained selection is not a small omission. It weakens everything built on top of it.
Converging Evidence
Multiple Sources, One Picture
A hallmark of strong case-study work is the use of multiple sources of evidence. Interviews, documents, observation, archival records, and even quantitative data may all contribute. The aim is a converging picture of the case. Comparing across those sources is called triangulation. It strengthens the credibility of the analysis. And it reveals dimensions of the case that any single source would miss. Which brings up the objection every case-study researcher eventually hears. How can findings from a single case support any general claim? The answer is analytic generalization. Insights from a well-studied case inform understanding of similar cases. They do that by clarifying mechanisms, identifying possibilities, or refining theory. That is different from statistical generalization, and it is no less valuable.
Ethnography
Understanding a Culture From Inside
Now the second tradition, ethnography. Ethnography is the systematic study of cultures, communities, and the everyday lives of their members. It originated in cultural anthropology. Pioneering fieldworkers spent years living among the communities they studied. The goal was to understand life as members of those communities understood it. Modern ethnography extends well beyond those anthropological origins. Researchers now conduct ethnographic studies of workplaces, hospitals, and classrooms. Of online communities, and of sports teams. The setting does not have to be distant or exotic. It needs one thing only. People who share patterns of meaning and practice.
Defining Features
What Makes Fieldwork Ethnographic
Five features define ethnographic research, and together they explain why it takes so long. The first is extended fieldwork. Sustained immersion in the setting, often running over months or years. Time is what makes everything else in the method possible. Second, participant observation. Active involvement in the daily life of the community. That is balanced with systematic observation and recording, so involvement does not replace evidence. Third, a holistic perspective. Attention to how work, kinship, ritual, and language fit together as a whole. Fourth, the insider perspective, understanding the culture from members' own points of view. And fifth, thick description. Detailed, contextually rich writing that conveys not only what happened, but what it meant.
Emic And Etic
Two Perspectives, Held Together
Ethnographers name two perspectives on the cultures they study. The emic perspective is the insider's view. It is how members of the culture themselves understand their own practices. The etic perspective is the outsider's view. It is the analytical framework the researcher brings from outside. Weak ethnography picks one of those and stays there. Strong ethnography moves between them. It takes the emic perspective seriously, as a real account of how life is understood. And it still offers the broader analytical insight that distance allows. Hold both, and you can explain a practice without explaining it away.
Into The Field
Access, Rapport, and a Considerate Exit
Both traditions require entry into someone else's world, so the practical work matters. It starts with gaining access. Identify the gatekeepers, the people whose permission you need. Be transparent about your purpose, and offer something of value to the setting in return. Then comes building rapport. Listen more than you speak. Show genuine interest, and honor the trust extended to you. Next, managing your own role. Decide how visible the research role will be, and document your role-shifting in field notes. Plan in advance for sensitive information, before anyone shares something in confidence. And plan the exit as carefully as the entry. Depart considerately, honor your commitments, and share findings where you said you would. The exit is part of the method, not simply the end of it.
Which Approach
Matching the Question to the Design
So when does a project call for case study, and when for ethnography? The choice follows from the question being asked. What can we learn from this hospital's response to a crisis? That is a case study. How do nurses on this ward understand and negotiate their daily work? That is ethnography. Why did an educational reform succeed in one school and fail in another? Two settings, one comparison. That calls for a multiple-case study. What is everyday life like for residents of an online gaming community? Ethnography again. What can the launch of this start-up teach us about innovation? The start-up is a vehicle for a broader idea, so that is an instrumental case study. Notice the pattern. Questions about a bounded instance go one way. Questions about how members live and make meaning go the other.
Ethical Weight
Identifiability, Reciprocity, Representation
Finally the ethics, which are sharper here than in more distanced methods. The first problem is identifiability. Detailed studies of single settings often make the setting identifiable, even when names are changed. And the people inside it too. So researchers must consider what can responsibly be reported. Whether aggregation or fictionalization might protect identities, and what permissions are needed. The second is reciprocity. Long-term fieldwork creates obligations. Participants contribute time, trust, and access. The researcher gains data and academic credit. Ethical fieldwork considers what is owed in return. Accurate representation, shared findings, and sometimes practical contributions to the community. The third is representation, and it lasts longest. These accounts shape how outsiders perceive the communities studied, sometimes for decades. Which is why depth takes time, and why no lighter method would do.
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