ABSTRACT
In the past two or three decades there has been a substantial increase of studies in which the main core of data consists of a sample of 'cases' that have some common characteristic or identity. In education research the cases may be a sample of students with reading difficulties or perhaps individuals of an ethnic minority. In studies of domestic violence, samples are sometimes selected from a large survey population perhaps some 30 or 40 women reporting physical violence and a matched sample of the same age and socio-economic status but reporting no physical violence. Many other types of cases are found in current ethnographic studies. A study by Chhuon and Hudley in a California high school included a mix of participant observation, case interviews, and key informant interviews to explore aspects of ethnic identity in relation to school performance. Within the complexities of ethnic identities, Cambodian students are sometimes identified as 'Asian Americans' and sometimes as Cambodians.
