ABSTRACT

Out on the playground, children claim and defi ne spaces, whether their game is Greek gods or kickball, cops-’n-robbers or hopscotch. And, of course, who’s “in” and who’s “out” is often a matter of contention. In many ways, this same task of establishing and maintaining boundaries faces adults who construct case studies, that is, studies of “bounded” human experience (Stake, 1988, p. 256). Th e case might be a community, group, activity, or, of particular interest herein, individual. Whatever the unit, however, the “case” has a way of going out of bounds.