ABSTRACT
The case study refers first to the concrete, specific and single case, but science is also interested in the abstract and general character (Flyvbjerg, 2011). The difference between the single and concrete case and general character means an old philosophical problem. A case study allows the following type of generalization: ‘If it is valid for this case, it may be valid for all (or many) cases.’ So the case study says what is true for a mining company may be true for all mining companies that caused some kind of environmental pollution. I think that the method of the case study is a very productive and heuristic method which leads to interesting hypotheses, but, of course, not theses. These hypotheses are needed for further research to confirm.
