ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors begin by exploring early definitions of case study and then introduce more recent conceptualizations. They offer information about when a case study might be a good choice and highlight advantages and disadvantages of the approach. The authors provide information necessary for designing a case study, identify some practical issues involved in its use and provide an example of case study research. Some researchers consider a case study to be an approach to research rather than simply the way that researchers delimit their studies. Such researchers suggest that it is a unique form of qualitative research. A case study also is holistic, meaning that it seeks to describe the whole of the case as well as the relationships of the parts to the case. A case study is particularistic, in that it focuses on the specific rather than the general.
