Case Study Evaluations: A Decade of Progress?

Abstract

The American Evaluation Association’s tenth-anniversary theme, “A Decade of Progress,” was the inspiration and point of departure for the present article. Leonard Bickman invited me to reflect on the use of case studies in evaluation. In considering the use of case studies, the tenth-anniversary theme quickly became a question rather than an assertion: “Has the case study produced a decade[’s worth] of progress?” This article addresses the question first by defining the case study method, then by examining the use of the case study method from a historical perspective, and finally by commenting on the progress (or lack of progress) during the past decade (roughly 1987 to 1997).