Case Study Research

Abstract

This chapter helps nurses describe the key features of a case study and explains the components of a case study. The chapter provides the strategies for making meaning from case study data. A case study describes real-life situations, issues, and problems, and provides an understanding as to how clinicians resolve issues or develop programs. Case studies can be exploratory, explanatory, or descriptive. Yin identified five components of research design that are important for case studies: a study’s questions; its propositions, if any; its unit of analysis; the logic linking the data to the propositions; and the criteria for interpreting the findings. Validity and reliability need special attention in case study research. Analyzing results for a case study tends to be opinion based rather than based on a statistical method. The advantages of the case study method are contemporary, human situations; and its public accessibility through written reports.