Case Studies: Types, Designs, and Logics of Inference

Jack S. Levy
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Jack S. Levy: Department of Political Science Rutgers University New Brunswick New Jersey, USA, jacklevy@rci.rutgers.edu

Conflict Management and Peace Science, 2008, vol. 25, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: I focus on the role of case studies in developing causal explanations. I distinguish between the theoretical purposes of case studies and the case selection strategies or research designs used to advance those objectives. I construct a typology of case studies based on their purposes: idiographic (inductive and theory-guided), hypothesis-generating, hypothesis-testing, and plausibility probe case studies. I then examine different case study research designs, including comparable cases, most and least likely cases, deviant cases, and process tracing, with attention to their different purposes and logics of inference. I address the issue of selection bias and the “single logic†debate, and I emphasize the utility of multi-method research.

Keywords: case studies; comparable cases; multiple-method; process tracing; research design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (56)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:compsc:v:25:y:2008:i:1:p:1-18

DOI: 10.1080/07388940701860318

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