Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis

John Gerring and Lee Cojocaru

Sociological Methods & Research, 2016, vol. 45, issue 3, 392-423

Abstract: This study revisits the task of case selection in case study research, proposing a new typology of strategies that is explicit, disaggregated, and relatively comprehensive. A secondary goal is to explore the prospects for case selection by algorithm , aka ex ante , automatic , quantitative , systematic , or model-based case selection. We lay out a suggested protocol and then discuss its viability. Our conclusion is that it is a valuable tool in certain circumstances, but should probably not determine the final choice of cases unless the chosen sample is medium-sized. Our third goal is to discuss the viability of medium-n samples for case study research, an approach closely linked to algorithmic case selection and occasionally practiced by case study researchers. We argue that medium- n samples occupy an unstable methodological position, lacking the advantages of efficiency promised by traditional, small- n case studies but also lacking the advantages of representativeness promised by large- n samples.

Keywords: case study; case selection; qualitative methods; methodology; social science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:somere:v:45:y:2016:i:3:p:392-423

DOI: 10.1177/0049124116631692

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