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Embedded case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge ROLANDW. SCHOLZ and OLAFTIETJE. London: Sage Publications, 2002. 392 pp. ISBN 0761919457 (hbk), 0761919465 (pbk)
The Authors' Arguments
This book presents methods for designing, implementing, and evaluating embedded case studies and for integrating the resulting quantitative and qualitative knowledge.
It is pointed out that embedded case studies involve more than one unit, or object, of analysis and usually are not limited to qualitative analysis alone. In an embedded case study, the starting and ending points are the comprehension of the case as a whole in its real-world context. However, in the course of analysis, the case will be faceted either by different perspectives of inquiry or by several subunits. The multiplicity of evidence is investigated at least partly in subunits, which focus on different salient aspects of the case. In the subunits, a multiplicity of different methods can be applied, which is why the book presents different methodological approaches to organizing this faceting process. The system approach is used in order to apply methods that allow a scientific treatment of complex cases in a way that will also be acknowledged by the quantitative research community.
Complex cases are here defined as 'problems that cannot be treated simply by one of the known analytic methods, such as experiment, proof or survey' (p. 5). It is considered that case studies may be both descriptive and explanatory and are often used as a pragmatic research tool in order to understand thoroughly the complexity of a given problem and to support decision making. Thus case studies often require an interdisciplinary approach and teamwork because problems do not usually end at disciplinary borders.
Furthermore, the case study approach is considered valuable as a teaching strategy in many fields. In an organizational case study, for example, the main unit may be a company as a whole, and the smallest units may be departments or even groups of individuals, such as owners and employees. In business, for example, it provides students with valuable insights for making sound, highly skilled decisions in administrative affairs.
It is emphasized that a qualitative analysis starting from the real-world level is an indispensable part of case analysis. So this book bridges the gap between two dimensions-quantitative and qualitative...