Collective Case Study

Context

Collective case studies first emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to gather qualitative data that went beyond a single case study. Prior to this time, single case studies were often conducted by university researchers. Collective case studies were often done as part of larger projects, funded by governments or policy research institutes. They typically focused on quantitative research, were at least 2 years in duration, and were expensive to conduct.

While large-scale policy research may be a modern use of collective case study, the method itself appears to have historical roots in 19th-century European sociological research. One documented case of what we would call collective case study was conducted by Frédéric LePlay (1806–1882), a French sociologist who studied cases of working-class families to better understand how each family unit functioned on its own, and from there drew conclusions about how families function within society. LePlay's study was called a monograph of families. Although the term monograph is rarely used to talk about case studies today, the research methods are essentially the same.

Regardless of the name, the common theme among collective case studies is that they examine the same research question(s) within a number of contexts, using identical methods of data collection and analysis. The researcher wants to understand the individual site and develop a comparison of all the sites. The individual units of study, then, or cases, are examined in situ and can be considered as a collective whole for the analysis phase.

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

This research design is used to undertake a close study of a number of cases that are linked together, either through a common issue or other similarities. The important point is that the cases must share some link or there is no point in them being studied as a collective.

In a collective case study, a common set of research questions is developed to guide the study of each individual case. Each case is treated as its own individual entity, and researchers take an in-depth approach to each one. A collective case study approach is especially useful in social settings such as schools, where the distinctions between the context and the events being observed are sometimes blurred.

It is important to note that case studies are conceptualized within the qualitative paradigm but may include both quantitative and qualitative data. The context in which the research is conducted is considered important and is usually discussed in the results of the research. Robert Yin [Page 164]notes that what makes case study different from a quantitative or experimental study is that in case study the phenomenon under study is examined within the context, and not artificially taken outside of the context in which it exists and observed as though it were devoid of context.

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