Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis

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 , systema...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological methods & research 2016-08, Vol.45 (3), p.392
Main Authors: Gerring, John, Cojocaru, Lee
Format: Article
Language:eng ; jpn
Subjects:
Algorithms
Case studies
Sociology
Typology
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0049-1241
1552-8294
DOI:10.1177/0049124116631692