Case studies as bounded systems

Case study is a methodology widely used in educational research. Case studies vary across scales, but each case needs to be bounded.

Case study tends to be naturalistic as normally the case is embedded within a context from which it cannot be removed for independent (laboratory / clinical) study. The boundaries between the case and its context may not always be clear. For example, we may look at one episode that is part of a lesson; one group of students working in the context of a class; one topic that is part of a teaching scheme… We can identify the specific instance that is our case, but we cannot dissect it from its natural context without severing connections that are inherent to the nature of the case: and the case cannot be fully appreciated without some knowledge of its context.

The researcher needs to set out the bounds for the case, and to justify how the case can be considered as one instance among others - a coherent and integrated system in its own right.

Stake suggests "A teacher may be a case. But her teaching lacks the specificity, the boundedness, to be a case.” However, a teacher’s teaching of a particular topic to a particular class could be a case.

Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

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