Case study as study of an instance

Case study is a methodology which focuses enquiry on one example from another a range of possible examples:

"Case study is an umbrella term for a family of research methods having in common the decisions to focus on enquiry around an instance” (Adelman, Jenkins & Kemmis, 1980, p.48)

Adelman, C., Jenkins, D., & Kemmis, S. (1980). Rethinking case study: Notes from the second Cambridge Conference. In H. Simons (Ed.), Towards a Science of the Singular: Essays about Case Study in Educational Research and Evaluation (pp. 47-61). Norwich: Centre for Applied Research in Education, University of East Anglia.

“The case is one among others. In any given study, we will concentrate on the one....The case is a specific, a complex, functioning thing..."The case is an integrated system" (Stake, 1995: 2)

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

The case could be

• some aspect of teaching and learning in one of our classes;

• one lesson;

• the teaching of one topic;

• one student in one of our classes;

• an identified category of students (e.g. those labelled gifted) in a class;

• an identified group of students working together in a class;

1. •an examination paper;
   

2. •one teaching activity;
   

3. •etc.
   

Index of topics