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Journal: CJPE; Volume 30; Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3138/CJPE.BR -240

Page 1 of 5

Robert K. Yin. (2014). Case study research

design and methods (5th ed.) . Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage. 282 pages.

ISBN 978-1-4522-4256 -9

Reviewed by Trista Hollweck, University of Ottawa.

Corresponding author: Trista Hollweck; tholl075@uottawa.ca

Robert K. Yin's Case Study Research Design and Methods (2014) is currently in

its fifth edition and continues to be a seminal text for researchers and students engaged in

case study research. Since the book's first release 30 years ago (1984), case study

research has gained considerable acceptance as a research method, likely a result of Yin's

unyielding position that case study be considered a separate and all-encompassing

method with its own research design. This current edition of the book is heavily

influenced by the advances in case study research and remains a definitive guide on how

to design more rigorous and methodologically sound case studies that will stand up to

questions of validity and reliability. Importantly, Yin manages to link theory and practice

by presenting the breadth of case study research and its historical significance at a

practical level. It is Yin's view that, when "the process has been given careful attention,

the potential result is the production of a high-quality case study" (p. 199). Thus, a

comprehensive and systematic outline for undertaking the design and conduct of a case

study is presented in a very straightforward and readable manner throughout the book's

282 pages. Ultimately, Yin argues that case study research is a challenging endeavour

that hinges upon the researcher's skills and expertise. As such, this edition includes more

difficult concepts to guide researchers and students in the work of carrying out more

Journal: CJPE; Volume 30; Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3138/CJPE.BR -240

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rigorous case study research, thereby retaining Yin's ultimate goal "to improve our social

science methods and practices over those of previous generations of scholars" (p. xxvi).

Building on the key strengths of earlier editions, the book's crisp structure has

benefited from numerous editions with reviewer feedback, and it continues to serve as an

exemplar for other methodological guides. The book shows the case study research

process as a "linear but iterative process" (p. xxii) and provides practical and technical

discussions on each of the six elements of case study research: the plan, design,

preparation, data collection, analysis and reporting. Each of these features forms the topic

of the book's six chapters and together are represented by an overarching six-circled

visual display. For those researchers interested in going a little deeper into some

elements, Yin also provides practical exercises with challenging methodological

questions or situations that can be addressed. Through these structural features, as well as

the book's enhanced headings and subheadings, numerous supporting resources, and the

excellent cross-referenced index in Appendix C, Yin makes a complex methodology

much more approachable.

Essentially, Yin is a methodologist who states: "Readability, credibility, and

concern with confirmability all matter" (p. 192). The essence of this book can be found in

the first chapter, which not only establishes the basis for case studies as a research

method but also provides a twofold operational definition, covering both its scope and its

features, that clearly distinguishes it from other methods. Most simply, case study is

defined as "an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon (the

'case') in depth and within its real-world context" (p. 16). From here, Yin shows how

case study research constitutes an all-encompassing method that covers the logic of

Journal: CJPE; Volume 30; Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3138/CJPE.BR -240

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design, data collection techniques, and specific approaches to data analysis, which

ultimately informs the structure of the book. Because this definition has been reworked

over the four previous editions, it is a useful reference for the novice researcher and an

important contribution to the field of research methodology. Throughout the text, Yin

emphasizes the power of high-quality case study research that focuses on rigour, validity,

and reliability. Clearly a proponent for case study research, Yin openly addresses its

enduring criticisms as a methodology and urges the researcher to carefully consider

whether a case study is the most appropriate method for their inquiry project.

As a student of program evaluation, I was extremely pleased to see the addition of

the role of case study in the field of evaluation in this fifth edition. In an attempt to retain

the compactness of the original text, Yin makes scattered reference to evaluation

throughout the book, such as in his discussion of Patton's (2002) four types of data

triangulation (Chapter 4) and the logic model (illustrated as three types) as an analytic

tool that can use both qualitative and quantitative case study data (Chapter 5). I found

Yin's definition of the logic model as a tool that "stipulates and operationalizes a

complex chain of occurrences or events over an extended period of time" (p. 155)

particularly useful. Yin posits that the use of logic models in case study research can help

explain the ultimate outcomes because the analysis technique consists of matching

empirically observed events to theoretically predicted events. However, beyond these two

references to evaluation within the framework of case study research, the bulk of Yin's

focus on the role of case study in evaluation is found in Appendix B. There he states that,

as evaluation textbooks have given case study spotty recognition to date, it is his position

that "case study research has a functional and legitimate role in doing evaluations" (p.

Journal: CJPE; Volume 30; Issue: 1

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219). In evaluation, case studies can be used to capture the complexity of a case,

including temporal changes, as well as explore the contextual conditions of a case. In

addition, Yin presents three major applications for case studies and describes them in

detail, showing how they can apply to a variety of situations. These applications are (a) as

part of a larger evaluation with the case study portion viewed as complementary and

providing explanatory information, (b) as the primary evaluation method where the

initiative being evaluated becomes the main case, or (c) as part of a dual-level evaluation

arrangement in which a single evaluation consists of one or more subevaluations with the

potential of case study playing various roles to inform the program evaluation as a whole.

Most usefully, Yin provides key examples of each application in the boxes at the end of

each description. Ultimately, Yin presents case study research as an integral method for

program evaluators to consider, but its usefulness, relevance, and quality depend on the

evaluation situation and their skills and expertise. Like social science researchers, Yin

urges evaluators to become familiar with case study design as outlined in this book and

carefully consider whether it is an appropriate method before using it in their evaluations.

In reviewing each chapter in depth, I gained the knowledge needed to not only

understand the complex methodological process of case study research, but also to feel

comfortable using it for my own inquiry projects. Throughout this latest edition, Yin

continues to defend case study research as an integral and rigorous methodology, and he

presents this argument through a very practical and readable structure. While retaining

the strength of earlier editions, this book is an excellent update that adds further depth to

the methodology, a refined definition, and more detailed coverage of certain topics. With

Yin's unequivocal emphasis on the quality of the case study research method being

Journal: CJPE; Volume 30; Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3138/CJPE.BR -240

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directly linked to the researcher's ability, I would highly recommend this text to anyone

engaged in social science methodologies, especially the novice researcher and student of

program evaluation. By carefully adopting this book's techniques and guidance, it is my

view that not only will Yin's ultimate goal "that case study research will be better than in

the past" come to fruition, but new exemplary case studies characterized by "engagement,

enticement, and seduction" (p. 206) may be "enthusiastically" produced. Perhaps, some

of these case studies may even find their way into future editions.

References

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

... The case study method was chosen to conduct the in-depth research. This method enables empirical conclusions to be drawn regarding the analysis of a given phenomenon in its natural context, which is of particular importance when the border between a case and its context cannot be unambiguously defined [50]. The study provided the authors with an empirical, in-depth insight into the specifics of corporate social responsibility of a purposefully selected water and sanitization company operating in the Czech Republic. ...

... The study provided the authors with an empirical, in-depth insight into the specifics of corporate social responsibility of a purposefully selected water and sanitization company operating in the Czech Republic. Yin recommends the use of the case study method in the search for answers to questions of an exploratory nature, and to explain "how?" and "why?" a given phenomenon exists [50]. ...

The issue discussed in this article concerns corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is playing an increasingly important role in the context of sustainable development of enterprises. The purpose of the current work was to assess the practices applied in the area of corporate social responsibility in water and sanitation companies, based on the opinions of employees and managers. The motivation for undertaking research on this topic resulted from the scarcity of scientific studies on the measurement of the corporate social responsibility concept in water and sanitization companies using a multidimensional approach based on the ISO 26000 standard. The study used methodological triangulation based on the use of qualitative and quantitative research methods to verify information from different sources. This approach allowed the authors to obtain the data more effectively and analyze the problem from numerous different perspectives. The study used an interview method that targeted water and sanitization utility staff. In-depth research was based on the case study method, which is particularly important when researching complex phenomena. For this purpose, surveys were carried out, the results of which indicate that corporate social responsibility of the surveyed enterprise is at a high level, and that there are statistically significant differences between individual dimensions of CSR. The results indicate that the surveyed company is oriented towards supporting activities in the area of corporate social responsibility, in accordance with the in the concept of sustainable development.

... The paper, in a transformative way, builds on AA-RLT level crossings as a case study to fulfill the study objectives. Hollweck (2016) suggests that any research in the form of a case study has a functional and legitimate role in doing evaluations, which is part of the research objectives. Case studies are an adequate research strategy for complex phenomena that cannot be studied outside their context and for providing an in-depth investigation (Abdul Rasid et al., 2014). ...

  • Jackson Sekasi
  • Habeeb Solihu Habeeb Solihu

Purpose Railway-level crossings (RLCs) are the point of intersection between rail and road users and are therefore hotpots of road-rail user conflict and catastrophic collisions. The purpose of this study is to assess the risks associated with RLCs and suggest probable reduction measures. Through questionnaires and visual inspection, the authors identify the safety risks, hazards and hazardous events at some railway crossing of Addis Ababa light rail transit (AA-LRT) north-south (N-S) route. The identified risky events are then categorized based on As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) principle and generic risk ranking matrix. The authors then examine existing safety management measures at railway crossing and assess the need for additional safety management. Five major crossings on the 16.9 km (10.5 mi) N-S line, starting from Menelik II Square to Kality, were considered for the study. This study is carried out by data collection from about 145 stakeholders and the application of statistical data and risk analysis methods. The major findings of this study and the recommendations for improvement are suggested. Design/methodology/approach The research followed a case study approach. Through questionnaires and visual inspection, the authors identify the safety risks, hazards and hazardous events at some railway crossing of AA-LRT N-S route. The identified risky events are then categorized based on ALARP principle and generic risk ranking matrix. Collected data was then analyzed using SPSS to deduce relationships. Findings The study findings reveal human factors as the greatest cause of accidents, injury or death. About 22% of hazards identified by category are human factors, whereas 20% are because of technical problems. Intolerable risks stand at 42%, whereas the tolerable risks are at 36% according to risk classification results as per the ALARP model. Because the process of risk management is a long-term cycle, its importance should not be missed at any time. Research limitations/implications Because of design considerations of RLCs and the difference in generalized human behaviors for people of a given region, the results are limited to AA-LRT RLCs. This study opens a discourse for detailed evaluations, qualitative and quantitative analysis into the categorized identified hazards. There is also room for additional research into the performance of RLCs aimed at formulating standard necessary features that should be included on RLCs for proper risk control especially in emerging economies. Originality/value The research paper is original and has not been submitted for consideration to other journals.

... After the cleaning, the codes then (3) Develop a thematic framework that answers the research questions, the researcher gets the major themes, so with the sub-themes. Evidence presented in the case study analysis was taken from documents, interviews, direct observation, participant observation, and focus group discussion (Yin, 2014) The researcher used principles for community-based ESD in the assessment of their level of integration. ...

  • Grace Flores Grace Flores
  • Elena P Cecilia
  • Los De
  • Reyes

Balancing the act of development which implies adapting to changes while respecting the values of conservation, sufficiency, modernization, and solidarity is the heart of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This study aims to explore ESD community-based practices and the level of Integration among selected Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in the Caraga Region. Descriptive survey methods both quantitative and qualitative analysis were employed. Document analysis, interviews, direct observation, participant observation, and focus group discussions were used during the data collection of the study. Results show that the activities and programs initiated by teacher education have an ESD composition and their integration to the teacher education was on the level of responding and limited on engaging and enabling. Most of them are non-embedding, non-sustaining, and non-transforming. The result of the observations and focus group discussion from the research participants reveals that Caraga Region teacher education higher institutions are not starting from anything. Best practices such as Agribusiness based education for Mamanwas tribes as ESD practice; Trash to cash winning scheme for economic waste management; Extension services a jump start for ESD. These localized initiated practices for ESD can be a strong entry point for ESD. Higher Institutions in Caraga Region may be ESD certificated through benchmarking to local and international schools as their model for ESD implementations.

... These databases contain records of keywords and abstracts from 1970 to 2020. The compilation of literature review data included other sources, such as archival data and observations from workshops and conferences, to assist data triangulation and cross-validation [62,68]. The key terms used to search within these databases were: project management theory, mega projects, root causes, and cost overrun. ...

  • Aaron Anil Chadee
  • Xsitaaz Twinkle Chadee
  • Indrajit Ray
  • Hector Martin Hector Martin

This paper investigates the conflicting and contrasting views between two prominent schools of thought (SOT), the conventional project management empirical school and the incoming behavioural and psychological sciences, to explain the cost overrun phenomenon in transportation infrastructure projects. Although theories within these SOTs seem to coexist and are used interchangeably, there exists a widening knowledge gap that leads to conflicting and contrasting ideological views. In this paper, we contend that there is a lack of a cross-fertilisation mechanism to fuse and co-join contemporary theories on cost overruns. This has led to the encapsulation and fragmented adhocracy in theory building. Utilising a critical review approach, this study proposes the concepts of ideological distancing and encapsulation between "empiricism" and "behavioural" SOTs as the focus of analyses for understanding the root causes of cost overruns in project studies. The study showed that the extant debate on cost overruns is limited and divergent, effectively contributing to the problem of continued expansion and non-convergence of theories that maintain parallel identities. This creates a space for inquiry, reflecting, theorising, and debating for the convergence of SOTs on cost overrun research and theories on what can be deemed project knowledge. This paper contributes to extant project studies by identifying the need for convergence and co-joining theories with different epistemes through causal linkages. Consequently, this will improve the public sector's infrastructure policymaking by exposing the theoretical limitations of the current ad hoc manner and application of project management concepts based on the project professionals' bounded decision-making rationalities.

... Da tale obiettivo scaturisce la seguente Domanda di Ricerca: sono presenti elementi di "performance governance" negli strumenti di sistematizzazione, programmazione e rendicontazione della performance delle aziende sanitarie dell'Emilia-Romagna nel ciclo 2018-2020, ovvero informazioni di performance utili a supportare la governance delle stesse verso la generazione di Valore Pubblico? Per rispondere alla DR, si utilizza una metodologia di ricerca quali-quantitativa di tipo descrittivo-esplorativo (Chiucchi, 2012;Creswell, 2013) attraverso lo studio di casi multipli (Yin, 2014) Dai primi anni Novanta, le aziende sanitarie hanno vissuto fortissime spinte aziendalistiche imperniate sul controllo della spesa sanitaria e dei livelli di produttività come drastica risposta alla miopia degli eccessi dei decenni precedenti. La deriva efficientista è stata trainata dalla necessità di contenere spese sempre più rilevanti a causa dell'invecchiamento della popolazione. ...

La finalizzazione del ciclo della Performance delle aziende sanitarie verso il Valore Pubblico (VP) può rappresentare una via per superare il trade-off tra efficientamento e miglioramento degli impatti socio- sanitari. Il paper intende esplorare l'adeguatezza degli strumenti di sistematizzazione, programmazione e rendicontazione della performance delle aziende sanitarie, documentabile tramite la presenza di informazioni di performance utili a supportare la governance delle stesse verso la generazione di VP. I risultati dell'analisi documentale fotografano una presenza non ancora adeguata degli elementi di performance governance nei documenti di sistematizzazione, programmazione e rendicontazione delle performance di 13 aziende sanitarie della Regione Emilia-Romagna indagate e la necessità di approfondire il dibattito scientifico sul concetto di VP nella letteratura.

The children of sex workers are vulnerable because they face multiple forms of exploitation such as human trafficking, child labor including sexual exploitation, being forced into criminal activities, lack of access to education, and a safe place for shelter. This study identifies the challenges in accessing education for children of sex workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It also explores their educational needs and the responses to those needs. A qualitative research methodology was employed in this exploratory study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve children of sex workers aged between 6-7 years who live in a safe home and the person who runs the safe home. Though it is very difficult to minimize all the problems which these children are facing every day. But this study finds that providing education to them may be a step towards their prosperous future.

The aim of this study is to identify and analyse internal audit competency requirement for effective auditing performance in tax administration. To achieve this, a case study methodology was employed to carry out a face-to-face interview with 9 internal auditors of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Nigeria. The collected data was analysed using Nvivo qualitative software. The findings of the study show that qualification, knowledge and skills are the three major indicators of internal auditors' competency in performing effective auditing functions in tax administration. This study implies that to achieve a successful performance of internal auditing in the FIRS, competent internal audit staffs are highly needed for effective internal auditing performance.

  • Adriana Kocornik-Mina Adriana Kocornik-Mina
  • Ramon Bastida-Vialcanet
  • Marcos Eguiguren Huerta

How do financial institutions enable social impact? We examined this question in the context of values-based financial institutions, which are amongst the most experienced institutions around the world in addressing the very real banking needs of enterprises and individuals within their communities. There is, indeed, an urgency today to have the banking industry consider its social impact in a holistic way. This paper expands our understanding of how these financial institutions, all members of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, define, design, implement, monitor and scale-up social impact. We used a multiple-case studies design to investigate their approach and inductive analysis to derive a model. From a theoretical perspective, we found that a social impact virtuous circular model best reflects how values-based financial institutions approach and practise social impact. Each step of the circular model clearly shows the way in which these institutions address and achieve social impact. Our findings have important implications for academic research focussed on understanding how finance can generate social impact. The findings of this article can, especially, also have practical implications for all types of financial institutions willing to improve the way in which they address social challenges and, ultimately, increase their social impact. At a time when more resources are needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, this is urgent.

Purpose Most complex engineering projects encounter unexpected events through their life cycle. These are traditionally attributed to inaccurate foresight and poor planning. Outlining a nonanticipatory alternate, the authors seek to explain the ability to rebound from unexpected events, without foresight, using resilient systems theory. This paper seeks to outline the theoretical underpinnings of project resilience and to identify criteria for planning and selecting projects for greater resilience. Design/methodology/approach Investigating project resilience, this paper studies the relationship between unexpected events and project performance in 21 projects. The authors perform a systematic review of project ex post evaluations 3–12 years after project completion. Findings First, the authors find that all projects encountered unexpected events, even when discounting planning error. Second, the authors show that, as a consequence, projects underperformed, not necessarily relative to formal criteria, but in terms of subjective opportunity cost, that is, relative to competing alternates – known or imagined – foregone by their implementation. Finally, the authors identify four types of resilient projects – superior, equivalent, compensatory and convertible projects – as opportunities for building project resilience. Practical implications The properties of resilient projects provide opportunities for building resilience in complex projects. Originality/value Departing from traditional efforts to "de risk" plans and "de-bias" planners, this paper focuses on the properties of projects themselves, as an alternate to improved foresight and up-front planning.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how entrepreneurial families (EFs) influence the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) by using the family social capital (FSC) approach. Design/methodology/approach For this paper, the authors analyzed the Manizales EE as a case study. The authors used a variety of data collection procedures, including in-depth interviews with 26 entrepreneurs and mentors. Findings The authors established how EFs affect EE development, identifying how the FSC bridging mechanisms impact the EE's social and cultural attributes, boosting entrepreneurial dynamics. Originality/value The results indicated the relevance of EFs' embeddedness and the degree of the FSC institutionalization in promoting of entrepreneurship within the EEs.