The Case Study Approach

Crowe, S; Cresswell, K; Robertson, A; Huby, G; Avery, A; Sheikh, A

doi:10.1186/1471-2288-11-100

The Case Study Approach

Crowe, S; Cresswell, K; Robertson, A; Huby, G; Avery, A; Sheikh, A

Authors

S Crowe

K Cresswell

A Robertson

G Huby

A Avery

A Sheikh

Contributors

S Slight pnwk43@durham.ac.uk
Other

Abstract

The case study approach allows in-depth, multi-faceted explorations of complex issues in their real-life settings. The value of the case study approach is well recognised in the fields of business, law and policy, but somewhat less so in health services research. Based on our experiences of conducting several health-related case studies, we reflect on the different types of case study design, the specific research questions this approach can help answer, the data sources that tend to be used, and the particular advantages and disadvantages of employing this methodological approach. The paper concludes with key pointers to aid those designing and appraising proposals for conducting case study research, and a checklist to help readers assess the quality of case study reports.

Citation

Crowe, S., Cresswell, K., Robertson, A., Huby, G., Avery, A., & Sheikh, A. (2011). The Case Study Approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 11, Article 100. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-11-100

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jun 27, 2011
Deposit Date	Nov 1, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Mar 31, 2014
Journal	BMC Medical Research Methodology
Publisher	BioMed Central
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	11
Article Number	100
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-11-100

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© 2011 Crowe et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.