The Role of Case Study Research in Political Science: Evidence for Causal Claims

Abstract

Political science research, particularly in international relations and comparative politics, has increasingly become dominated by statistical and formal approaches. The promise of these approaches shifted the methodological emphasis away from case study research. In response, supporters of case study research argue that case studies provide evidence for causal claims that is not available through statistical and formal research methods, and many have advocated multimethod research. I propose a way of understanding the integration of multiple methodologies in which the causes sought in case studies are treated as singular causation and contingent on a theoretical framework.

Experts and evidence in deliberation: scrutinising the role of witnesses and evidence in mini-publics, a case study

“…The project that we examine as a case study ran three citizens' juries on onshore wind farm development in Scotland. Case studies are widely recognized as being useful for theory building by generating hypotheses (Flyvbjerg 2006;Crasnow 2012;Yin 2013;Toshkov 2016). Given the lack of research on the topic of expert witnesses in mini-publics, as highlighted above, we think that this is a suitable method.…”

Investigating an intervention to support computer simulation use in whole-class teaching

“…According to Crasnow (2012), the socio-scientific research of the past decades shows a methodological shift: switching from investigating specific cases to a more statistical approach, based on the idea that this allows for finding principles that are generally applicable. The assumed usefulness of such a statistical approach is that finding "effects" also brings into better focus what are the possible "causes" of these effects.…”

“…Furthermore, the possibility exists that the effects found do not even exist as decontextualized principles, when these are partially caused by the specific characteristics of the context. Crasnow (2012) therefore argues that to understand reality it is not only necessary to search for general, decontextualized principles, but also to supplement this search with observations of participants within their context. Paraphrasing Crasnow (2012), this means not only searching for the "effects" of "causes", but also for the "causes" of "effects".…”

“…Crasnow (2012) therefore argues that to understand reality it is not only necessary to search for general, decontextualized principles, but also to supplement this search with observations of participants within their context. Paraphrasing Crasnow (2012), this means not only searching for the "effects" of "causes", but also for the "causes" of "effects". The widely used research design on which the pre-post quasi-experiment of our study was based is used by researchers to find "effects", often in the sense of generally applicable principles.…”

Teaching with simulations (print)

“…Furthermore, the possibility exists that the effects found do not even exist as decontextualized principles, when these are partially caused by the specific characteristics of the context. Crasnow (2012) therefore argues that to understand reality it is not only necessary to search for general, decontextualized principles, but also to supplement this search with observations of participants within their context. Paraphrasing Crasnow (2012), this means not only searching for the effects of causes, but also for the causes of effects.…”