is case study research qualitative or quantitative

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

Table of contents

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

• Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
• Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
• Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
• Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

• Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
• Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
• Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, November 20). What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods. Scribbr. Retrieved April 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/case-study/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, primary vs. secondary sources | difference & examples, what is a theoretical framework | guide to organizing, what is action research | definition & examples, what is your plagiarism score.

Research Writing and Analysis

• NVivo Group and Study Sessions
• SPSS This link opens in a new window
• Statistical Analysis Group sessions
• Using Qualtrics
• Dissertation and Data Analysis Group Sessions
• Research Process Flow Chart
• Research Alignment This link opens in a new window
• Step 1: Seek Out Evidence
• Step 2: Explain
• Step 3: The Big Picture
• Step 4: Own It
• Step 5: Illustrate
• Annotated Bibliography
• Literature Review This link opens in a new window
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• How to Synthesize and Analyze
• Synthesis and Analysis Practice
• Synthesis and Analysis Group Sessions
• Problem Statement
• Purpose Statement
• Quantitative Research Questions
• Qualitative Research Questions
• Trustworthiness of Qualitative Data
• Analysis and Coding Example- Qualitative Data
• Thematic Data Analysis in Qualitative Design
• Dissertation to Journal Article This link opens in a new window
• International Journal of Online Graduate Education (IJOGE) This link opens in a new window
• Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning (JRIT&L) This link opens in a new window

Writing a Case Study

What is a case study?

A Case study is: 

• An in-depth research design that primarily uses a qualitative methodology but sometimes​​ includes quantitative methodology.
• Used to examine an identifiable problem confirmed through research.
• Used to investigate an individual, group of people, organization, or event.
• Used to mostly answer "how" and "why" questions.

What are the different types of case studies?

Note: These are the primary case studies. As you continue to research and learn

about case studies you will begin to find a robust list of different types. 

Who are your case study participants?

What is triangulation ? 

Validity and credibility are an essential part of the case study. Therefore, the researcher should include triangulation to ensure trustworthiness while accurately reflecting what the researcher seeks to investigate.

How to write a Case Study?

When developing a case study, there are different ways you could present the information, but remember to include the five parts for your case study.

Was this resource helpful?

• << Previous: Thematic Data Analysis in Qualitative Design
• Next: Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) >>
• Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 6:35 PM
• URL: https://resources.nu.edu/researchtools

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Urban Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Language Acquisition
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Culture
• Music and Religion
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Society
• Law and Politics
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Medical Ethics
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Games
• Computer Security
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business History
• Business Strategy
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Systems
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Theory
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Politics and Law
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

23 Case Study Research: In-Depth Understanding in Context

Helen Simons, School of Education, University of Southampton

• Published: 02 September 2020
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

This chapter explores case study as a major approach to research and evaluation. After first noting various contexts in which case studies are commonly used, the chapter focuses on case study research directly. Strengths and potential problematic issues are outlined, followed by key phases of the process. The chapter emphasizes how important it is to design the case, to collect and interpret data in ways that highlight the qualitative, to have an ethical practice that values multiple perspectives and political interests, and to report creatively to facilitate use in policymaking and practice. Finally, the chapter explores how to generalize from the single case. Concluding issues center on the need to think more imaginatively about design and the range of methods and forms of reporting required to persuade audiences to value qualitative ways of knowing in case study research.

Introduction

This chapter explores case study as a major approach to research and evaluation using primarily qualitative methods, as well as documentary sources, contemporaneous or historical. However, this is not the only way in which case study can be conceived. No one has a monopoly on the term. While sharing a focus on the singular in a particular context, case study has a wide variety of uses, not all associated with research. A case study, in common parlance, documents a particular situation or event in detail in a specific sociopolitical context. The particular can be a person, a classroom, an institution, a program, or a policy. In the sections that follow, I identify different ways in which case study is used before focusing directly on qualitative case study research. However, first I wish to indicate how I came to advocate and practice this form of research. Origins, context, and opportunity often shape the research processes we endorse. It is helpful for the reader, I think, to know how I came to the perspective I hold.

The Beginnings

I first came to appreciate and enjoy the virtues of case study research when I entered the field of curriculum evaluation and research in the 1970s. The dominant research paradigm for educational research at that time was experimental or quasi-experimental, cost–benefit, or systems analysis, and the dominant curriculum model was aims and objectives (House, 1993 ). The field was dominated, in effect, by a psychometric view of research in which quantitative methods were preeminent. But the innovative projects we were asked to evaluate (predominantly, but not exclusively, in the humanities) were not amenable to such methodologies. The projects were challenging to the status quo of institutions, involved people interpreting the policy and programs, were implemented differently in different contexts and regions, and had many unexpected effects.

We had no choice but to seek other ways to evaluate these complex programs, and case study was the methodology we found ourselves exploring to understand how the projects were being implemented, why they had positive effects in some regions of the country and not others, and what the outcomes meant in different sociopolitical and cultural contexts. What better way to do this than to talk with people to see how they interpreted the “new” curriculum; to watch how teachers and students put it into practice; to document transactions, outcomes, and unexpected consequences; and to interpret all in the specific context of the case (Simons, 1971 , 1987 , ch. 3). From this point on and in further studies, case study in educational research and evaluation came to be a major methodology for understanding complex educational and social programs. It also extended to other practice professions, such as nursing, health, and social care (Greenhalgh & Worrall, 1997 ; Shaw & Gould, 2001 ; Zucker, 2001 ). (For further details of the evolution of the case study approach and qualitative methodologies in evaluation, see Greene, 2000 ; House, 1993 , pp. 2–3; Simons, 2009 , pp. 14–18).

This was not exactly the beginning of case study, of course. It has a long history in many disciplines (Gomm, Hammersley, & Foster, 2004 ; Platt, 2007 ; Ragin, 1992 ; Simons, 1980 ), many aspects of which form part of case study practice to this day. But its evolution in the context just described was a major move in the contemporary evolution of the logic of evaluative inquiry (House, 1980 ). It also coincided with movement toward the qualitative in other disciplines, such as sociology and psychology. This was all part of what Denzin & Lincoln ( 1994 ) termed “a quiet methodological revolution” (p. ix) in qualitative inquiry that had been evolving over the past two decades.

There is a further reason why I continue to advocate and practice case study research and evaluation to this day, and that is my personal predilection for trying to understand and represent complexity, for puzzling through the ambiguities that exist in many contexts and programs, and for presenting and negotiating different values and interests in fair and just ways.

Put more simply, I like interacting with people, listening to their stories, trials and tribulations—giving them a voice in understanding the contexts and projects with which they are involved and finding ways to share these with a range of audiences. In other words, the move toward case study methodology suited my preference for how I learn—through observation of people, events and social interaction in particular sociopolitical contexts.

Concepts and Purposes of Case Study

Before exploring case study as it has come to be established in educational research and evaluation since the mid-sixties I wish to acknowledge other uses of case study. More often than not, these relate to purpose, and appropriately so in their different contexts, but many do not have a research intention. For a study to count as research, it would need to be a systematic investigation generating evidence that leads to “new” knowledge that is made public and open to scrutiny. There are many ways to conduct research stemming from different traditions and disciplines, but they all, in different ways, involve these characteristics.

Everyday Usage: Stories We Tell

The most familiar of these uses of case study is the everyday reference to a person, an anecdote or story illustrative of a particular incident, event, or experience of that person. It is often a short, reported account seen commonly in journalism but also in books exploring a phenomenon, such as recovery from serious accidents or tragedies where the author chooses to illustrate the story or argument with a “lived” example. The story is sometimes written by the author and sometimes by the person whose tale it is. “Let me share with you a story” is a phrase frequently heard.

The spirit behind this everyday usage and its power to connect can be seen in a report by Tim Adams of the London Olympics opening ceremony’s dramatization by Danny Boyle.

It was the point when we suddenly collectively wised up to the idea that what we are about to receive over the next two weeks was not only about “legacy collateral” and “targeted deliverables,” not about G4S failings and traffic lanes and branding opportunities, but about the second-by-second possibilities of human endeavour and spirit and communality, enacted in multiple places and all at the same time. Stories in other words (Adams, 2012 ).

This was a collective story, of course, not an individual one, but it does convey some of the major characteristics of case study—that richness of detail, time, place, multiple happenings, and experiences—that are also manifest in case study research, although carefully evidenced in the latter instance. We can see from this common usage how people have come to associate case study with story. I return to this thread in the reporting section.

Individual Cases in the Professions

In professional settings, in health and social care, case studies, often called case histories , are used to accurately record a person’s health or social care history and his or her current symptoms, experience, and treatment. These case histories include facts, as well as judgments and observations about the person’s reaction to situations or medication. Usually they are confidential. Not dissimilar is the detailed documentation of a case in law, often termed a case precedent when referred to in a court case to support an argument being made. However, in law there is a difference in that such case precedents are publicly documented, whereas in health and social care, confidentiality of the client is the prime concern.

Case Studies in Teaching

Exemplars of practice.

In education, but also in health and social care training contexts, case studies have long been used as exemplars of practice. These are brief descriptions with some detail of a person or project’s experience in an area of practice. Though frequently reported accounts, they are based on a person’s experience and sometimes on previous research.

Case Scenarios

Management studies are a further context in which case studies are often used. Here the case is more like a scenario outlining a particular problem situation for the management student to resolve. These scenarios may be based on research, but frequently are hypothetical situations used to raise issues for discussion and resolution. What distinguishes these case scenarios and the case exemplars in education from case study research is the intention to use them for teaching purposes.

Country Case Studies

Then there are case studies of programs, projects, and even countries, as in international development, where a whole-country study might be termed a case study or, in the context of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which examines the state of the art of a subject, such as education or environmental science in one or several countries. This may be a contemporaneous study and/or what transpired in a program over a period of time. Such studies often do have a research base, but frequently are reported accounts that do not detail the design, methodology, and analysis of the case as a research case study would do. Nor do they report in ways that give readers a vicarious experience, through observations, incidents, and voices of participants, of what it is like to live in the particular context of the case. Such case studies tend to be more knowledge and information focused than experiential.

Case Study as History

Closer to a research context is case study as history—what transpired at a certain time in a certain place. This is likely to be supported by documentary evidence but not primary data, unless it is an oral history (see Leavy, 2011 , for the evolution and practice of oral history as a research method). In education, in the late 1970s, Stenhouse ( 1978 ) experimented with a case study archive. Using contemporaneous data gathering, primarily through interviewing, he envisaged this database, which he termed a case record , forming an archive from which different individuals, at some later date, could write a case study . This approach uses case study as a documentary source to begin to generate a history of education, as indicated in the subtitle of Stenhouse’s 1978 paper, “Towards a Contemporary History of Education.”

Case Study Research

From here on, my focus is on case study research per se, adopting for this purpose the following definition: “Case study is an in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy, institution or system in a “real-life” context. It is research based, inclusive of different methods and is evidence-led” (Simons, 2009 , p. 21). For further related definitions of case study, see Stake ( 1995 ), Merriam ( 1988 ), and Chadderton and Torrance ( 2011 ). For definitions from a slightly different perspective, see Yin ( 2004 ) and Thomas ( 2016 , p. 23).

Not Defined by Method or Perspective

The inclusion of different methods in the definition quoted above signals that case study research is not defined by methodology or method. What defines case study is its singularity and the concept and boundary of the case. It is theoretically possible to conduct a case study using primarily quantitative data if this is the best way of providing evidence to inform the issues the case is exploring. This may not happen often, and only perhaps in some disciplines like medicine, although even in that context, there is increasing recognition, particularly in clinical settings, that client-centered and context studies are important for diagnosis and treatment (Greenhalgh & Worrall, 1997 ). It is equally possible to conduct case study that is mainly qualitative, to engage people with the experience of the case or to provide a rich portrayal of a person (MacDonald, 1977 ) or an event, project, or program. While the focus of the case is usually a project, program, or policy, within the case there can be portrayals of individuals who are key actors. These are what I term case profiles . In some instances, these profiles, or even shorter cameos of individuals, may be quite prominent. For it is through the perceptions, interpretations, and interactions of people that we learn how policies and programs are enacted (Kushner, 2000 , p. 12). The program is still the main focus of analysis in such cases, but, in exploring how individuals play out their different roles in the program, we get closer to the actual experience and meaning of the program in practice.

In the past three decades the literature and associated courses and conferences on mixed methods in educational and social research has proliferated (Greene, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989 ); (Greene & Caracelli, 1997 ; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998, 2003). This development, which first became evident in the eighties, evolved partly to overcome the partisan focus of either quantitative or qualitative research, but it also provides a perspective from different methodologies that may add to understanding of the case and increases the options for learning from different ways of knowing. Mixed methods methodology is sometimes preferred by stakeholders who believe it provides a firmer basis for informing policy. This is not necessarily the case, but is beyond the scope of this chapter to explore. Case study research has always been open to the inclusion of different methods because what is paramount in case research is understanding the complexity and uniqueness of the case, and a variety of methods offer different angles to comprehending this complexity and uniqueness. For further discussion of the complexities of mixing methods and the virtue of using qualitative methods and case study in a mixed methods design, see Greene ( 2007 ). The focus for the remainder of this chapter will be on the qualitative dimension of case study research.

Case study research may also be conducted from different standpoints—realist, interpretivist, or constructivist, for example. My perspective falls within a constructivist, interpretivist framework. What interests me is how I and those in the case perceive and interpret what we find and how we construct or co-construct understandings of the case. This suits not only my predilection for how I see the world, but also my preferred phenomenological approach to interviewing and curiosity about people and how they act in social and professional life.

Qualitative Case Study Research

Qualitative case study research shares many characteristics with other forms of qualitative research, such as narrative, oral history, life history, ethnography, in-depth interview and observational studies that utilize qualitative methods. However, its focus, purpose, and origins, in educational research and evaluation at least, are a little different. The focus is clearly the study of the singular. The purpose is to portray an in-depth view of the quality and complexity of social/educational programs or policies as they are implemented in specific sociopolitical contexts. What makes it qualitative is its emphasis on subjective ways of knowing, particularly the experiential, practical, and presentational rather than the propositional (Heron, 1992 , 1999 ) to comprehend and communicate what transpired in the case.

Characteristic Features and Advantages

Case study research is not method dependent, as noted earlier, nor is it constrained by resources or time. Although it can be conducted over several years, which provides an opportunity to explore the process of change and explain how and why things happened, it can equally be carried out contemporaneously in a few days, weeks, or months. This flexibility is extremely useful in many contexts, particularly when a change in policy or unforeseen issues in the field require modifying the design.

Flexibility extends to reporting. The case can be written up in different lengths and forms to meet different audience needs and to maximize use (see the section on reporting). Using the natural language of participants and familiar methods (like interview, observation and oral history) also enables participants to engage in the research process, thereby contributing significantly to the generation of knowledge of the case. As I have indicated elsewhere (Simons, 2009 ), “This is both a political and epistemological point. It signals a potential shift in the power base of who controls knowledge and recognizes the importance of co-constructing perceived reality through the relationships and joint understandings we create in the field” (p. 23).

Possible Disadvantages

If one is an advocate, identifying advantages of a research approach is easier than pointing out its disadvantages, something detractors are quite keen to do anyway! But no approach is perfect, and here are some of the issues that often trouble people about case study research. The sample of one is an obvious issue that worries those convinced that only large samples can constitute valid research, especially if it is to inform policy. Understanding complexity in depth may not be a sufficient counterargument, and I suspect there is little point in trying to persuade otherwise. For frequently this perception is one of epistemological and methodological, if not ideological, preference.

However, there are some genuine concerns that many case researchers face: the difficulty of processing a mass of data; of “telling the truth” in contexts where people may be identifiable; personal involvement, when the researcher is the main instrument of data gathering; and writing reports that are data based, yet readable in style and length. But one issue that concerns advocates and nonadvocates alike is how inferences are drawn from the single case.

Answers to some of these issues are covered in the sections that follow. Whether they convince may again be a question of preference. However, it is worth noting here that I do not think we should seek to justify these concerns in terms identified by other methodologies. Many are intrinsic to the nature and strength of qualitative case study research.

Subjectivity, for instance, both of participants and of the researcher, is inevitable, as it is in many other qualitative methodologies. This is often the basis on which we act. Rather than seeing this as bias or something to counter, it is an intelligence that is essential to understanding and interpreting the experience of participants and stakeholders. Such subjectivity needs to be disciplined, of course, through procedures that examine the validity of individuals’ representations of “their truth” and demonstrate how the researcher took a reflexive approach to monitoring how his or her own values and predilections may have unduly influenced the data.

Types of Case Study

There are numerous types of case study, too many to categorize, I think, as there are overlaps between them. However, attempts have been made to do so and, for those who value typologies, I refer them to Bassey ( 1999 ) and, for a more extended typology, to Thomas ( 2011 ). A slightly different approach is taken by Gomm et al. ( 2004 ): noting, in an annotated bibliography, the different emphases in major texts on case study. What I prefer to do here is to highlight a few familiar types to focus the discussion that follows on the practice of case study research.

Stake ( 1995 ) offered a threefold distinction that is helpful when it comes to practice, he says, because it influences the methods we choose to gather data (p. 4). He distinguishes between an intrinsic case study , one that is studied to learn about the particular case itself, and an instrumental case study , in which we choose a case to gain insight into a particular issue (i.e., the case is instrumental to understanding something else; p. 3). The collective case study is what its name suggests: an extension of the instrumental to several cases.

Theory-led or theory-generated case study is similarly self-explanatory, the first starting from a specific theory that is tested through the case and the second constructing a theory through interpretation of data generated in the case. In other words, one ends rather than begins with a theory. In qualitative case study research, this is the more familiar route. The theory of the case becomes the argument or story you will tell.

Evaluation case study has three essential elements. Its purpose is to determine the value of a particular project, program or policy, to include and balance different interests and perspectives and to report findings to a range of stakeholders in ways that they can use. It is a social, political and ethical practice. It needs to be responsive to issues or questions identified by stakeholders, including those who commission evaluations, who often have different perspectives of the program and different interests in the expected outcomes. The task of the evaluator in such situations becomes one of negotiating and representing all interests and values in the program fairly and justly. This is an inherently political process and requires an ethical practice that offers participants some protection over the personal data they give as part of the research and agreed audiences access to the findings presented in ways they can understand. The ethical protocols that have evolved to support this process are outlined in the section on ethics.

Designing Case Study Research

Design issues in case study sometimes take second place to those of data gathering, the more exciting task, perhaps, in beginning research. However, it is critical to consider the design at the outset, even if changes are required in practice due to the reality of what is encountered in the field. In this sense, the design of case study is emergent, rather than preordinate (predetermined in advance), shaped and reshaped as understanding of the significance of foreshadowed issues emerges and other, perhaps more pertinent issues are discovered.

Before entering the field, there are a myriad of planning issues to think about related to stakeholders, participants, and audiences. These include whose values matter, whether to engage these groups in data gathering and interpretation, the style of reporting appropriate for each, and the ethical guidelines that will underpin data collection and reporting. However, here I emphasize only three: the broad focus of the study, what the case is a case of, and framing questions/issues. These steps are often ignored in an enthusiasm to gather data, resulting in a case study that claims to be research but lacks the basic principles required for generation of valid, public knowledge.

Conceptualize the Topic

First, it is important that the topic of the research is conceptualized in a way that it can be researched (i.e., it is not too wide). This seems an obvious point to make, but failure to think through precisely what it is about your research topic you wish to investigate will have a knock-on effect on the framing of the case, data gathering and interpretation and may lead, in some instances, to not gathering or analyzing data that actually inform the topic. Further conceptualization or reconceptualization may be necessary as the study proceeds, but it is critical to have a clear focus at the outset.

What Constitutes the Case

Second, it is important to decide what would constitute the case (i.e., what it is a case of) and where the boundaries lie. This often proves more difficult than first appears. And sometimes, partly because of the semifluid nature of the way the case evolves, it is only possible to finally establish what the case is a case of at the end. Nevertheless, it is useful to identify what the case and its boundaries are at the outset to help focus data collection while maintaining an awareness that they may shift. This is emergent design in action.

In deciding the boundary of the case, there are several factors to bear in mind. Is it bounded by an institution or a unit within an institution, by people within an institution, by region, or by project, program, or policy? If we take a school as an example, the case could be composed of the principal, teachers and students, or the boundary could be extended to the cleaners, the caretaker, or the receptionist, people who often know a great deal about the subnorms and culture of the institution.

If the case is a policy or particular parameter of a policy, the considerations may be slightly different. People will still be paramount—those who generated the policy and those who implemented it—but there is likely also to be a political culture surrounding the policy that had an influence on the way the policy evolved. Would this be part of the case? In evaluation case study it invariably would, because it is difficult to fully comprehend how a policy is interpreted and implemented without an understanding of the values and intentions behind the setting up of the policy in the first place.

Whatever boundary is chosen, it may change in the course of conducting the study when issues arise that can only be understood by going to another level. What transpires in a classroom, for example, if a classroom is the case, is often partly dependent on the support of the school leadership and culture of the institution and this, in turn, to some extent is dependent on what resources are allocated from the local education administration. Much like a series of Russian dolls, one context inside the other.

Unit of analysis

Thinking about what would constitute the unit of analysis—a classroom, an institution, a program, a region—may help in setting the boundaries of the case, and it will certainly facilitate analysis. But this is a slightly different issue from deciding what the case is a case of. Taking a health example, the case may be palliative care support, but the unit of analysis the palliative care ward. The focus would be directly on how palliative care was managed in the context of a particular ward or wards and the understanding this generated for palliative care support in general. Here, as in the school example, you would need to consider which of the many people who populate the ward form part of the case—is it the nurses, interns, or doctors only, or does it extend to patients, cleaners, nurse aides, and medical students? If you took palliative care support as the unit of analysis, you would be less concerned about the specific details of the ward. Your focus would be more on the broader policy, key strategies, and units supporting palliative care, as well as the perspective of key actors in the process and how they delivered such care.

Framing Questions and Issues

The third most important consideration is how to frame the study, and you are likely to do this once you have selected the site or sites for study. There are at least four approaches: specific research or evaluative questions, foreshadowed issues (Smith & Pohland, 1974 ), theoretical framework, or a program logic. To some extent, your choice will be dictated by the type of case you have chosen, as well as by your personal preference for how to conduct it—in either a structured or an open way.

Initial questions give structure; foreshadowed issues give more freedom to explore. In qualitative case study, foreshadowed issues are more common, allowing scope for issues to change as the study evolves, guided by participants’ perspectives and events in the field. With this perspective, it is more likely that you will generate a theory of the case toward the end, through your interpretation and analysis, rather than start with a preexisting theoretical framework. See Thomas ( 2016 , ch. 11) for an exploration of different ways to generate theory in and of your case.

If you are conducting an instrumental case study , staying close to the questions or foreshadowed issues is necessary to be sure you gain data that will illuminate the central focus of the study. This is critical if you are exploring issues across several cases, although it is possible also to do a cross-case analysis from cases that have each followed a different route to discovering significant issues.

Opting to start with a theoretical framework provides a basis for formulating questions or identifying issues, but it can also constrain the study to only those questions/issues that fit the framework. The same is true with using program logic to frame the case. This approach is frequently adopted in evaluation case study, where the evaluator, individually or with stakeholders, examines how the aims and objectives of the program relate to the activities designed to promote it and the outcomes and impacts expected. It provides direction and is useful for engaging stakeholders in thinking through the assumptions underlying any theory of change they propose. However, it can lead to simply confirming what was anticipated, rather than documenting what transpired in the case (see Rogers, 2017 ; and Funnell & Rogers, 2011 , for helpful accounts of the potential and pitfalls of adopting a logic model as a framework).

Whichever approach you choose to frame the case, it is useful to think about the rationale or theory for each question or aspect of the framing and what methods would best enable you to gain an understanding of them. This will not only start a reflexive process of examining your choices—an important aspect of the process of data gathering and interpretation—but also aid analysis and interpretation further down the track.

Methodology and Methods

Qualitative case study research, as already noted, appeals to subjective ways of knowing and to a primarily qualitative methodology that captures experiential understanding (Stake, 2010 , pp. 56–70). It follows that the main methods of data gathering to access this way of knowing will be qualitative. Interviewing, observation, and document analysis are the primary three, often supported by critical incidents, focus groups, cameos, vignettes, diaries/journals, and photographs. Before gathering any primary data, however, it is useful to search relevant existing sources (written or visual) to learn about the antecedents and context of a project, program, or policy as a backdrop to the case. This can sharpen framing questions, avoid unnecessary data gathering, and shorten the time needed in the field.

Given that there are excellent texts on qualitative methods (see, for example, Denzin & Lincoln, 1994 ; Seale, 1999 ; Silverman, 2000 , 2004 ; Stake, 2010 ), I will not discuss all potential relevant methods here, but simply focus on the qualities of the primary methods that are particularly appropriate for case study research.

Primary Qualitative Data Gathering Methods

Interviewing.

The most effective style of interviewing in qualitative case study research is the unstructured interview, in which active listening and open questioning are paramount, whatever prequestions or foreshadowed issues have been identified. Specific advantages of this approach to gaining in-depth data are the opportunity to document multiple perspectives and experiences and establish which issues are most significant in the case—an important step in refining the emergent design. This form of interviewing can include photographs—a useful starting point with certain cultural groups and the less articulate, to encourage them to tell their story through connecting or identifying with something in the image. The flexibility of unstructured interviewing has three further advantages for understanding participants’ experiences. First, through questioning, probing, listening, and, above all, paying attention to the silences and what they mean, you can get closer to the meaning of participants’ experiences. It is not always what they say. For thoughtful observations of the meaning of silences in qualitative research, see Mazzei ( 2003 , 2007 ).Second, unstructured interviewing is useful for engaging participants in the process of research. Instead of starting with questions and issues, invite participants to tell their stories or reflect on specific issues, to conduct their own self-evaluative interview, in fact. Not only will they contribute their particular perspective to the case, they will also learn about themselves, thereby making the process of research educative for them as well as for audiences of the research. Third, the open-endedness of this style of interviewing has the potential for creating a dialogue between participants and the researcher and between the researcher and the public, if enough of the dialogue is retained in the publication (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985 ).

Observations

Observations in case study research are likely to be close-up descriptions of events, activities, and incidents that detail what happens in a particular context. These will record time, place, specific incidents, transactions, dialogue, and note characteristics of the setting and of people within it without preconceived categories or judgment. No description is devoid of some judgment in selection, but, on the whole, the intent is to describe the scene or event as it is, providing a rich, textured description to give readers a sense of what it was like to be there or provide a basis for later interpretation.

Take the following excerpt from a study of the West Bromwich Operatic Society. It is the first night of a new production, The Producers , by this amateur operatic society. This brief excerpt is from a much longer observation of the overture to the first evening’s performance, detailing exactly what the production is, where it is, and why there is such a tremendous sense of atmosphere and expectation surrounding the event. Space prevents including the whole observation, but I hope you can get a glimmer of the passion and excitement that precedes the performance:

Birmingham, late November, 2011, early evening.… Bars and restaurants spruce up for the evening’s trade. There is a chill in the air but the party season is just starting … A few hundred yards away, past streaming traffic on Suffolk Street, Queensway, an audience is gathering at the New Alexandra Theatre. The foyer windows shine in the orange sodium night. Above each one is the rubric: WORLD CLASS THEATRE. Inside the preparatory rituals are being observed; sweets chosen, interval drinks ordered and programmes bought. People swap news and titbits about the production … The bubble of anticipation grows as the 5-minute warning sounds. People make their way to the auditorium. There have been so many nights like this in the past 110 years since a man named William Coutts invested £10,000 to build this palace of dreams.… So many fantasies have been played under this arch: melodramas and pantomimes, musicals and variety.… So many audiences, settling down in their tip-up seats, wanting to be transported away from work, from ordinariness and private troubles … The dimming lights act like a mother’s hush. You could touch the silence. Boinnng! A spongy thump on a bass drum, and the horns pipe up that catchy, irrepressible, tasteless tune and already you’re singing under your breath, “Springtime for Hitler and Germany …” The orchestra is out of sight in the pit. There’s just the velvet curtain to watch as your fingers tap along. What’s waiting behind? Then it starts it to move. Opening night … It’s opening night! (Matarasso, 2012 , pp. 1–2)

For another and different example—a narrative observation of an everyday but unique incident that details date, time, place, and experience—see Simons ( 2009 , p. 60).

Such naturalistic observations are also useful in contexts where we cannot understand what is going on through interviewing alone or in cultures with which we are less familiar and where key actors may not share our language or have difficulty expressing what they mean. Careful description in these situations can help identify key issues, discover the norms and values that exist in the culture, and, if sufficiently detailed, allow others to cross-corroborate what significance we draw from these observations. This last point is very important to avoid the danger in observation of ascribing motivations to people and meanings to transactions.

Finally, naturalistic observations are very important in highly politicized environments, often the case in commissioned evaluation case study, where individuals in interview may try to elude the “truth” or press upon you that their view is the right view of the situation. In these contexts, naturalistic observations not only enable you to document interactions as you perceive them, but also provide a cross-check on the veracity of information obtained in interviews.

Document Analysis

Analysis of documents, as already intimated, is useful for establishing what historical antecedents might exist to provide a springboard for contemporaneous data gathering. In most cases, existing documents are also extremely pertinent for understanding the policy context.

In a national policy case study I conducted on a major curriculum change, the importance of preexisting documentation was brought home to me sharply when certain documentation initially proved elusive to obtain. It was difficult to believe that it did not exist, because the evolution of the innovation involved several parties who had not worked together before and they needed to develop a shared understanding of the ‘new’ curriculum. There was bound, I thought, to be minuted meetings sharing progress and documentation of the “new” curriculum. In the absence of some crucial documents, I began to piece together the story through interviewing different individuals who had a role to play in the evolution of the new curriculum. But there were gaps, and certain issues did not make sense.

It was only when I presented two versions of what I discerned had transpired in the development of this initiative in an interim report 18 months into the study that things started to change. Subsequent to the meeting at which the report was presented, the “missing” documents started to appear. Suddenly found! What lay behind the “missing” documents, something I suspected from what certain individuals did and did not say in interview, was a major difference of view about how the innovation evolved, who was key in the process, and whose voice was more important in the context: political differences, in other words, that some stakeholders were trying to keep from me. The emergence of the documents enabled me to finally produce an accurate and fair account.

This is an example of the importance of having access to all relevant documents relating to a program or policy to study it fairly. The other major way in which document analysis is useful in case study is for understanding the values, explicit and hidden, in policy and program documents and in the organization where the program or policy is implemented. Not to be ignored as documents are photographs; these, too, can form the basis of a cultural and value analysis of an organization (Prosser, 2000 ).

Creative Artistic Approaches

Increasingly, some case study researchers are employing creative approaches associated with the arts as a means of data gathering and analysis. Artistic approaches have often been used in representing findings, but less frequently in data gathering and interpretation (Simons & McCormack, 2007 ). A major exception is the work of Richardson ( 1994 ), who views the very process of writing as an interpretative act, and that of Cancienne and Snowber ( 2003 ), who argue for movement as method.

The most familiar of these creative and artistic forms are written—narratives and short stories (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000 ; Richardson, 1994 ; Sparkes, 2002 ), poems or poetic form (Butler-Kisber, 2010 ; Duke, 2007 ; Richardson, 1997; Sparkes & Douglas, 2007 ), and cameos of people, or vignettes of situations. These can be written by participants or by the researcher or developed in partnership. They can also be shared with participants to further the interpretation of the data.

Photographs also have a long history in qualitative research for presenting and constructing understanding (Butler-Kisber, 2010 ; Collier, 1967 ; Prosser, 2000 ; Rugang, 2006 ; Walker, 1993 ). The photo story in particular—a selection of photographs placed in sequence to show the interpretation of an event or circumstance—is a powerful way of telling. Less common are other visual forms of gathering data, such as “draw and write” (Sewell, 2011 ), artifacts, drawings, sketches, paintings, and collages, although these, too, are increasingly being adopted. For examples of the use of collage in data gathering, see Duke ( 2007 ) and Butler-Kisber ( 2010 ), and for charcoal drawing, see Elliott ( 2008 ). Collages have the potential not only for revealing inner states and feelings, but also for documenting conflicts and tensions in a case. Duke ( 2007 ) made effective use of collage in this respect to portray differences and tensions with doctors in a medical setting where she, in her role as a nurse consultant, was conducting research as well as performing her normal nurse duties. The collage served to channel the emotions she was experiencing in this hierarchical context without influencing the research or her professional role. More recently, Plakoyiannaki & Stavraki ( 2018 ) explored the various ways in which collages can be interpreted to reveal the meaning embedded in the juxtaposition of images and visual metaphors in a collage. They also offer a heuristic analytic approach to counter what they see as limitations in some of the other forms of analyzing collages. Though written primarily for an audience in management research, many aspects of their paper are pertinent for case study research.

Videos can be a useful means of documenting events and interactions between people, especially when individuals cannot be interviewed. See, for example, Flewitt ( 2005 ) for a discussion of the value of video for exploring communications between young children in the home and preschool contexts. In other contexts—videos of classroom events, for example—they can be extremely useful for engaging participants and stakeholders in the interpretation of such events. It is often suggested, furthermore, that videos are a useful means of reporting case study data. Not, I suggest, in raw form. Beyond the ethical issue of the potential identification of individuals is the difficulty of understanding what is going on if you were not present at the time and had a grasp of other data relevant to that understanding. In other words, videos have a temporary life. Without additional data, the distant viewer may not comprehend. This is a separate issue from preparing a video report, composed of different kinds of data to tell the story of the case in a visual, succinct way. Such videos have the power to engage different audiences and can facilitate immediate understanding of the critical issues in the case. An excellent example of this is the CD that Jenny Elliot ( 2008 ) prepared as part of her Ph.D. thesis, showing how it was possible through the research she conducted to get a unit of brain-damaged men to dance. The video was widely shown subsequently in many healthcare contexts.

In qualitative inquiry broadly, these creative approaches are now quite common. And in the context of arts and health (see, for example, Frank, 1997 ; Liamputtong & Rumbold, 2008 ; Spouse, 2000 ), they are frequently used to illuminate perspectives of individuals in therapeutic settings or enhance understanding of how spaces and environments in health and social care affect those who inhabit them (Fenner, 2011 , 2017 ). However, in case study research to date, narrative forms have tended to dominate, possibly because the contexts in which much case study research is conducted are policy or program focused where narrative forms of understanding are more the norm. This is not to say creative approaches may not be useful in these contexts. It may be a question of lack of familiarity with such approaches and acceptance of their usefulness in those environments.

Finally, for capturing the quality and essence of peoples’ experience, nothing could be more revealing than a recording of their voices. Video diaries—self-evaluative portrayals by individuals of their perspectives, feelings, or experience of an event or situation—are a most potent way both of gaining understanding and of communicating that to others. It is rather more difficult to gain access for observational videos because it is hard to effectively disguise individuals. Even if consent is granted, where individuals are visible it is not possible to foresee how portrayals of their life and experience will be viewed years after the research is completed. Research is context and time bound. So, video diaries may be most useful in a temporal sense to facilitate understanding of the case. See Simons ( 2007 ) for an exploration of the ethical dimension of the use of visual data.

It will be evident from the foregoing discussion of qualitative methods that close-up portrayals of individuals and contexts requires sensitive ethical protocols. Negotiating what information becomes public can be quite difficult in singular settings where people are identifiable and intricate or problematic transactions have been documented. The consequences that ensue from making knowledge public that hitherto was private may be considerable for those in the case. It may also be difficult to portray some of the contextual detail that would enhance understanding for readers because it would raise the risk of identifiability of individuals, as would visual data, as already noted.

The ethical stance that underpins the case study research and evaluation I conduct stems from a theory of ethics that emphasizes the centrality of relationships in the specific context (see Kirkhart, 2013 , for the concept of relational validity that supports this focus) and the consequences for individuals, while remaining aware of the research imperative to publicly report. It is essentially an independent democratic process based on the concepts of fairness and justice, in which confidentiality, negotiation, and accessibility are key principles (MacDonald, 1976 ; Simons, 2009 , ch. 6; and Simons, 2010 ). The principles are translated into specific procedures to guide the collection, validation, and dissemination of data in the field. These include:

engaging participants and stakeholders in identifying issues to explore and sometimes also in interpreting the data;

documenting how different people interpret and value the program;

negotiating what data become public, respecting both the individual’s “right to privacy” and the public’s “right to know”;

offering participants opportunities to check how their data are used in the context of reporting;

reporting in language and forms accessible to a wide range of audiences; and

disseminating to audiences within and beyond the case.

For further discussion of the ethics of democratic case study evaluation and examples of their use in practice, see Simons ( 2000 , 2006 , 2009 , ch. 6, 2010 ).

Getting It All Together

Case study is so often associated with story or with a report of some event or program that it is easy to forget that much analysis and interpretation has gone on before we reach this point. In many case study reports, this process is hidden, leaving the reader with little evidence on which to assess the validity of the findings and having to trust the one who wrote the tale.

This section briefly outlines possibilities, first, for analyzing and interpreting data, and second, for how to communicate the findings to others. However, it is useful to think of them together and indeed, at the start, because decisions about how you report may influence how you choose to make sense of the data. Your choice may also vary according to the context of the study—what is expected or acceptable—and your personal predilections, whether you prefer a more rational than intuitive mode of analysis, for example, or a formal or informal style of writing up that includes images, metaphor, narratives, or poetic forms.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

When it comes to making sense of data, I make a distinction between analysis—a formal inductive process that seeks to explain—and interpretation, a more intuitive process that gains understanding and insight from an holistic grasp of data, although they may interact and overlap at different stages.

The process, whichever emphasis you choose, is one of reducing or transforming a large amount of data to themes that can encapsulate the overarching meaning in the data. This involves sorting, refining, and refocusing data until they make sense. It starts at the beginning with preliminary hunches, sometimes called interpretative asides or working hypotheses , later moving to themes, analytic propositions, or a theory of the case.

There are many ways to conduct this process. Two strategies often employed are concept mapping —a means of representing data visually to explore links between related concepts—and progressive focusing (Parlett & Hamilton, 1976 ), the gradual reframing of initially identified issues into themes that are then further interpreted to generate findings. Each of these strategies tends to have three stages: initial sense making, identification of themes, and examination of patterns and relationships between them.

If taking a formal analytic approach to the task, the data would likely be broken down into segments or data sets (coded and categorized) and then reordered and explored for themes, patterns, and possible propositions. If adopting a more intuitive process, you might focus on identifying insights through metaphors and images, lateral thinking, or puzzling over paradoxes and ambiguities in the data, after first immersing yourself in the total data set and reading and rereading interview scripts, observations, and field notes to get a sense of the whole. Trying different forms of making sense through poetry, vignettes, cameos, narratives, collages, and drawing are further creative ways to interpret data, as are photographs taken in the case arranged to explain or tell the story of the case.

Reporting Case Study Research

Narrative structure and story.

As indicated in the introduction, telling a story is often associated with case study and some think this is what a case study is. In one sense it is, and, given that story is the natural way in which we learn (Okri, 1997 ), it is a useful framework both for gathering data and for communicating case study findings. Not any story will do, however. To count as research, it must be authentic, grounded in data, interpreted and analyzed to convey the meaning of the case.

There are several senses in which story is appropriate in qualitative case study: in capturing stories participants tell, in generating a narrative structure that makes sense of the case (i.e., the story you will tell), and in deciding how you communicate this narrative (i.e., in story form). If you choose a written story form, Harrington ( 2003 ) and Caulley ( 2008 ) are useful authors to consult to ensure the story is clearly structured, well written, and contains only the detail that is necessary to give readers the vicarious experience of what it was like in the case. Harrington ( 2003 ) reminds us, among other things, that it is not only in the technical sense that good writing is required—using plain, precise, direct language and grammar—but also how we convey meaning—“‘selecting telling details’ … ‘balancing the particular and the universal’ … ‘structuring stories so insight emerges’” (p. 97). If the story is to be communicated in other ways, through, for example, audio or videotape or computer or personal interaction, the same applies, substituting visual and interpersonal skill for written. In addition to these authors, I often get inspiration for constructing a story or a portrayal of a person from novelists who write well.

Matching Forms of Reporting to Audience

The art of reporting is strongly connected to usability, so forms of reporting need to connect to the audiences we hope to inform: how they learn, what kind of evidence they value, and what kind of reporting maximizes the chances they will use the findings to promote policies and programs in the interests of beneficiaries. As Okri ( 1997 ) further reminds us “The writer only does half the work, the reader does the other” (p. 41).

There may be other considerations as well: How open are commissioners to receiving stories of difficulties as well as success stories? What might they need to hear beyond what is sought in the technical brief? And through what style of reporting would you try to persuade them? If you are conducting noncommissioned case study research, the scope for different forms of reporting is wider. In academia, for instance, many institutions these days accept creative and artistic forms of reporting when supported by supervisors and appreciated by examiners.

Styles of Reporting

The most obvious form of reporting is linear , often starting with a short executive summary and a brief description of focus and context, followed by methodology, the case study itself in its totality, or demonstrated in the thematic analysis, findings, and conclusions or implications. Conclusion-led reporting is similar in terms of its formality, but simply starts the other way around. From the conclusions drawn from the analyzed data, it works backward to tell the story through narrative, verbatim, and observational data of how these conclusions were reached. Both have a strong storyline. The intent is analytic and explanatory.

Quite a different approach is to engage the reader in the experience and veracity of the case. Rather like constructing a portrait or editing a documentary film, this involves the sifting, constructing, and reordering of frames, events, and episodes to tell a coherent story primarily through interview excerpts, observations, vignettes, and critical incidents that depict what transpired in the case. Interpretation is indirect through the weaving of the data. The story can start at any point, provided the underlying narrative structure is maintained to establish coherence (House, 1980 , p. 116).

Different again, and from the other end of a continuum, is a highly interpretative account that may use similar ways of presenting data but weaves a story from the outset that is highly interpretative. Engaging metaphor, images, short stories, contradictions, paradoxes, and puzzles, it is invariably interesting to read and can be most persuasive. However, the evidence is less visible and therefore less open to alternative interpretations.

Even more persuasive is a case study that uses artistic forms to communicate the story of the case. Paintings, poetic form, drawings, photography, collage, and movement can all be adopted to report findings, whether the data were acquired using these forms or by other means. The arts-based inquiry movement (Mullen & Finley, 2003 ) has contributed hugely to the validation and legitimation of artistic and creative ways of representing qualitative research findings. The journal Qualitative Inquiry contains many good examples, but see also Liamputtong & Rumbold ( 2008 ). Such artistic forms of representation may not be for everyone or appropriate in some contexts, but they do have the power to engage an audience and the potential to facilitate use.

Before leaving reporting, it is important to mention that in recent years, not surprisingly given the rapid growth and ever-changing technology at our disposal, there has been an increase in the use of data visualization techniques, both to present data and to report findings. See, for example, some of the excellent ideas offered by Stephanie Evergreen ( 2013 , 2016 ) using graphics and charts of different kinds to summarize data effectively. Telling the story of the case, then, can be visual as well as literary. Using these techniques, linked often with quotations from interviews and pictorial evidence of context, it is possible to communicate the findings of a case in a few pages, or even just one page. This can be of immense benefit to policy makers who may have little time to read long case reports or those who value visual learning as much as written. Such techniques are unlikely to replace the narrative form. Given the importance of people and context in case study, the need to represent participants’ voices and the sociopolitical context will invariably demand a longer and integrated story. Data visualization is an added strength and an option for those who are persuaded by visual means or who have little time.

Generalization in Case Study Research

One of the potential limitations of case study often proposed is that it is impossible to generalize. This is not so. However, the way in which one generalizes from a case is different from that adopted in traditional forms of social science research that utilize large samples (randomly selected) and statistical procedures and that assume regularities in the social world that allow cause and effect to be determined. In this form of research, inferences from data are stated as formal propositions that apply to all in the target population. See Donmoyer ( 1990 ) for an argument on the restricted nature of this form of generalization when considering single-case studies.

Making inferences from cases with a qualitative data set arises more from a process of interpretation in context, appealing to tacit and situated understanding for acceptance of their validity. Such inferences are possible where the context and experience of the case is richly described so the reader can recognize and connect with the events and experiences portrayed. There are two ways to examine how to reach these generalized understandings. One is to generalize from the case to other cases of a similar or dissimilar nature. The other is to see what we learn in depth from the uniqueness of the single case itself.

Generalizing from the Single Case

A common approach to generalization and one most akin to a propositional form is cross-case generalization. In a collective or multisite case study, each case is explored to see if issues that arise in one case also exist in other cases and what interconnecting themes exist between them. This kind of generalization has a degree of abstraction and potential for theorizing and is often welcomed by commissioners of research concerned that findings from the single case do not provide an adequate or “safe” basis for policy determination.

However, there are four additional ways to generalize from the single case, all of which draw more on tacit knowledge and recognition of context, although in different ways. In naturalistic generalization , first proposed by Stake ( 1978 ), generalization is reached on the basis of recognition of similarities and differences to cases with which we are familiar. To enable such recognition, the case should feature rich description; people’s voices; and enough detail of time, place, and context to provide a vicarious experience to help readers discern what is similar and dissimilar to their own context (Stake, 1978 ).

Situated generalization (Simons, Kushner, Jones, & James, 2003 ) is close to the concept of naturalistic generalization in relying for its generality on retaining a connectedness with the context in which it first evolved. However, it has an extra dimension in a practice context. This notion of generalization was identified in an evaluation of a research project that engaged teachers in and with research. Here, in addition to the usual validity criteria to establish the methodological warrant for the findings, the generalization was seen as dependable if trust existed between those who conducted the research (teachers, in this example) and those thinking about using it (other teachers). In other words, beyond the technical validity of the research, teachers considered using the findings in their own practice because they had confidence in those who generated them. This is a useful way to think about generalization if we wish research findings to improve professional practice.

The next two concepts of generalization— concept and process generalization —relate more to what you discover in making sense of the case. As you interpret and analyze, you begin to generate a theory of the case that makes sense of the whole. Concepts may be identified that make sense in the one case but have equal significance in other cases of a similar kind, even if the contexts are different. It is the concept that generalizes, not the specific content or context. This may be similar to the process Donmoyer ( 2008 ) identifies of “intellectual generalization” (as cited in Butler-Kisber, 2010 , p. 15) to indicate the cognitive understanding one can gain from qualitative accounts even if settings are quite different.

The same is true for generalization of a process. It is possible to identify a significant process in one case (or several cases) that is transferable to other contexts, irrespective of the precise content and contexts of those other cases. An example here is the collaborative model for sustainable school self-evaluation I identified in researching school self-evaluation in a number of schools and countries (Simons, 2002 ). Schools that successfully sustained school self-evaluation had an infrastructure that was collaborative at all stages of the evaluation process from design to conduct of the study, to analyzing and interpreting the results, and to reporting the findings. This ensured that the whole school was involved and that results were discussed and built into the ongoing development of school policies and practice. In other cases, different processes may be discovered that have applicability in a range of contexts. As with concept generalization, it is the process that generalizes not the substantive content or specific context.

Particularization

The forms of generalization discussed above are useful when we have to justify case study in a research or policy context. But the overarching justification for how we learn from case study is particularization —a rich portrayal of insights and understandings interpreted in the particular context. Several authors have made this point (Flyvberg, 2006 ; Simons, 2009 ; Stake, 1995 , 2006 ). Stake (2005) puts it most sharply when he observes that “the real business of case study is particularization, not generalization” (p. 8), referring here to the main reason for studying the singular, which is to understand the uniqueness of the case itself.

My perspective (explored further in Simons, 1996 , 2009 , p. 239; Simons & McCormack, 2007 ) is similar in that I believe the “real” strength of case study lies in the insights we gain from in-depth study of the particular. But I also argue for the universality of such insights—if we get it “right,” by which I mean that if we are able to capture and report the uniqueness, the essence of the case, in all its particularity and present it in a way we can all recognize, we will discover something of universal significance. This is something of a paradox. The more you learn in depth about the particularity of one person, situation, or context, the more likely you are to discover something universal. This process of reaching understanding has support both from the way in which many discoveries are made in science and in how we learn from artists, poets, and novelists, who reach us by communicating a recognizable truth about individuals, human relationships, and/or social contexts.

This concept of particularization is far from new, as the quotation below from a preface to a book written in 1908 attests. Stephen Reynolds, the author of A Poor Man’s House (Reynolds, 1908 ) noted in the preface that the substance of the book was first recorded in a journal, kept for purposes of fiction and in letters to one of his friends, but fiction proved an inappropriate medium. He felt that the life and the people were so much better than anything he could invent. The book therefore consists of the journal and letters drawn together to present a picture of a typical poor man’s house and life, much as we might draw together a range of data to present a case study. It is not the substance of the book that concerns us here, but the methodological relevance to case study research. Reynolds pointed out that the conclusions in his book were tentative and possibly went beyond this man’s life, so he thought some explanation of the way he arrived at them was needed:

Educated people usually deal with the poor man’s life deductively; they reason from the general to the particular; and, starting with a theory, religious, philanthropic, political, or what not, they seek, and too easily find, among the millions of poor, specimens—very frequently abnormal—to illustrate their theories. With anything but human beings, that is an excellent method. Human beings, unfortunately, have individualities. They do what, theoretically, they ought not to do, and leave undone those things they ought to do. They are even said to possess souls—untrustworthy things beyond the reach of sociologists. The inductive method—reasoning from the particular to the general … should at least help to counterbalance the psychological superficiality of the deductive method. (Reynolds, 1908 , preface) 1

Slightly overstated, perhaps, but the point is well made. In our search for general laws, we not only lose sight of the uniqueness and humanity of individuals, but also reduce them in the process, failing to present their experience in any “real” sense. What is astonishing about the quotation is that it was written over a century ago, and yet many still argue that you cannot generalize from the particular.

Going even further back to 1798, Blake proclaimed that ‘To generalise is to be an idiot; to particularise is the alone distinction of merit&quot; (Blake,1798, cited by Keynes (1957). In research, we may not wish to make such a strong distinction; these processes both have their uses in different kinds of research. But there is a major point here for the study of the particular that Wilson ( 2008 ) notes in commenting on Blake’s perception when he says, “Favouring the abstract over the concrete, one ‘sees all things only thro’ the narrow chinks of his cavern’ ” (referring here to Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell [1793], as cited in Wilson, 2008 , p. 62). The danger Wilson is pointing to here is that abstraction relies heavily on what we know from our past understanding of things, and this may prevent us experiencing a concrete event directly or “apprehend[ing] a particular moment” (Wilson, 2008 , p. 63).

Blake had a different mission, of course, from case researchers, and he was not himself free from abstractions, as Wilson points out, although he [Blake] fought hard “to break through mental barriers to something unique and living” (Wilson, 2008 , p. 65). It is this search for the “unique and living” and experiencing the “isness” of the particular that we should take from the Blake example to remind us of the possibility of discovering something “new,” beyond our current understanding of the way things are.

Focusing on particularization does not diminish the usefulness of case study research for policy makers or practitioners. Grounded in recognizable experience, the potential is there to reach a range of audiences and to facilitate use of the findings. It may be more difficult for those who seek formal generalizations that seem to offer a safe basis for policy making to accept case study reports. However, particular stories often hold the key to why policies have or have not worked well in the past. It is not necessary to present long cases—a criticism frequently leveled—to demonstrate the story of the case. Such case stories can be most insightful for policy makers who, like many of us in everyday life, often draw inferences from a single instance or case, whatever the formal evidence presented “I am reminded of the story of …” Stake ( 2006 , pp. 197–198) also reminds us that we are constantly making small generalizations from particular situations as we go about our professional work and life. These may not survive systematic research scrutiny, but the point Stake is making here is that it is our natural tendency to generalize from the particular in making sense of our worlds. In case study research that aspires to represent “lived experience,” this seems a natural way to proceed.

The case for studying the particular to inform practice in professional contexts needs less persuasion because practitioners can recognize the content and context quite readily and make the inference to their own particular context (Simons et al., 2003 ). In both sets of circumstances—policy and practice—it is more a question of whether the readers of our case research accept the validity of findings determined in this way, how they choose to learn, and our skill in telling the case study story.

Conclusion and Future Directions

In this chapter, I have presented an argument for case study research, making the case, in particular, for using qualitative methods to highlight what qualitative case study research can bring to the study of social and educational programs. I outlined the various ways in which case study is commonly used before focusing directly on case study as a major mode of research inquiry, noting characteristics it shares with other qualitative methodologies, as well as its difference and the difficulties it is often perceived to have. The chapter emphasizes the importance of thinking through what the case is to be sure that the issues explored and the data generated do illuminate this case and not any other.

But there is still more to be done. In particular, I think we need to be more adventurous in how we craft and report the case, and I have made several suggestions in the text as to how this could be done. I suspect also that we may have been too cautious in the past in how we justified case study research, borrowing concepts from other disciplines and forms of educational research. Fifty years on, it is time to take a greater risk—in demonstrating the intrinsic nature of case study research and what it can offer our understanding of human and social situations.

I have already drawn attention to the need to design the case, although this could be developed further to accentuate the uniqueness of the particular case. One way to do this is to feature individuals more in the design itself, not only to explore programs and policies through perspectives of key actors or groups and transactions between them, which to some extent happens already, but also to get them to characterize what makes the context unique. This is the reversal of many a design framework that starts with the logic of a program and takes forward the argument for personalizing evaluation (Kushner, 2000 ) on the grounds that it is through individuals that programs and policies are enacted. Apart from this attention to design, there are three other issues I think we need to explore further: the warrant for creative methods in case study, more imaginative reporting, and how we learn from a study of the singular.

Warrant for More Creative Methods in Case Study Research

The promise that creative methods have for eliciting in-depth understanding and capturing the unusual, the idiosyncratic, the uniqueness of the case, was mentioned in the methods section. Yet, in case study research, particularly in program and policy contexts, we have few good examples of the use of artistic approaches for eliciting and interpreting data, although there are more, indicated below for presenting it. This may be because case study research is often conducted in academic or policy environments, where propositional ways of knowing are more valued.

Using creative and artistic forms in generating and interpreting case study data offers a form of evidence that acknowledges experiential understanding in illuminating the uniqueness of the case. The question is how to establish the warrant for this way of knowing and persuade others of its virtue. The answer is simple: by demonstrating the use of these methods in action, by arguing for a different form of validity that matches the intrinsic nature of the method, and, above all, by good examples. I earlier noted the impact that Elliott’s CD of men with brain damage had on audiences beyond the case. Rugang ( 2006 ) also used the CD form, two in this instance, presenting contrasting photographs of a “new” culture and an old culture in one province in China. These told the story well, as did a narrative poem by Duke ( 2007 ) of her leadership illustrating how she performed her role as a nurse consultant with responsibility to help other nurses research concurrent with her usual job as a senior nurse.

Re-presenting Findings to Engage Audiences in Learning

In evaluative and research policy contexts, where case study is often the main mode of inquiry or part of a broader study, case study reports often take a formal structure or, sometimes, where the context is receptive, a portrayal or interpretative form. But, too often, the qualitative is an add-on to a story told by other means or reduced to issues in which the people who gave rise to the data are no longer seen. However, there are many ways to put them center stage.

Tell good stories and tell them well. Or, let key actors tell their own stories in narrative or on video. Explore the different ways technology can help. Make video clips that demonstrate events in context, illustrate interactions between people, give voice to participants—show the reality of the program, in other words. Use graphics to summarize key issues and interactive cartoon technology, as seen on some TED presentations, to summarize and visually show the complexity of the case. Explore the data visualization techniques now becoming widely available. Video diaries were mentioned in the methods section: seeing individuals tell their tales directly is a powerful way of communicating, unhindered by “our” sense making. Tell photo stories. Let the photos convey the narrative, but make sure the structure of the narrative is evident to ensure coherence. These are just the beginnings. Those skilled in information technology could no doubt stretch our imagination further.

One problem and a further question concerns our audiences. In your thesis you may well have scope to experiment with some of these alternative forms of presentation. In other contexts—I am thinking here of policy makers and commissioners—it may be more challenging, and you may wonder if they will accept these alternative modes of communication. Maybe not, in some cases. However, there are three points I wish to leave you with. First, if people are fully present in the story and the complexity is not diminished, those reading, watching, or hearing about the case will get the message. If you are worried about how commissioners might respond, remember that they are no different from any other stakeholder or participant when it comes to how they learn from human experience. Witness the reference to Okri ( 1997 ) earlier about how we learn and Stake’s ( 2010 ) reminder of how we generalize from the particular in everyday life.

Second, when you detect that the context requires a more formal presentation of findings, respond according to expectation, but also include elements of other forms of presentation. Nudge a little in the direction of creativity. Third, simply take a chance. Challenge the status quo. Find situations and contexts where you can fully represent the qualitative nature of the experience in the cases you study with creative forms of interpretation and representation. And let the audience decide.

Learning from a Study of the Singular

Finally, to return to the issue of “generalization” in case study that worries some audiences. I pointed out in the generalization section several ways in which it is possible to generalize from case study research, not in a formal propositional sense or from a case to a population, but by retaining a connection with the context in which the generalization first arose—that is, to realize in-depth understanding in context in different circumstances and situations. However, I also emphasized that, in many instances, it is particularization from which we learn. That is the point of the singular case study, and it is an art to perceive and craft the case in ways that we can.

Acknowledgments

Parts of this chapter build on ideas first explored in Simons ( 2009 ).

I am grateful to Bob Williams for pointing out the relevance of this quotation from Reynolds to remind us that “there is nothing new under the sun” and that we sometimes continue to engage endlessly in debates that have been well rehearsed before.

Adams, T. (2012). Olympics 2012: Team GB falters but London shines bright on opening day.   Observer , July 29.

Bassey, M. ( 1999 ). Case study research in educational settings . Buckingham, England: Open University Press.

Google Scholar

Google Preview

Bellah, R. N. , Madsen, R. , Sullivan, W. M. , Swidler, A. , & Tipton, S. M. ( 1985 ). Habits of the heart . London, England: Harper & Row.

Blake, W. (1798–1809). Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds’s discourses. In G. Keynes (Ed.), ( 1957 ) Complete writings, “Discourse II,” Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourses (c. 1808) (pp. xvii–xcviii). London, England: Nonesuch Press.

Butler-Kisber, L. ( 2010 ). Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-informed perspectives . London, England: Sage.

Cancienne, M. B. , & Snowber, C. N. ( 2003 ). Writing rhythm: Movement as method.   Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 237–253.

Caulley, D. N. ( 2008 ). Making qualitative research reports less boring: The techniques of writing creative nonfiction.   Qualitative Inquiry, 14, 424–449.

Chadderton, C. , & Torrance, H. ( 2011 ). Case study. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Theory and methods in social research (2nd ed., pp. 53–60). London, England: Sage.

Clandinin, D. J. , & Connelly, F. M. ( 2000 ). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research . San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.

Collier, J., Jr . ( 1967 ). Visual anthropology: Photography as a research method . New York, NY: Holt, Reinhart, & Winston.

Denzin, N. K. , & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). ( 1994 ). Handbook of qualitative research . London, England: Sage.

Donmoyer, R. ( 1990 ). Generalization and the single case study. In E. W. Eisner & A. Peshkin (Eds.), Qualitative inquiry in education (pp. 175–200). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Donmoyer, R. ( 2008 ). Generalizability. In L. M. Givens (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative inquiry (Vol. 2, pp. 371–372). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Duke, S. ( 2007 ). A narrative case study evaluation of the role of the Nurse Consultant in palliative care (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Southampton, England.

Elliott, J. ( 2008 ). Dance mirrors: Embodying, actualizing and operationalizing a dance experience in a healthcare context (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Ulster, Belfast.

Evergreen, S. D. H. ( 2013 ). Presenting data effectively: Communicating your findings for maximum impact . London, England: Sage.

Evergreen, S. D. H. ( 2016 ). Effective data visualization: The right chart for the right data . London, England: Sage.

Fenner, P. ( 2011 ) Place, matter and meaning: Extending the relationship in psychological therapies.   Health & Place, 17, 851–857.

Fenner, P. ( 2017 ). Art therapy, places, flows, forces and becoming.   ATOL Art Therapy OnLine, 8, 1.

Flewitt, R. ( 2005 ). Is every child’s voice heard? Researching the different ways 3-year-old children communicate and make meaning at home and in a pre-school playgroup.   Early Years, 25, 207–222.

Flyvberg, B. ( 2006 ). Five misunderstandings about case-study research.   Qualitative Inquiry, 12, 219–245.

Frank. A. ( 1997 ). Enacting illness stories: When, what, why. In H. L. Nelson (Ed.), Stories and their limits (pp. 31–49). London, England: Routledge.

Funnell, S. C. , & Rogers, P. J. ( 2011 ) Effective use of theories of change and logic models . New York, NY: Wiley.

Gomm, R. , Hammersley, M. , & Foster, P. (Eds.). ( 2004 ). Case study method: Key issues, key texts . London, England: Sage.

Greene, J. C. ( 2000 ). Understanding social programs through evaluation. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 981–999). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Greene, J. C. ( 2007 ). Mixing methods in social inquiry . San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.

Greene, J. C. , & Caracelli, V. J. ( 1997 ). Defining and describing the paradigm issue in mixed-method evaluation.   New Directions for Evaluation, 74, 5–17.

Greene, J. C. , Caracelli, V. J. , & Graham, W. F. ( 1989 ). Toward a conceptual framework for mixed-method evaluation designs.   Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11, 255–274.

Greenhalgh, T. , & Worrall, J. G. ( 1997 ). From EBM to CSM: The evolution of context-sensitive medicine.   Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 3, 105–108.

Harrington, W. ( 2003 ). What journalism can offer ethnography.   Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 90–114.

Heron, J. ( 1992 ). Feeling and personhood . London, England: Sage.

Heron, J. ( 1999 ). The complete facilitator’s handbook . London, England: Kogan Page.

House, E. R. ( 1980 ). Evaluating with validity . London, England: Sage.

House, E. R. ( 1993 ). Professional evaluation: Social impact and political consequences . Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Kirkhart, K. (2013, April) Repositioning validity . Paper presented at the CREA Inaugural Conference, Chicago, IL.

Kushner, S. ( 2000 ). Personalizing evaluation . London, England: Sage.

Leavy, P. ( 2011 ). Oral history: Understanding qualitative research . Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Liamputtong, P. , & Rumbold, J. (Eds.). ( 2008 ). Knowing differently: Arts-based and collaborative research methods . New York, NY: Nova Science.

MacDonald, B. ( 1976 ). Evaluation and the control of education. In D. Tawney (Ed.), Curriculum evaluation today: Trends and implications (pp. 125–136). London, England: Macmillan.

MacDonald, B. ( 1977 ). The portrayal of persons as evaluation data. In N. Norris (Ed.), Safari 2: Theory in practice (pp. 50–67). Norwich: University of East Anglia, Centre for Applied Research in Education.

Matarasso, F. ( 2012 ). Where We Dream: West Bromich Operatic Society and the Fine Art of Musical Theatre, West Bromwich, England: Multistory.

Mazzei, L. A. ( 2003 ) Inhabited silences: In pursuit of a muffled subtext.   Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 355–368.

Mazzei, L. A. ( 2007 ). Inhabited silence in qualitative research: Putting poststructural theory to work . New York, NY: Lang.

Merriam, S. B. ( 1988 ). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach . San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.

Mullen, C. A. , & Finley, S. (Eds.). ( 2003 ). Arts-based approaches to qualitative inquiry [Special Issue].   Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 165–329.

Okri, B. ( 1997 ). A way of being free . London, England: Phoenix.

Parlett, M. , & Hamilton, D. ( 1976 ). Evaluation as illumination: A new approach to the study of innovatory programmes. In G. Glass (Ed.), Evaluation studies review annual (Vol. I, pp. 140–157). Beverly Hills: CA: Sage. [First published in 1972 as Occasional Paper 9, Centre for Research in the Educational Sciences, University of Edinburgh.]

Plakoyiannaki, E. , & Stavraki, G. ( 2018 ). Collage visual data: Pathways to data analysis. In C. Cassell , A. L. Cunliffe , & G. Grandy (Eds.), Case management research methods: Vol. 2, Methods and challenges (ch. 19, pp. 313–328). London, England: Sage. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325404748_Collage_Visual_Data_Pathways_to_Data_Analysis .

Platt, J. ( 2007 ). Case study. In W. Outhwaite & S. P. Turner (Eds.), The Sage handbook of social science methodology (pp. 100–118). London, England: Sage.

Prosser, J. ( 2000 ). The moral maze of image ethics. In H. Simons & R. Usher (Eds.), Situated ethics in educational research (pp. 116–132). London, England: Routledge/Falmer.

Ragin, C. C. ( 1992 ). Cases of “What is a case?” In C. C. Ragin & H. S. Becker (Eds.), What is a case? Exploring the foundations of social inquiry (pp. 1–17). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Reynolds, S. S. (1908). A poor man’s house [eBook#26126]. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org

Richardson, L. ( 1994 ). Writing as a form of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 516–529). London, England: Sage.

Rogers, P. ( 2017 ). Using logic models and theories of change in evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/node/4902

Rugang, L. ( 2006 ). Chinese culture in globalisation: A multi-modal case study on visual discourse (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Southampton, England.

Seale, C. ( 1999 ). The quality of qualitative research . London, England: Sage.

Sewell, K. ( 2011 ). Researching sensitive issues: A critical appraisal of “draw and write” as a data collection technique in eliciting children’s perceptions.   International Journal of Research Methods in Education, 34, 175–191.

Shaw, I. , & Gould, N. ( 2001 ). Qualitative research in social work: Context and method . London, England: Sage.

Silverman, D. ( 2000 ). Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook . London, England: Sage.

Silverman, D. (Ed.). ( 2004 ). Qualitative research: Theory, methods and practice (2nd ed.). London, England: Sage.

Simons, H. ( 1971 ). Innovation and the case study of schools.   Cambridge Journal of Education, 3, 118–123.

Simons, H. (Ed.). ( 1980 ). Towards a science of the singular: Essays about case study in educational research and evaluation . Occasional Papers No. 10. Norwich, England: Centre for Applied Research, University of East Anglia.

Simons, H. ( 1987 ). Getting to know schools in a democracy: The politics and process of evaluation . Lewes, England: Falmer Press.

Simons, H. ( 1996 ). The paradox of case study.   Cambridge Journal of Education, 26, 225–240.

Simons, H. ( 2000 ). Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: Ethical and political dilemmas in evaluation. In H. Simons & R. Usher (Eds.), Situated ethics in educational research (pp. 39–Falmer.

Simons, H. ( 2002 ). School self-evaluation in a democracy. In D. Nevo (Ed.), School-based evaluation: An international perspective . London, England: Sage.

Simons, H. ( 2006 ). Ethics and evaluation. In I. F. Shaw , J. C. Greene , & M. M. Mark (Eds.), The international handbook of evaluation (pp. 243–265). London, England: Sage.

Simons, H. ( 2007 ) Whose data is it anyway? Ethical issues in qualitative research.   The Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research , (Vol. 1, pp. 6–18). Malaysia: Qualitative Research Association of Malaysia (QRAM).

Simons, H. ( 2009 ). Case study research in practice . London, England: Sage.

Simons, H. (2010, May). Democratic evaluation: Theory and practice . Paper prepared for Virtual Evaluation Conference, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Simons, H. , Kushner, S. , Jones, K. , & James, D. ( 2003 ). From evidence-based practice to practice-based evidence: The idea of situated generalization.   Research Papers in Education: Policy and Practice, 18, 347–364.

Simons, H. , & McCormack, B. ( 2007 ). Integrating arts-based inquiry in evaluation methodology.   Qualitative Inquiry, 13, 292–311.

Smith, L. M. , & Pohland, P. A. ( 1974 ). Education, technology, and the rural highlands. In R. H. P. Kraft ., L. M. Smith ., P. A. Pohland ., C. J. Brauner , & C. Gjerde (Eds.), Four evaluation examples: Anthropological, economic, narrative and portrayal (pp. 5–54), AERA Monograph Series on Curriculum Evaluation 7. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

Sparkes, A. ( 2002 ). Telling tales in sport and physical activity: A qualitative journey . Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Press.

Sparkes, A. C. , & Douglas, K. ( 2007 ). Making the case for poetic representations: An example in action.   The Sport Psychologist, 21, 170–190.

Spouse, J. ( 2000 ). Talking pictures: Investigating personal knowledge though illuminating artwork.   Nursing Times Research Journal, 5, 253–261.

Stake, R. E. ( 1978 ). The case study method in social inquiry.   Educational Researcher, 7, 5–9.

Stake, R. E. ( 1995 ). The art of case study research . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Stake, R. E. ( 2006 ). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York, NY: The Guildford Press

Stake, R. E. ( 2010 ). Qualitative research: Studying how things work . New York, NY: Guildford Press.

Stenhouse, L. ( 1978 ). Case study and case records: Towards a contemporary history of education.   British Educational Research Journal, 4, 21–39.

Tashakkori, A. & Teddlie, C. (1998, 2003 ) Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social &. Behavioral Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Thomas, G. ( 2011 ). A typology for the case study in social science following a review of definition, discourse and structure.   Qualitative Inquiry, 17, 511–521.

Thomas, G. ( 2016 ). How to do your case study (2nd ed.). London, England: Sage.

Walker, R. ( 1993 ). Finding a silent voice for the researcher: Using photographs in evaluation and research. In M. Schratz (Ed.), Qualitative voices in educational research (pp. 72–92). Lewes, England: Falmer Press.

Wilson, E. G. ( 2008 ). Against happiness . New York, NY: Sarah Crichton Books.

Yin, R. K. ( 2004 ). Case study research: Design and methods . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Zucker, D. M. ( 2001 ). Using case study methodology in nursing research.   Qualitative Report, 6(2).

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

• Privacy Policy

Buy Me a Coffee

Home » Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Table of Contents

A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth examination and analysis of a particular phenomenon or case, such as an individual, organization, community, event, or situation.

It is a qualitative research approach that aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the case being studied. Case studies typically involve multiple sources of data, including interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts, which are analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, and grounded theory. The findings of a case study are often used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Types of Case Study

Types and Methods of Case Study are as follows:

Single-Case Study

A single-case study is an in-depth analysis of a single case. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand a specific phenomenon in detail.

For Example , A researcher might conduct a single-case study on a particular individual to understand their experiences with a particular health condition or a specific organization to explore their management practices. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a single-case study are often used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Multiple-Case Study

A multiple-case study involves the analysis of several cases that are similar in nature. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to identify similarities and differences between the cases.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a multiple-case study on several companies to explore the factors that contribute to their success or failure. The researcher collects data from each case, compares and contrasts the findings, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as comparative analysis or pattern-matching. The findings of a multiple-case study can be used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Exploratory Case Study

An exploratory case study is used to explore a new or understudied phenomenon. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to generate hypotheses or theories about the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an exploratory case study on a new technology to understand its potential impact on society. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as grounded theory or content analysis. The findings of an exploratory case study can be used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Descriptive Case Study

A descriptive case study is used to describe a particular phenomenon in detail. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to provide a comprehensive account of the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a descriptive case study on a particular community to understand its social and economic characteristics. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a descriptive case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Instrumental Case Study

An instrumental case study is used to understand a particular phenomenon that is instrumental in achieving a particular goal. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand the role of the phenomenon in achieving the goal.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an instrumental case study on a particular policy to understand its impact on achieving a particular goal, such as reducing poverty. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of an instrumental case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Case Study Data Collection Methods

Here are some common data collection methods for case studies:

Interviews involve asking questions to individuals who have knowledge or experience relevant to the case study. Interviews can be structured (where the same questions are asked to all participants) or unstructured (where the interviewer follows up on the responses with further questions). Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing.

Observations

Observations involve watching and recording the behavior and activities of individuals or groups relevant to the case study. Observations can be participant (where the researcher actively participates in the activities) or non-participant (where the researcher observes from a distance). Observations can be recorded using notes, audio or video recordings, or photographs.

Documents can be used as a source of information for case studies. Documents can include reports, memos, emails, letters, and other written materials related to the case study. Documents can be collected from the case study participants or from public sources.

Surveys involve asking a set of questions to a sample of individuals relevant to the case study. Surveys can be administered in person, over the phone, through mail or email, or online. Surveys can be used to gather information on attitudes, opinions, or behaviors related to the case study.

Artifacts are physical objects relevant to the case study. Artifacts can include tools, equipment, products, or other objects that provide insights into the case study phenomenon.

How to conduct Case Study Research

Conducting a case study research involves several steps that need to be followed to ensure the quality and rigor of the study. Here are the steps to conduct case study research:

• Define the research questions: The first step in conducting a case study research is to define the research questions. The research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the case study phenomenon under investigation.
• Select the case: The next step is to select the case or cases to be studied. The case should be relevant to the research questions and should provide rich and diverse data that can be used to answer the research questions.
• Collect data: Data can be collected using various methods, such as interviews, observations, documents, surveys, and artifacts. The data collection method should be selected based on the research questions and the nature of the case study phenomenon.
• Analyze the data: The data collected from the case study should be analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, or grounded theory. The analysis should be guided by the research questions and should aim to provide insights and conclusions relevant to the research questions.
• Draw conclusions: The conclusions drawn from the case study should be based on the data analysis and should be relevant to the research questions. The conclusions should be supported by evidence and should be clearly stated.
• Validate the findings: The findings of the case study should be validated by reviewing the data and the analysis with participants or other experts in the field. This helps to ensure the validity and reliability of the findings.
• Write the report: The final step is to write the report of the case study research. The report should provide a clear description of the case study phenomenon, the research questions, the data collection methods, the data analysis, the findings, and the conclusions. The report should be written in a clear and concise manner and should follow the guidelines for academic writing.

Examples of Case Study

Here are some examples of case study research:

• The Hawthorne Studies : Conducted between 1924 and 1932, the Hawthorne Studies were a series of case studies conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues to examine the impact of work environment on employee productivity. The studies were conducted at the Hawthorne Works plant of the Western Electric Company in Chicago and included interviews, observations, and experiments.
• The Stanford Prison Experiment: Conducted in 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment was a case study conducted by Philip Zimbardo to examine the psychological effects of power and authority. The study involved simulating a prison environment and assigning participants to the role of guards or prisoners. The study was controversial due to the ethical issues it raised.
• The Challenger Disaster: The Challenger Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. The study included interviews, observations, and analysis of data to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.
• The Enron Scandal: The Enron Scandal was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Enron Corporation’s bankruptcy in 2001. The study included interviews, analysis of financial data, and review of documents to identify the accounting practices, corporate culture, and ethical issues that led to the company’s downfall.
• The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster : The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the nuclear accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in 2011. The study included interviews, analysis of data, and review of documents to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.

Application of Case Study

Case studies have a wide range of applications across various fields and industries. Here are some examples:

Business and Management

Case studies are widely used in business and management to examine real-life situations and develop problem-solving skills. Case studies can help students and professionals to develop a deep understanding of business concepts, theories, and best practices.

Case studies are used in healthcare to examine patient care, treatment options, and outcomes. Case studies can help healthcare professionals to develop critical thinking skills, diagnose complex medical conditions, and develop effective treatment plans.

Case studies are used in education to examine teaching and learning practices. Case studies can help educators to develop effective teaching strategies, evaluate student progress, and identify areas for improvement.

Social Sciences

Case studies are widely used in social sciences to examine human behavior, social phenomena, and cultural practices. Case studies can help researchers to develop theories, test hypotheses, and gain insights into complex social issues.

Law and Ethics

Case studies are used in law and ethics to examine legal and ethical dilemmas. Case studies can help lawyers, policymakers, and ethical professionals to develop critical thinking skills, analyze complex cases, and make informed decisions.

Purpose of Case Study

The purpose of a case study is to provide a detailed analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. A case study is a qualitative research method that involves the in-depth exploration and analysis of a particular case, which can be an individual, group, organization, event, or community.

The primary purpose of a case study is to generate a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the case, including its history, context, and dynamics. Case studies can help researchers to identify and examine the underlying factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and detailed understanding of the case, which can inform future research, practice, or policy.

Case studies can also serve other purposes, including:

• Illustrating a theory or concept: Case studies can be used to illustrate and explain theoretical concepts and frameworks, providing concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
• Developing hypotheses: Case studies can help to generate hypotheses about the causal relationships between different factors and outcomes, which can be tested through further research.
• Providing insight into complex issues: Case studies can provide insights into complex and multifaceted issues, which may be difficult to understand through other research methods.
• Informing practice or policy: Case studies can be used to inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.

Advantages of Case Study Research

There are several advantages of case study research, including:

• In-depth exploration: Case study research allows for a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. This can provide a comprehensive understanding of the case and its dynamics, which may not be possible through other research methods.
• Rich data: Case study research can generate rich and detailed data, including qualitative data such as interviews, observations, and documents. This can provide a nuanced understanding of the case and its complexity.
• Holistic perspective: Case study research allows for a holistic perspective of the case, taking into account the various factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the case.
• Theory development: Case study research can help to develop and refine theories and concepts by providing empirical evidence and concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
• Practical application: Case study research can inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.
• Contextualization: Case study research takes into account the specific context in which the case is situated, which can help to understand how the case is influenced by the social, cultural, and historical factors of its environment.

Limitations of Case Study Research

There are several limitations of case study research, including:

• Limited generalizability : Case studies are typically focused on a single case or a small number of cases, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The unique characteristics of the case may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, which may limit the external validity of the research.
• Biased sampling: Case studies may rely on purposive or convenience sampling, which can introduce bias into the sample selection process. This may limit the representativeness of the sample and the generalizability of the findings.
• Subjectivity: Case studies rely on the interpretation of the researcher, which can introduce subjectivity into the analysis. The researcher’s own biases, assumptions, and perspectives may influence the findings, which may limit the objectivity of the research.
• Limited control: Case studies are typically conducted in naturalistic settings, which limits the control that the researcher has over the environment and the variables being studied. This may limit the ability to establish causal relationships between variables.
• Time-consuming: Case studies can be time-consuming to conduct, as they typically involve a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific case. This may limit the feasibility of conducting multiple case studies or conducting case studies in a timely manner.
• Resource-intensive: Case studies may require significant resources, including time, funding, and expertise. This may limit the ability of researchers to conduct case studies in resource-constrained settings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

You may also like

Questionnaire – Definition, Types, and Examples

Observational Research – Methods and Guide

Quantitative Research – Methods, Types and...

Qualitative Research Methods

Explanatory Research – Types, Methods, Guide

Survey Research – Types, Methods, Examples

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• J Korean Med Sci
• v.37(16); 2022 Apr 25

A Practical Guide to Writing Quantitative and Qualitative Research Questions and Hypotheses in Scholarly Articles

Edward barroga.

1 Department of General Education, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan.

Glafera Janet Matanguihan

2 Department of Biological Sciences, Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA.

The development of research questions and the subsequent hypotheses are prerequisites to defining the main research purpose and specific objectives of a study. Consequently, these objectives determine the study design and research outcome. The development of research questions is a process based on knowledge of current trends, cutting-edge studies, and technological advances in the research field. Excellent research questions are focused and require a comprehensive literature search and in-depth understanding of the problem being investigated. Initially, research questions may be written as descriptive questions which could be developed into inferential questions. These questions must be specific and concise to provide a clear foundation for developing hypotheses. Hypotheses are more formal predictions about the research outcomes. These specify the possible results that may or may not be expected regarding the relationship between groups. Thus, research questions and hypotheses clarify the main purpose and specific objectives of the study, which in turn dictate the design of the study, its direction, and outcome. Studies developed from good research questions and hypotheses will have trustworthy outcomes with wide-ranging social and health implications.

INTRODUCTION

Scientific research is usually initiated by posing evidenced-based research questions which are then explicitly restated as hypotheses. 1 , 2 The hypotheses provide directions to guide the study, solutions, explanations, and expected results. 3 , 4 Both research questions and hypotheses are essentially formulated based on conventional theories and real-world processes, which allow the inception of novel studies and the ethical testing of ideas. 5 , 6

It is crucial to have knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative research 2 as both types of research involve writing research questions and hypotheses. 7 However, these crucial elements of research are sometimes overlooked; if not overlooked, then framed without the forethought and meticulous attention it needs. Planning and careful consideration are needed when developing quantitative or qualitative research, particularly when conceptualizing research questions and hypotheses. 4

There is a continuing need to support researchers in the creation of innovative research questions and hypotheses, as well as for journal articles that carefully review these elements. 1 When research questions and hypotheses are not carefully thought of, unethical studies and poor outcomes usually ensue. Carefully formulated research questions and hypotheses define well-founded objectives, which in turn determine the appropriate design, course, and outcome of the study. This article then aims to discuss in detail the various aspects of crafting research questions and hypotheses, with the goal of guiding researchers as they develop their own. Examples from the authors and peer-reviewed scientific articles in the healthcare field are provided to illustrate key points.

DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONSHIP OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

A research question is what a study aims to answer after data analysis and interpretation. The answer is written in length in the discussion section of the paper. Thus, the research question gives a preview of the different parts and variables of the study meant to address the problem posed in the research question. 1 An excellent research question clarifies the research writing while facilitating understanding of the research topic, objective, scope, and limitations of the study. 5

On the other hand, a research hypothesis is an educated statement of an expected outcome. This statement is based on background research and current knowledge. 8 , 9 The research hypothesis makes a specific prediction about a new phenomenon 10 or a formal statement on the expected relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable. 3 , 11 It provides a tentative answer to the research question to be tested or explored. 4

Hypotheses employ reasoning to predict a theory-based outcome. 10 These can also be developed from theories by focusing on components of theories that have not yet been observed. 10 The validity of hypotheses is often based on the testability of the prediction made in a reproducible experiment. 8

Conversely, hypotheses can also be rephrased as research questions. Several hypotheses based on existing theories and knowledge may be needed to answer a research question. Developing ethical research questions and hypotheses creates a research design that has logical relationships among variables. These relationships serve as a solid foundation for the conduct of the study. 4 , 11 Haphazardly constructed research questions can result in poorly formulated hypotheses and improper study designs, leading to unreliable results. Thus, the formulations of relevant research questions and verifiable hypotheses are crucial when beginning research. 12

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Excellent research questions are specific and focused. These integrate collective data and observations to confirm or refute the subsequent hypotheses. Well-constructed hypotheses are based on previous reports and verify the research context. These are realistic, in-depth, sufficiently complex, and reproducible. More importantly, these hypotheses can be addressed and tested. 13

There are several characteristics of well-developed hypotheses. Good hypotheses are 1) empirically testable 7 , 10 , 11 , 13 ; 2) backed by preliminary evidence 9 ; 3) testable by ethical research 7 , 9 ; 4) based on original ideas 9 ; 5) have evidenced-based logical reasoning 10 ; and 6) can be predicted. 11 Good hypotheses can infer ethical and positive implications, indicating the presence of a relationship or effect relevant to the research theme. 7 , 11 These are initially developed from a general theory and branch into specific hypotheses by deductive reasoning. In the absence of a theory to base the hypotheses, inductive reasoning based on specific observations or findings form more general hypotheses. 10

TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions and hypotheses are developed according to the type of research, which can be broadly classified into quantitative and qualitative research. We provide a summary of the types of research questions and hypotheses under quantitative and qualitative research categories in Table 1 .

Research questions in quantitative research

In quantitative research, research questions inquire about the relationships among variables being investigated and are usually framed at the start of the study. These are precise and typically linked to the subject population, dependent and independent variables, and research design. 1 Research questions may also attempt to describe the behavior of a population in relation to one or more variables, or describe the characteristics of variables to be measured ( descriptive research questions ). 1 , 5 , 14 These questions may also aim to discover differences between groups within the context of an outcome variable ( comparative research questions ), 1 , 5 , 14 or elucidate trends and interactions among variables ( relationship research questions ). 1 , 5 We provide examples of descriptive, comparative, and relationship research questions in quantitative research in Table 2 .

Hypotheses in quantitative research

In quantitative research, hypotheses predict the expected relationships among variables. 15 Relationships among variables that can be predicted include 1) between a single dependent variable and a single independent variable ( simple hypothesis ) or 2) between two or more independent and dependent variables ( complex hypothesis ). 4 , 11 Hypotheses may also specify the expected direction to be followed and imply an intellectual commitment to a particular outcome ( directional hypothesis ) 4 . On the other hand, hypotheses may not predict the exact direction and are used in the absence of a theory, or when findings contradict previous studies ( non-directional hypothesis ). 4 In addition, hypotheses can 1) define interdependency between variables ( associative hypothesis ), 4 2) propose an effect on the dependent variable from manipulation of the independent variable ( causal hypothesis ), 4 3) state a negative relationship between two variables ( null hypothesis ), 4 , 11 , 15 4) replace the working hypothesis if rejected ( alternative hypothesis ), 15 explain the relationship of phenomena to possibly generate a theory ( working hypothesis ), 11 5) involve quantifiable variables that can be tested statistically ( statistical hypothesis ), 11 6) or express a relationship whose interlinks can be verified logically ( logical hypothesis ). 11 We provide examples of simple, complex, directional, non-directional, associative, causal, null, alternative, working, statistical, and logical hypotheses in quantitative research, as well as the definition of quantitative hypothesis-testing research in Table 3 .

Research questions in qualitative research

Unlike research questions in quantitative research, research questions in qualitative research are usually continuously reviewed and reformulated. The central question and associated subquestions are stated more than the hypotheses. 15 The central question broadly explores a complex set of factors surrounding the central phenomenon, aiming to present the varied perspectives of participants. 15

There are varied goals for which qualitative research questions are developed. These questions can function in several ways, such as to 1) identify and describe existing conditions ( contextual research question s); 2) describe a phenomenon ( descriptive research questions ); 3) assess the effectiveness of existing methods, protocols, theories, or procedures ( evaluation research questions ); 4) examine a phenomenon or analyze the reasons or relationships between subjects or phenomena ( explanatory research questions ); or 5) focus on unknown aspects of a particular topic ( exploratory research questions ). 5 In addition, some qualitative research questions provide new ideas for the development of theories and actions ( generative research questions ) or advance specific ideologies of a position ( ideological research questions ). 1 Other qualitative research questions may build on a body of existing literature and become working guidelines ( ethnographic research questions ). Research questions may also be broadly stated without specific reference to the existing literature or a typology of questions ( phenomenological research questions ), may be directed towards generating a theory of some process ( grounded theory questions ), or may address a description of the case and the emerging themes ( qualitative case study questions ). 15 We provide examples of contextual, descriptive, evaluation, explanatory, exploratory, generative, ideological, ethnographic, phenomenological, grounded theory, and qualitative case study research questions in qualitative research in Table 4 , and the definition of qualitative hypothesis-generating research in Table 5 .

Qualitative studies usually pose at least one central research question and several subquestions starting with How or What . These research questions use exploratory verbs such as explore or describe . These also focus on one central phenomenon of interest, and may mention the participants and research site. 15

Hypotheses in qualitative research

Hypotheses in qualitative research are stated in the form of a clear statement concerning the problem to be investigated. Unlike in quantitative research where hypotheses are usually developed to be tested, qualitative research can lead to both hypothesis-testing and hypothesis-generating outcomes. 2 When studies require both quantitative and qualitative research questions, this suggests an integrative process between both research methods wherein a single mixed-methods research question can be developed. 1

FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions followed by hypotheses should be developed before the start of the study. 1 , 12 , 14 It is crucial to develop feasible research questions on a topic that is interesting to both the researcher and the scientific community. This can be achieved by a meticulous review of previous and current studies to establish a novel topic. Specific areas are subsequently focused on to generate ethical research questions. The relevance of the research questions is evaluated in terms of clarity of the resulting data, specificity of the methodology, objectivity of the outcome, depth of the research, and impact of the study. 1 , 5 These aspects constitute the FINER criteria (i.e., Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, and Relevant). 1 Clarity and effectiveness are achieved if research questions meet the FINER criteria. In addition to the FINER criteria, Ratan et al. described focus, complexity, novelty, feasibility, and measurability for evaluating the effectiveness of research questions. 14

The PICOT and PEO frameworks are also used when developing research questions. 1 The following elements are addressed in these frameworks, PICOT: P-population/patients/problem, I-intervention or indicator being studied, C-comparison group, O-outcome of interest, and T-timeframe of the study; PEO: P-population being studied, E-exposure to preexisting conditions, and O-outcome of interest. 1 Research questions are also considered good if these meet the “FINERMAPS” framework: Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant, Manageable, Appropriate, Potential value/publishable, and Systematic. 14

As we indicated earlier, research questions and hypotheses that are not carefully formulated result in unethical studies or poor outcomes. To illustrate this, we provide some examples of ambiguous research question and hypotheses that result in unclear and weak research objectives in quantitative research ( Table 6 ) 16 and qualitative research ( Table 7 ) 17 , and how to transform these ambiguous research question(s) and hypothesis(es) into clear and good statements.

a These statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

b These statements are direct quotes from Higashihara and Horiuchi. 16

a This statement is a direct quote from Shimoda et al. 17

The other statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

CONSTRUCTING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

To construct effective research questions and hypotheses, it is very important to 1) clarify the background and 2) identify the research problem at the outset of the research, within a specific timeframe. 9 Then, 3) review or conduct preliminary research to collect all available knowledge about the possible research questions by studying theories and previous studies. 18 Afterwards, 4) construct research questions to investigate the research problem. Identify variables to be accessed from the research questions 4 and make operational definitions of constructs from the research problem and questions. Thereafter, 5) construct specific deductive or inductive predictions in the form of hypotheses. 4 Finally, 6) state the study aims . This general flow for constructing effective research questions and hypotheses prior to conducting research is shown in Fig. 1 .

Research questions are used more frequently in qualitative research than objectives or hypotheses. 3 These questions seek to discover, understand, explore or describe experiences by asking “What” or “How.” The questions are open-ended to elicit a description rather than to relate variables or compare groups. The questions are continually reviewed, reformulated, and changed during the qualitative study. 3 Research questions are also used more frequently in survey projects than hypotheses in experiments in quantitative research to compare variables and their relationships.

Hypotheses are constructed based on the variables identified and as an if-then statement, following the template, ‘If a specific action is taken, then a certain outcome is expected.’ At this stage, some ideas regarding expectations from the research to be conducted must be drawn. 18 Then, the variables to be manipulated (independent) and influenced (dependent) are defined. 4 Thereafter, the hypothesis is stated and refined, and reproducible data tailored to the hypothesis are identified, collected, and analyzed. 4 The hypotheses must be testable and specific, 18 and should describe the variables and their relationships, the specific group being studied, and the predicted research outcome. 18 Hypotheses construction involves a testable proposition to be deduced from theory, and independent and dependent variables to be separated and measured separately. 3 Therefore, good hypotheses must be based on good research questions constructed at the start of a study or trial. 12

In summary, research questions are constructed after establishing the background of the study. Hypotheses are then developed based on the research questions. Thus, it is crucial to have excellent research questions to generate superior hypotheses. In turn, these would determine the research objectives and the design of the study, and ultimately, the outcome of the research. 12 Algorithms for building research questions and hypotheses are shown in Fig. 2 for quantitative research and in Fig. 3 for qualitative research.

EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS FROM PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Descriptive research question (quantitative research)
• - Presents research variables to be assessed (distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes)
• “BACKGROUND: Since COVID-19 was identified, its clinical and biological heterogeneity has been recognized. Identifying COVID-19 phenotypes might help guide basic, clinical, and translational research efforts.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Does the clinical spectrum of patients with COVID-19 contain distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes? ” 19
• EXAMPLE 2. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Shows interactions between dependent variable (static postural control) and independent variable (peripheral visual field loss)
• “Background: Integration of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensations contributes to postural control. People with peripheral visual field loss have serious postural instability. However, the directional specificity of postural stability and sensory reweighting caused by gradual peripheral visual field loss remain unclear.
• Research question: What are the effects of peripheral visual field loss on static postural control ?” 20
• EXAMPLE 3. Comparative research question (quantitative research)
• - Clarifies the difference among groups with an outcome variable (patients enrolled in COMPERA with moderate PH or severe PH in COPD) and another group without the outcome variable (patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH))
• “BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in COPD is a poorly investigated clinical condition.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Which factors determine the outcome of PH in COPD?
• STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed the characteristics and outcome of patients enrolled in the Comparative, Prospective Registry of Newly Initiated Therapies for Pulmonary Hypertension (COMPERA) with moderate or severe PH in COPD as defined during the 6th PH World Symposium who received medical therapy for PH and compared them with patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) .” 21
• EXAMPLE 4. Exploratory research question (qualitative research)
• - Explores areas that have not been fully investigated (perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment) to have a deeper understanding of the research problem
• “Problem: Interventions for children with obesity lead to only modest improvements in BMI and long-term outcomes, and data are limited on the perspectives of families of children with obesity in clinic-based treatment. This scoping review seeks to answer the question: What is known about the perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment? This review aims to explore the scope of perspectives reported by families of children with obesity who have received individualized outpatient clinic-based obesity treatment.” 22
• EXAMPLE 5. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Defines interactions between dependent variable (use of ankle strategies) and independent variable (changes in muscle tone)
• “Background: To maintain an upright standing posture against external disturbances, the human body mainly employs two types of postural control strategies: “ankle strategy” and “hip strategy.” While it has been reported that the magnitude of the disturbance alters the use of postural control strategies, it has not been elucidated how the level of muscle tone, one of the crucial parameters of bodily function, determines the use of each strategy. We have previously confirmed using forward dynamics simulations of human musculoskeletal models that an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. The objective of the present study was to experimentally evaluate a hypothesis: an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. Research question: Do changes in the muscle tone affect the use of ankle strategies ?” 23

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESES IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Working hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - A hypothesis that is initially accepted for further research to produce a feasible theory
• “As fever may have benefit in shortening the duration of viral illness, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response when taken during the early stages of COVID-19 illness .” 24
• “In conclusion, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response . The difference in perceived safety of these agents in COVID-19 illness could be related to the more potent efficacy to reduce fever with ibuprofen compared to acetaminophen. Compelling data on the benefit of fever warrant further research and review to determine when to treat or withhold ibuprofen for early stage fever for COVID-19 and other related viral illnesses .” 24
• EXAMPLE 2. Exploratory hypothesis (qualitative research)
• - Explores particular areas deeper to clarify subjective experience and develop a formal hypothesis potentially testable in a future quantitative approach
• “We hypothesized that when thinking about a past experience of help-seeking, a self distancing prompt would cause increased help-seeking intentions and more favorable help-seeking outcome expectations .” 25
• “Conclusion
• Although a priori hypotheses were not supported, further research is warranted as results indicate the potential for using self-distancing approaches to increasing help-seeking among some people with depressive symptomatology.” 25
• EXAMPLE 3. Hypothesis-generating research to establish a framework for hypothesis testing (qualitative research)
• “We hypothesize that compassionate care is beneficial for patients (better outcomes), healthcare systems and payers (lower costs), and healthcare providers (lower burnout). ” 26
• Compassionomics is the branch of knowledge and scientific study of the effects of compassionate healthcare. Our main hypotheses are that compassionate healthcare is beneficial for (1) patients, by improving clinical outcomes, (2) healthcare systems and payers, by supporting financial sustainability, and (3) HCPs, by lowering burnout and promoting resilience and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to establish a scientific framework for testing the hypotheses above . If these hypotheses are confirmed through rigorous research, compassionomics will belong in the science of evidence-based medicine, with major implications for all healthcare domains.” 26
• EXAMPLE 4. Statistical hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - An assumption is made about the relationship among several population characteristics ( gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD ). Validity is tested by statistical experiment or analysis ( chi-square test, Students t-test, and logistic regression analysis)
• “Our research investigated gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD in a Japanese clinical sample. Due to unique Japanese cultural ideals and expectations of women's behavior that are in opposition to ADHD symptoms, we hypothesized that women with ADHD experience more difficulties and present more dysfunctions than men . We tested the following hypotheses: first, women with ADHD have more comorbidities than men with ADHD; second, women with ADHD experience more social hardships than men, such as having less full-time employment and being more likely to be divorced.” 27
• “Statistical Analysis
• ( text omitted ) Between-gender comparisons were made using the chi-squared test for categorical variables and Students t-test for continuous variables…( text omitted ). A logistic regression analysis was performed for employment status, marital status, and comorbidity to evaluate the independent effects of gender on these dependent variables.” 27

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESIS AS WRITTEN IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES IN RELATION TO OTHER PARTS

• EXAMPLE 1. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “Pregnant women need skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, but that skilled care is often delayed in some countries …( text omitted ). The focused antenatal care (FANC) model of WHO recommends that nurses provide information or counseling to all pregnant women …( text omitted ). Job aids are visual support materials that provide the right kind of information using graphics and words in a simple and yet effective manner. When nurses are not highly trained or have many work details to attend to, these job aids can serve as a content reminder for the nurses and can be used for educating their patients (Jennings, Yebadokpo, Affo, & Agbogbe, 2010) ( text omitted ). Importantly, additional evidence is needed to confirm how job aids can further improve the quality of ANC counseling by health workers in maternal care …( text omitted )” 28
• “ This has led us to hypothesize that the quality of ANC counseling would be better if supported by job aids. Consequently, a better quality of ANC counseling is expected to produce higher levels of awareness concerning the danger signs of pregnancy and a more favorable impression of the caring behavior of nurses .” 28
• “This study aimed to examine the differences in the responses of pregnant women to a job aid-supported intervention during ANC visit in terms of 1) their understanding of the danger signs of pregnancy and 2) their impression of the caring behaviors of nurses to pregnant women in rural Tanzania.” 28
• EXAMPLE 2. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate and compare changes in salivary cortisol and oxytocin levels of first-time pregnant women between experimental and control groups. The women in the experimental group touched and held an infant for 30 min (experimental intervention protocol), whereas those in the control group watched a DVD movie of an infant (control intervention protocol). The primary outcome was salivary cortisol level and the secondary outcome was salivary oxytocin level.” 29
• “ We hypothesize that at 30 min after touching and holding an infant, the salivary cortisol level will significantly decrease and the salivary oxytocin level will increase in the experimental group compared with the control group .” 29
• EXAMPLE 3. Background, aim, and hypothesis are provided
• “In countries where the maternal mortality ratio remains high, antenatal education to increase Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is considered one of the top priorities [1]. BPCR includes birth plans during the antenatal period, such as the birthplace, birth attendant, transportation, health facility for complications, expenses, and birth materials, as well as family coordination to achieve such birth plans. In Tanzania, although increasing, only about half of all pregnant women attend an antenatal clinic more than four times [4]. Moreover, the information provided during antenatal care (ANC) is insufficient. In the resource-poor settings, antenatal group education is a potential approach because of the limited time for individual counseling at antenatal clinics.” 30
• “This study aimed to evaluate an antenatal group education program among pregnant women and their families with respect to birth-preparedness and maternal and infant outcomes in rural villages of Tanzania.” 30
• “ The study hypothesis was if Tanzanian pregnant women and their families received a family-oriented antenatal group education, they would (1) have a higher level of BPCR, (2) attend antenatal clinic four or more times, (3) give birth in a health facility, (4) have less complications of women at birth, and (5) have less complications and deaths of infants than those who did not receive the education .” 30

Research questions and hypotheses are crucial components to any type of research, whether quantitative or qualitative. These questions should be developed at the very beginning of the study. Excellent research questions lead to superior hypotheses, which, like a compass, set the direction of research, and can often determine the successful conduct of the study. Many research studies have floundered because the development of research questions and subsequent hypotheses was not given the thought and meticulous attention needed. The development of research questions and hypotheses is an iterative process based on extensive knowledge of the literature and insightful grasp of the knowledge gap. Focused, concise, and specific research questions provide a strong foundation for constructing hypotheses which serve as formal predictions about the research outcomes. Research questions and hypotheses are crucial elements of research that should not be overlooked. They should be carefully thought of and constructed when planning research. This avoids unethical studies and poor outcomes by defining well-founded objectives that determine the design, course, and outcome of the study.

Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author Contributions:

• Conceptualization: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Methodology: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - original draft: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - review & editing: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Methods & Data Analysis

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative?

The main difference between quantitative and qualitative research is the type of data they collect and analyze.

Quantitative research collects numerical data and analyzes it using statistical methods. The aim is to produce objective, empirical data that can be measured and expressed in numerical terms. Quantitative research is often used to test hypotheses, identify patterns, and make predictions.

Qualitative research , on the other hand, collects non-numerical data such as words, images, and sounds. The focus is on exploring subjective experiences, opinions, and attitudes, often through observation and interviews.

Qualitative research aims to produce rich and detailed descriptions of the phenomenon being studied, and to uncover new insights and meanings.

Quantitative data is information about quantities, and therefore numbers, and qualitative data is descriptive, and regards phenomenon which can be observed but not measured, such as language.

What Is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting non-numerical data, such as language. Qualitative research can be used to understand how an individual subjectively perceives and gives meaning to their social reality.

Qualitative data is non-numerical data, such as text, video, photographs, or audio recordings. This type of data can be collected using diary accounts or in-depth interviews and analyzed using grounded theory or thematic analysis.

Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Denzin and Lincoln (1994, p. 2)

Interest in qualitative data came about as the result of the dissatisfaction of some psychologists (e.g., Carl Rogers) with the scientific study of psychologists such as behaviorists (e.g., Skinner ).

Since psychologists study people, the traditional approach to science is not seen as an appropriate way of carrying out research since it fails to capture the totality of human experience and the essence of being human.  Exploring participants’ experiences is known as a phenomenological approach (re: Humanism ).

Qualitative research is primarily concerned with meaning, subjectivity, and lived experience. The goal is to understand the quality and texture of people’s experiences, how they make sense of them, and the implications for their lives.

Qualitative research aims to understand the social reality of individuals, groups, and cultures as nearly as possible as participants feel or live it. Thus, people and groups are studied in their natural setting.

Some examples of qualitative research questions are provided, such as what an experience feels like, how people talk about something, how they make sense of an experience, and how events unfold for people.

Research following a qualitative approach is exploratory and seeks to explain ‘how’ and ‘why’ a particular phenomenon, or behavior, operates as it does in a particular context. It can be used to generate hypotheses and theories from the data.

Qualitative Methods

There are different types of qualitative research methods, including diary accounts, in-depth interviews , documents, focus groups , case study research , and ethnography.

The results of qualitative methods provide a deep understanding of how people perceive their social realities and in consequence, how they act within the social world.

The researcher has several methods for collecting empirical materials, ranging from the interview to direct observation, to the analysis of artifacts, documents, and cultural records, to the use of visual materials or personal experience. Denzin and Lincoln (1994, p. 14)

Here are some examples of qualitative data:

Interview transcripts : Verbatim records of what participants said during an interview or focus group. They allow researchers to identify common themes and patterns, and draw conclusions based on the data. Interview transcripts can also be useful in providing direct quotes and examples to support research findings.

Observations : The researcher typically takes detailed notes on what they observe, including any contextual information, nonverbal cues, or other relevant details. The resulting observational data can be analyzed to gain insights into social phenomena, such as human behavior, social interactions, and cultural practices.

Unstructured interviews : generate qualitative data through the use of open questions.  This allows the respondent to talk in some depth, choosing their own words.  This helps the researcher develop a real sense of a person’s understanding of a situation.

Diaries or journals : Written accounts of personal experiences or reflections.

Notice that qualitative data could be much more than just words or text. Photographs, videos, sound recordings, and so on, can be considered qualitative data. Visual data can be used to understand behaviors, environments, and social interactions.

Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative research is endlessly creative and interpretive. The researcher does not just leave the field with mountains of empirical data and then easily write up his or her findings.

Qualitative interpretations are constructed, and various techniques can be used to make sense of the data, such as content analysis, grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), or discourse analysis.

For example, thematic analysis is a qualitative approach that involves identifying implicit or explicit ideas within the data. Themes will often emerge once the data has been coded.

Key Features

• Events can be understood adequately only if they are seen in context. Therefore, a qualitative researcher immerses her/himself in the field, in natural surroundings. The contexts of inquiry are not contrived; they are natural. Nothing is predefined or taken for granted.
• Qualitative researchers want those who are studied to speak for themselves, to provide their perspectives in words and other actions. Therefore, qualitative research is an interactive process in which the persons studied teach the researcher about their lives.
• The qualitative researcher is an integral part of the data; without the active participation of the researcher, no data exists.
• The study’s design evolves during the research and can be adjusted or changed as it progresses. For the qualitative researcher, there is no single reality. It is subjective and exists only in reference to the observer.
• The theory is data-driven and emerges as part of the research process, evolving from the data as they are collected.

Limitations of Qualitative Research

• Because of the time and costs involved, qualitative designs do not generally draw samples from large-scale data sets.
• The problem of adequate validity or reliability is a major criticism. Because of the subjective nature of qualitative data and its origin in single contexts, it is difficult to apply conventional standards of reliability and validity. For example, because of the central role played by the researcher in the generation of data, it is not possible to replicate qualitative studies.
• Also, contexts, situations, events, conditions, and interactions cannot be replicated to any extent, nor can generalizations be made to a wider context than the one studied with confidence.
• The time required for data collection, analysis, and interpretation is lengthy. Analysis of qualitative data is difficult, and expert knowledge of an area is necessary to interpret qualitative data. Great care must be taken when doing so, for example, looking for mental illness symptoms.

Advantages of Qualitative Research

• Because of close researcher involvement, the researcher gains an insider’s view of the field. This allows the researcher to find issues that are often missed (such as subtleties and complexities) by the scientific, more positivistic inquiries.
• Qualitative descriptions can be important in suggesting possible relationships, causes, effects, and dynamic processes.
• Qualitative analysis allows for ambiguities/contradictions in the data, which reflect social reality (Denscombe, 2010).
• Qualitative research uses a descriptive, narrative style; this research might be of particular benefit to the practitioner as she or he could turn to qualitative reports to examine forms of knowledge that might otherwise be unavailable, thereby gaining new insight.

What Is Quantitative Research?

Quantitative research involves the process of objectively collecting and analyzing numerical data to describe, predict, or control variables of interest.

The goals of quantitative research are to test causal relationships between variables , make predictions, and generalize results to wider populations.

Quantitative researchers aim to establish general laws of behavior and phenomenon across different settings/contexts. Research is used to test a theory and ultimately support or reject it.

Quantitative Methods

Experiments typically yield quantitative data, as they are concerned with measuring things.  However, other research methods, such as controlled observations and questionnaires , can produce both quantitative information.

For example, a rating scale or closed questions on a questionnaire would generate quantitative data as these produce either numerical data or data that can be put into categories (e.g., “yes,” “no” answers).

Experimental methods limit how research participants react to and express appropriate social behavior.

Findings are, therefore, likely to be context-bound and simply a reflection of the assumptions that the researcher brings to the investigation.

There are numerous examples of quantitative data in psychological research, including mental health. Here are a few examples:

Another example is the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (ECR), a self-report questionnaire widely used to assess adult attachment styles .

The ECR provides quantitative data that can be used to assess attachment styles and predict relationship outcomes.

Neuroimaging data : Neuroimaging techniques, such as MRI and fMRI, provide quantitative data on brain structure and function.

This data can be analyzed to identify brain regions involved in specific mental processes or disorders.

For example, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a clinician-administered questionnaire widely used to assess the severity of depressive symptoms in individuals.

The BDI consists of 21 questions, each scored on a scale of 0 to 3, with higher scores indicating more severe depressive symptoms. 

Quantitative Data Analysis

Statistics help us turn quantitative data into useful information to help with decision-making. We can use statistics to summarize our data, describing patterns, relationships, and connections. Statistics can be descriptive or inferential.

Descriptive statistics help us to summarize our data. In contrast, inferential statistics are used to identify statistically significant differences between groups of data (such as intervention and control groups in a randomized control study).

• Quantitative researchers try to control extraneous variables by conducting their studies in the lab.
• The research aims for objectivity (i.e., without bias) and is separated from the data.
• The design of the study is determined before it begins.
• For the quantitative researcher, the reality is objective, exists separately from the researcher, and can be seen by anyone.
• Research is used to test a theory and ultimately support or reject it.

Limitations of Quantitative Research

• Context: Quantitative experiments do not take place in natural settings. In addition, they do not allow participants to explain their choices or the meaning of the questions they may have for those participants (Carr, 1994).
• Researcher expertise: Poor knowledge of the application of statistical analysis may negatively affect analysis and subsequent interpretation (Black, 1999).
• Variability of data quantity: Large sample sizes are needed for more accurate analysis. Small-scale quantitative studies may be less reliable because of the low quantity of data (Denscombe, 2010). This also affects the ability to generalize study findings to wider populations.
• Confirmation bias: The researcher might miss observing phenomena because of focus on theory or hypothesis testing rather than on the theory of hypothesis generation.

Advantages of Quantitative Research

• Scientific objectivity: Quantitative data can be interpreted with statistical analysis, and since statistics are based on the principles of mathematics, the quantitative approach is viewed as scientifically objective and rational (Carr, 1994; Denscombe, 2010).
• Useful for testing and validating already constructed theories.
• Rapid analysis: Sophisticated software removes much of the need for prolonged data analysis, especially with large volumes of data involved (Antonius, 2003).
• Replication: Quantitative data is based on measured values and can be checked by others because numerical data is less open to ambiguities of interpretation.
• Hypotheses can also be tested because of statistical analysis (Antonius, 2003).

Antonius, R. (2003). Interpreting quantitative data with SPSS . Sage.

Black, T. R. (1999). Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated approach to research design, measurement and statistics . Sage.

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology . Qualitative Research in Psychology , 3, 77–101.

Carr, L. T. (1994). The strengths and weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative research : what method for nursing? Journal of advanced nursing, 20(4) , 716-721.

Denscombe, M. (2010). The Good Research Guide: for small-scale social research. McGraw Hill.

Denzin, N., & Lincoln. Y. (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications Inc.

Glaser, B. G., Strauss, A. L., & Strutzel, E. (1968). The discovery of grounded theory; strategies for qualitative research. Nursing research, 17(4) , 364.

Minichiello, V. (1990). In-Depth Interviewing: Researching People. Longman Cheshire.

Punch, K. (1998). Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage

Further Information

• Designing qualitative research
• Methods of data collection and analysis
• Introduction to quantitative and qualitative research
• Checklists for improving rigour in qualitative research: a case of the tail wagging the dog?
• Qualitative research in health care: Analysing qualitative data
• Qualitative data analysis: the framework approach
• Using the framework method for the analysis of
• Qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research
• Content Analysis
• Grounded Theory
• Thematic Analysis

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2023 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research in Psychology

Anabelle Bernard Fournier is a researcher of sexual and reproductive health at the University of Victoria as well as a freelance writer on various health topics.

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

• Key Differences

Quantitative Research Methods

Qualitative research methods.

• How They Relate

In psychology and other social sciences, researchers are faced with an unresolved question: Can we measure concepts like love or racism the same way we can measure temperature or the weight of a star? Social phenomena⁠—things that happen because of and through human behavior⁠—are especially difficult to grasp with typical scientific models.

At a Glance

Psychologists rely on quantitative and quantitative research to better understand human thought and behavior.

• Qualitative research involves collecting and evaluating non-numerical data in order to understand concepts or subjective opinions.
• Quantitative research involves collecting and evaluating numerical data. 

This article discusses what qualitative and quantitative research are, how they are different, and how they are used in psychology research.

Qualitative Research vs. Quantitative Research

In order to understand qualitative and quantitative psychology research, it can be helpful to look at the methods that are used and when each type is most appropriate.

Psychologists rely on a few methods to measure behavior, attitudes, and feelings. These include:

• Self-reports , like surveys or questionnaires
• Observation (often used in experiments or fieldwork)
• Implicit attitude tests that measure timing in responding to prompts

Most of these are quantitative methods. The result is a number that can be used to assess differences between groups.

However, most of these methods are static, inflexible (you can't change a question because a participant doesn't understand it), and provide a "what" answer rather than a "why" answer.

Sometimes, researchers are more interested in the "why" and the "how." That's where qualitative methods come in.

Qualitative research is about speaking to people directly and hearing their words. It is grounded in the philosophy that the social world is ultimately unmeasurable, that no measure is truly ever "objective," and that how humans make meaning is just as important as how much they score on a standardized test.

Used to develop theories

Takes a broad, complex approach

Answers "why" and "how" questions

Explores patterns and themes

Used to test theories

Takes a narrow, specific approach

Answers "what" questions

Explores statistical relationships

Quantitative methods have existed ever since people have been able to count things. But it is only with the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte (which maintains that factual knowledge obtained by observation is trustworthy) that it became a "scientific method."

The scientific method follows this general process. A researcher must:

• Generate a theory or hypothesis (i.e., predict what might happen in an experiment) and determine the variables needed to answer their question
• Develop instruments to measure the phenomenon (such as a survey, a thermometer, etc.)
• Develop experiments to manipulate the variables
• Collect empirical (measured) data
• Analyze data

Quantitative methods are about measuring phenomena, not explaining them.

Quantitative research compares two groups of people. There are all sorts of variables you could measure, and many kinds of experiments to run using quantitative methods.

These comparisons are generally explained using graphs, pie charts, and other visual representations that give the researcher a sense of how the various data points relate to one another.

Basic Assumptions

Quantitative methods assume:

• That the world is measurable
• That humans can observe objectively
• That we can know things for certain about the world from observation

In some fields, these assumptions hold true. Whether you measure the size of the sun 2000 years ago or now, it will always be the same. But when it comes to human behavior, it is not so simple.

As decades of cultural and social research have shown, people behave differently (and even think differently) based on historical context, cultural context, social context, and even identity-based contexts like gender , social class, or sexual orientation .

Therefore, quantitative methods applied to human behavior (as used in psychology and some areas of sociology) should always be rooted in their particular context. In other words: there are no, or very few, human universals.

Statistical information is the primary form of quantitative data used in human and social quantitative research. Statistics provide lots of information about tendencies across large groups of people, but they can never describe every case or every experience. In other words, there are always outliers.

Correlation and Causation

A basic principle of statistics is that correlation is not causation. Researchers can only claim a cause-and-effect relationship under certain conditions:

• The study was a true experiment.
• The independent variable can be manipulated (for example, researchers cannot manipulate gender, but they can change the primer a study subject sees, such as a picture of nature or of a building).
• The dependent variable can be measured through a ratio or a scale.

So when you read a report that "gender was linked to" something (like a behavior or an attitude), remember that gender is NOT a cause of the behavior or attitude. There is an apparent relationship, but the true cause of the difference is hidden.

Pitfalls of Quantitative Research

Quantitative methods are one way to approach the measurement and understanding of human and social phenomena. But what's missing from this picture?

As noted above, statistics do not tell us about personal, individual experiences and meanings. While surveys can give a general idea, respondents have to choose between only a few responses. This can make it difficult to understand the subtleties of different experiences.

Quantitative methods can be helpful when making objective comparisons between groups or when looking for relationships between variables. They can be analyzed statistically, which can be helpful when looking for patterns and relationships.

Qualitative data are not made out of numbers but rather of descriptions, metaphors, symbols, quotes, analysis, concepts, and characteristics. This approach uses interviews, written texts, art, photos, and other materials to make sense of human experiences and to understand what these experiences mean to people.

While quantitative methods ask "what" and "how much," qualitative methods ask "why" and "how."

Qualitative methods are about describing and analyzing phenomena from a human perspective. There are many different philosophical views on qualitative methods, but in general, they agree that some questions are too complex or impossible to answer with standardized instruments.

These methods also accept that it is impossible to be completely objective in observing phenomena. Researchers have their own thoughts, attitudes, experiences, and beliefs, and these always color how people interpret results.

Qualitative Approaches

There are many different approaches to qualitative research, with their own philosophical bases. Different approaches are best for different kinds of projects. For example:

• Case studies and narrative studies are best for single individuals. These involve studying every aspect of a person's life in great depth.
• Phenomenology aims to explain experiences. This type of work aims to describe and explore different events as they are consciously and subjectively experienced.
• Grounded theory develops models and describes processes. This approach allows researchers to construct a theory based on data that is collected, analyzed, and compared to reach new discoveries.
• Ethnography describes cultural groups. In this approach, researchers immerse themselves in a community or group in order to observe behavior.

Qualitative researchers must be aware of several different methods and know each thoroughly enough to produce valuable research.

Some researchers specialize in a single method, but others specialize in a topic or content area and use many different methods to explore the topic, providing different information and a variety of points of view.

There is not a single model or method that can be used for every qualitative project. Depending on the research question, the people participating, and the kind of information they want to produce, researchers will choose the appropriate approach.

Interpretation

Qualitative research does not look into causal relationships between variables, but rather into themes, values, interpretations, and meanings. As a rule, then, qualitative research is not generalizable (cannot be applied to people outside the research participants).

The insights gained from qualitative research can extend to other groups with proper attention to specific historical and social contexts.

Relationship Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

It might sound like quantitative and qualitative research do not play well together. They have different philosophies, different data, and different outputs. However, this could not be further from the truth.

These two general methods complement each other. By using both, researchers can gain a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon.

For example, a psychologist wanting to develop a new survey instrument about sexuality might and ask a few dozen people questions about their sexual experiences (this is qualitative research). This gives the researcher some information to begin developing questions for their survey (which is a quantitative method).

After the survey, the same or other researchers might want to dig deeper into issues brought up by its data. Follow-up questions like "how does it feel when...?" or "what does this mean to you?" or "how did you experience this?" can only be answered by qualitative research.

By using both quantitative and qualitative data, researchers have a more holistic, well-rounded understanding of a particular topic or phenomenon.

Qualitative and quantitative methods both play an important role in psychology. Where quantitative methods can help answer questions about what is happening in a group and to what degree, qualitative methods can dig deeper into the reasons behind why it is happening. By using both strategies, psychology researchers can learn more about human thought and behavior.

Gough B, Madill A. Subjectivity in psychological science: From problem to prospect . Psychol Methods . 2012;17(3):374-384. doi:10.1037/a0029313

Pearce T. “Science organized”: Positivism and the metaphysical club, 1865–1875 . J Hist Ideas . 2015;76(3):441-465.

Adams G. Context in person, person in context: A cultural psychology approach to social-personality psychology . In: Deaux K, Snyder M, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology . Oxford University Press; 2012:182-208.

Brady HE. Causation and explanation in social science . In: Goodin RE, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Political Science. Oxford University Press; 2011. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604456.013.0049

Chun Tie Y, Birks M, Francis K. Grounded theory research: A design framework for novice researchers .  SAGE Open Med . 2019;7:2050312118822927. doi:10.1177/2050312118822927

Reeves S, Peller J, Goldman J, Kitto S. Ethnography in qualitative educational research: AMEE Guide No. 80 . Medical Teacher . 2013;35(8):e1365-e1379. doi:10.3109/0142159X.2013.804977

Salkind NJ, ed. Encyclopedia of Research Design . Sage Publishing.

Shaughnessy JJ, Zechmeister EB, Zechmeister JS.  Research Methods in Psychology . McGraw Hill Education.

By Anabelle Bernard Fournier Anabelle Bernard Fournier is a researcher of sexual and reproductive health at the University of Victoria as well as a freelance writer on various health topics.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, automatically generate references for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Methodology
• Qualitative vs Quantitative Research | Examples & Methods

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research | Examples & Methods

Published on 4 April 2022 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on 8 May 2023.

When collecting and analysing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research  deals with words and meanings. Both are important for gaining different kinds of knowledge.

Common quantitative methods include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closed-ended questions. Qualitative research Qualitative research is expressed in words . It is used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences. This type of research enables you to gather in-depth insights on topics that are not well understood.

Table of contents

The differences between quantitative and qualitative research, data collection methods, when to use qualitative vs quantitative research, how to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, frequently asked questions about qualitative and quantitative research.

Quantitative and qualitative research use different research methods to collect and analyse data, and they allow you to answer different kinds of research questions.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Quantitative and qualitative data can be collected using various methods. It is important to use a data collection method that will help answer your research question(s).

Many data collection methods can be either qualitative or quantitative. For example, in surveys, observations or case studies , your data can be represented as numbers (e.g. using rating scales or counting frequencies) or as words (e.g. with open-ended questions or descriptions of what you observe).

However, some methods are more commonly used in one type or the other.

Quantitative data collection methods

• Surveys :  List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to a sample (online, in person, or over the phone).
• Experiments : Situation in which variables are controlled and manipulated to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Observations: Observing subjects in a natural environment where variables can’t be controlled.

Qualitative data collection methods

• Interviews : Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents.
• Focus groups: Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather opinions that can be used for further research.
• Ethnography : Participating in a community or organisation for an extended period of time to closely observe culture and behavior.
• Literature review : Survey of published works by other authors.

A rule of thumb for deciding whether to use qualitative or quantitative data is:

• Use quantitative research if you want to confirm or test something (a theory or hypothesis)
• Use qualitative research if you want to understand something (concepts, thoughts, experiences)

For most research topics you can choose a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approach . Which type you choose depends on, among other things, whether you’re taking an inductive vs deductive research approach ; your research question(s) ; whether you’re doing experimental , correlational , or descriptive research ; and practical considerations such as time, money, availability of data, and access to respondents.

Quantitative research approach

You survey 300 students at your university and ask them questions such as: ‘on a scale from 1-5, how satisfied are your with your professors?’

You can perform statistical analysis on the data and draw conclusions such as: ‘on average students rated their professors 4.4’.

Qualitative research approach

You conduct in-depth interviews with 15 students and ask them open-ended questions such as: ‘How satisfied are you with your studies?’, ‘What is the most positive aspect of your study program?’ and ‘What can be done to improve the study program?’

Based on the answers you get you can ask follow-up questions to clarify things. You transcribe all interviews using transcription software and try to find commonalities and patterns.

Mixed methods approach

You conduct interviews to find out how satisfied students are with their studies. Through open-ended questions you learn things you never thought about before and gain new insights. Later, you use a survey to test these insights on a larger scale.

It’s also possible to start with a survey to find out the overall trends, followed by interviews to better understand the reasons behind the trends.

Qualitative or quantitative data by itself can’t prove or demonstrate anything, but has to be analysed to show its meaning in relation to the research questions. The method of analysis differs for each type of data.

Analysing quantitative data

Quantitative data is based on numbers. Simple maths or more advanced statistical analysis is used to discover commonalities or patterns in the data. The results are often reported in graphs and tables.

Applications such as Excel, SPSS, or R can be used to calculate things like:

• Average scores
• The number of times a particular answer was given
• The correlation or causation between two or more variables
• The reliability and validity of the results

Analysing qualitative data

Qualitative data is more difficult to analyse than quantitative data. It consists of text, images or videos instead of numbers.

Some common approaches to analysing qualitative data include:

• Qualitative content analysis : Tracking the occurrence, position and meaning of words or phrases
• Thematic analysis : Closely examining the data to identify the main themes and patterns
• Discourse analysis : Studying how communication works in social contexts

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting and analysing data, while qualitative methods allow you to explore ideas and experiences in depth.

In mixed methods research , you use both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer your research question .

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts, and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyse a large amount of readily available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how they are generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organisations.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

• Prepare and organise your data.
• Review and explore your data.
• Develop a data coding system.
• Assign codes to the data.
• Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2023, May 08). Qualitative vs Quantitative Research | Examples & Methods. Scribbr. Retrieved 9 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/quantitative-qualitative-research/

Is this article helpful?

Raimo Streefkerk

When Does a Researcher Choose a Quantitative, Qualitative, or Mixed Research Approach?

• Published: 26 November 2021
• Volume 53 , pages 113–131, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Feyisa Mulisa   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0738-6554 1  

8512 Accesses

9 Citations

6 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

In educational studies, the paradigm war over quantitative and qualitative research approaches has raged for more than half a century. The focus in the late twentieth century was on the distinction between the two approaches, and the motivation was to retain one of the approaches’ supremacy. Since the early twenty-first century, there has been a growing interest in situating in the middle position and combining both approaches into a single study or a series of studies. Despite these signs of progress, when it comes to using the appropriate research approach at the right time, beginner educational researchers remain perplexed. This paper, therefore, provides useful guidelines that facilitate the choice of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research approaches in educational inquiry. To achieve this objective, this article comprises three distinct and underlying areas of interest, which have been structured into three sections. The first section highlights the distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The second section discusses the paradigm views that underpin the choice of a particular research approach. Finally, an effort has been made to determine the appropriate time to opt for any of the research approaches that facilitate successful educational investigations. Since truth and the means used to discover it are both dynamic, it is also essential to foresight innovative approaches to research with distinguishing features of applications to educational research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Social Learning Theory—Albert Bandura

The use of cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education.

Keith S. Taber

The Impact of Peer Assessment on Academic Performance: A Meta-analysis of Control Group Studies

Kit S. Double, Joshua A. McGrane & Therese N. Hopfenbeck

Åkerblad, L., Seppänen-Järvelä, R., & Haapakoski, K. (2021). Integrative strategies in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 15 (2), 152–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689820957125

Article   Google Scholar  

Allwood, C. M. (2012). The distinction between qualitative and quantitative research methods is problematic. Quality and Quantity, 46 (5), 1417–1429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-011-9455-8

Amaratugna, D., Baldry, D., Sarshar, M., & Newton, R. (2002). Quantitative and qualitative research in the built environment: Application of “mixed” research approach. Work Study, 51 (1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1108/00438020210415488

Antwi, S. K., & Hamza, K. (2015). Quantitative and qualitative research paradigms in business research: A philosophical reflections. European Journal of Business and Management, 7 (3), 217–225.

Google Scholar  

Bailey, L. F. (2014). The origin and success of qualitative research. International Journal of Market Research, 56 (2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJMR-2014-013

Belk, R. W. (2013). Qualitative versus quantitative research in marketing. Revista de Negócios, 18 (1), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.7867/1980-4431.2013v18n1p5-9

Brinkmann, S., Jacobsen, M. H., Kristiansen, S., Brinkmann, S., Jacobsen, M. H., & Kristiansen, S. (2014). Historical overview of qualitative research in the social sciences. In The Oxford handbook of qualitative research (pp. 16–42). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199811755.013.017

Burke Johnson, R., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33 (7), 14–26.

Choy, L. T. (2014). The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19 (4), 99–104.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge.

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Steps in conducting a scholarly mixed methods study . http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=dberspeakers

Curry, L. A., Nembhard, I. M., & Bradley, E. H. (2009). Qualitative and mixed methods provide unique contributions to outcomes research. Circulation, 119 , 1442–1452. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.742775

Daniel, E. (2016). The usefulness of qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in researching problem-solving ability in science education curriculum. Journal of Education and Practice, 7 (15), 91–100.

Dawadi, S. (2017). Are quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational research compatible? The Warwick ELT , 3 (6). https://thewarwickeltezine.wordpress.com/2017/05/31/291/

Ejnavarzala, H. (2019). Epistemology–ontology relations in social research: A review. Sociological Bulletin, 68 (1), 94–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038022918819369

Fagan, M. B. (2010). Social construction revisited: Epistemology and scientific practice. Philosophy of Science, 77 (1), 92–116.

Farrell, E. (2020). Researching lived experience in education: Misunderstood or missed opportunity? International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19 , 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920942066

Fassinger, R., & Morrow, S. L. (2013). Toward best practices in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method research: A social justice perspective. Journal of Social Action in Counseling Psychology, 5 (2), 69–83.

Greene, J. C., Caracelli, V. J., & Graham, W. F. (1989). Toward a conceptual framework for mixed-method evaluation designs. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11 (3), 255–274. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737011003255

Gunasekare, U. (2015). Mixed research method as the third research paradigm: A literature review. International Journal of Science and Research, 4 (8), 363–367.

Hodkinson, P. (2004). Research as a form of work: Expertise, community and methodological objectivity. British Educational Research Journal, 30 (1), 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920310001629947

Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2011). Introduction to research methods in psychology (3rd ed.). Pearson Education Limited.

Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2014). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.

Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2020). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (7th ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.

Khaldi, K. (2017). Quantitative, qualitative or mixed research: Which research paradigm to use? Journal of Educational and Social Research, 7 (2), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2017.v7n2p15

Krivokapic-skoko, B., & O’neill, G. (2011). Beyond the qualitative-quantitative distinction: Some innovative methods for business and management research. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 5 (5), 290–300. https://doi.org/10.5172/mra.2011.5.3.290

Lee, A. S., & Baskerville, R. L. (2003). Generalizing generalizability in information systems research. Information Systems Research . https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.14.3.221.16560

Levers, M. J. D. (2013). Philosophical paradigms, grounded theory, and perspectives on emergence. SAGE Open, 3 (4), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013517243

Lobe, B., Morgan, D., & Hoffman, K. A. (2020). Qualitative data collection in an era of social distancing. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19 , 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920937875

Mack, L. (2010). The philosophical underpinnings of educational research. Polyglossia, 19 , 5–11.

Madill, A., & Gough, B. (2008). Qualitative research and its place in psychological science. Psychological Methods, 13 (3), 254–271. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013220

Marshall, M. N. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family Practice, 13 (6), 522–525.

Maxwell, J. A., & Reybold, L. E. (2015). Qualitative research. In International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 19, pp. 685–689). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.10558-6

Mertens, D. M. (2012). What comes first? The paradigm or the approach? Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6 (4), 255–257. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689812461574

Meyer, D. K., & Schutz, P. A. (2020). Why talk about qualitative and mixed methods in educational psychology? Introduction to special issue. Educational Psychologist, 55 (4), 193–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2020.1796671

Morgan, D. L. (2007). Paradigms lost and pragmatism regained: Methodological implications of combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1 (1), 48–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/2345678906292462

Morgan, D. L., & Nica, A. (2020). Iterative thematic inquiry: A new method for analyzing qualitative data. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19 , 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920955118

Östlund, U., Kidd, L., Wengström, Y., & Rowa-Dewar, N. (2011). Combining qualitative and quantitative research within mixed method research designs: A methodological review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48 (3), 369–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.10.005

Poli, R. (2018). A note on the classification of future-related methods. European Journal of Futures Research, 6 (1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-018-0145-9

Rahman, M. S. (2016). The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in language “Testing and Assessment” research: A literature review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6 (1), 102. https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v6n1p102

Sale, J. E. M., Lohfeld, L. H., & Brazil, K. (2002). Revisiting the quantitative-qualitative debate: Implications for mixed methods research. Quality & Quantity, 36 , 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014301607592

Salvador, J. T. (2016). Exploring quantitative and qualitative methodologies: A guide to novice nursing researchers. European Scientific Journal, 12 (18), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n18p107

Shannon-Baker, P. (2016). Making paradigms meaningful in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 10 (4), 319–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689815575861

Symonds, J. E., & Gorard, S. (2010). Death of mixed methods? Or the rebirth of research as a craft. Evaluation & Research in Education, 23 (2), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500790.2010.483514

Taylor, P., & Kanis, H. (2004). The quantitative-qualitative research dichotomy revisited. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 5 (6), 507–516. https://doi.org/10.1080/1463922041233130303418

Techo, V. P. (2016). Research methods-quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods . Horizons University. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1262.4886

Wohlfart, O. (2020). “Digging Deeper?”: Insights from a novice researcher. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19 , 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920963778

Yin, R. K. (2011). Qualitative research from start to finish . The Guilford Press.

Download references

No funding was received for this article.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Institute of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia

Feyisa Mulisa

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Feyisa Mulisa .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Mulisa, F. When Does a Researcher Choose a Quantitative, Qualitative, or Mixed Research Approach?. Interchange 53 , 113–131 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-021-09447-z

Download citation

Received : 29 March 2021

Accepted : 18 November 2021

Published : 26 November 2021

Issue Date : March 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-021-09447-z

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Quantitative research
• Qualitative research
• Mixed research
• Research approaches
• Research paradigm
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

From Qualitative to Quantitative | Online Guide to Combining Q&A with Other Research Methods Article

Anh Vu • 09 Apr 2024 • 5 min read

Are you frustrated with the limitations of your research methods? Many methods have their drawbacks, resulting in incomplete insights.  But there’s an innovative approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods with Q&A sessions. This article will demonstrate how combining these methods can help you access more data and insights.

Table of Contents

Understanding qualitative and quantitative research, steps to combine q&a with qualitative research methods, steps to combine q&a with quantitative research methods, common challenges when holding q&a sessions, enriching your research with q&a.

Qualitative vs. quantitative research methods differ in the type of questions they help you answer. Qualitative research, like interviews and observations, offers rich insights into people’s thoughts and behaviors. It’s all about understanding the “why” behind actions. 

Conversely, quantitative research focuses on numbers and measurements, giving us clear statistical trends and patterns to answer questions like “what” or “when.” Surveys and experiments fall into this category.

Each method has its limitations, which a Q&A session can help with. Results and conclusions from qualitative methods might only apply to some because of the small sample size. Q&A can help by getting more opinions from a wider group. On the other hand, quantitative methods give you numbers, but they might miss the details.

With Q&A, you can dig deeper into those details and understand them better. Blending qualitative and quantitative methods with Q&A helps you see the whole picture better, providing unique insights you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Picture yourself investigating customer satisfaction in a restaurant for your master degree . Alongside interviews and observations, you organize a Q&A session. Merging Q&A insights with qualitative findings can lead to detailed insights for informed decision-making, such as optimizing staffing during busy hours. Here’s an example of how you do it:

• Plan your Q&A session: Choose the timing, location, and participants for your session. For instance, consider holding it during quiet times in the restaurant, inviting regular and occasional customers to share feedback. You can also have a virtual session. However, remember that attendees may only be engaged for part of the session, which can impact the quality of their responses.
• Conduct the Q&A session: Encourage a welcoming atmosphere to boost participation. Start with a warm introduction, express gratitude for attendance, and explain how their input will improve the restaurant experience.
• Document responses: Take detailed notes during the session to capture critical points and noteworthy quotes. Document customer comments about specific menu items or praises for staff friendliness.
• Analyze Q&A data: Review your notes and recordings, searching for recurring themes or observations. Compare these insights with your previous research to spot patterns, like common complaints about long wait times during peak hours.
• Integrate findings: Combine Q&A insights with other research data to gain a better understanding. Identify connections between data sources, such as Q&A feedback confirming survey responses about service speed dissatisfaction.
• Draw conclusions and make recommendations: Summarize your findings and propose actionable steps. For instance, suggest adjusting staffing levels or implementing a reservation system to address the issues.

Now, let’s shift to another scenario. Imagine you’re exploring factors influencing online shopping behavior to refine marketing strategies as part of your online executive MBA requirements. Alongside a questionnaire with effective survey questions , you add Q&A sessions to your method for deeper insights. Here’s how to combine Q&A with quantitative methods:

• Plan your research design: Determine how Q&A sessions align with your quantitative objectives. Schedule sessions to complement survey data collection, perhaps before or after distributing online surveys.
• Structure Q&A sessions: Craft questions to gather qualitative insights alongside quantitative data. Use a mix of open-ended questions to explore motivations and closed-ended queries for statistical analysis.
• Administer surveys: To collect numerical data, you must send surveys to a broader audience. A study on response rates found that sending online surveys can generate a 44.1% response rate. To increase this response rate, refine your population. Ensure the survey questions align with research objectives and are related to the qualitative insights from Q&A sessions.
• Analyze combined data: Combine Q&A insights with survey data to see shopping trends. Find connections between qualitative feedback on user preferences and quantitative data on purchasing habits. For example, dark roast coffee lovers from your Q&A session might indicate in their surveys that they buy more coffee bags per month than your medium roast lovers.
• Interpret and report findings: Present results clearly, highlighting critical insights from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Use visuals like charts or graphs to show trends effectively.
• Draw implications and recommendations: Based on combined qualitative and quantitative data analysis, provide practical suggestions that can be implemented. For example, recommend customized marketer strategies that attract your medium roast coffee lovers and drive profit.

Hosting Q&A sessions can be tricky, but technology offers solutions to make them smoother. For example, the global presentation software market is expected to grow by 13.5% from 2024 to 2031, emphasizing its growing importance. Here are some common hurdles you might face, along with how technology can help:

• Limited Participation: Encouraging everyone to join in can take time and effort. Here, virtual Q&A sessions can help, allowing participants to ask questions via their phones and the internet, making involvement easy. You can also offer incentives or rewards, or use an AI presentation maker to create engaging slides.
• Managing Time Effectively: Balancing time while covering all topics is a challenge. You can address this issue with tools that allow you to approve or deny questions before they appear. You can also set a time limit for discussions.
• Handling Difficult Questions: Tough questions need careful handling. Allowing anonymity is an effective strategy for this challenge. It helps people feel safer asking difficult questions, promoting honest discussions without fear of judgment.
• Ensuring Quality Responses: Getting informative responses is vital to a productive Q&A session. Likewise, customizing the Q&A slide with bright backgrounds and fonts keeps participants engaged and ensures effective communication.
• Navigating Technical Issues: Technical issues can interrupt sessions. Some tools offer helpful features to help you avoid this issue. Allowing participants to upvote questions, for example, can help you prioritize important questions. You could also prepare backup devices for audio and video recordings so you don’t have to worry about losing your data.

Throughout this article, we’ve seen how combining Q&A with other research methods can unlock a wealth of insights that may not be possible through a single method. Whether you’re using Q&A to supplement qualitative research or combining it with quantitative research, the approach can help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your topic.

Remember to communicate openly, listen attentively, and stay flexible. Following the steps outlined in this article, you can integrate Q&A sessions into your research design and emerge with better, more detailed insights. 

More from AhaSlides

• Open access
• Published: 02 April 2024

Towards universal health coverage in Vietnam: a mixed-method case study of enrolling people with tuberculosis into social health insurance

• Rachel Forse   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0716-3342 1 , 2 ,
• Clara Akie Yoshino 2 ,
• Thanh Thi Nguyen 1 ,
• Thi Hoang Yen Phan 3 ,
• Luan N. Q. Vo 1 , 2 ,
• Andrew J. Codlin 1 , 2 ,
• Lan Nguyen 4 ,
• Chi Hoang 4 ,
• Lopa Basu 5 ,
• Minh Pham 5 ,
• Hoa Binh Nguyen 6 ,
• Luong Van Dinh 6 ,
• Maxine Caws 7 , 8 ,
• Tom Wingfield 2 , 7 ,
• Knut Lönnroth 2 &
• Kristi Sidney-Annerstedt 2  

Health Research Policy and Systems volume  22 , Article number:  40 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

177 Accesses

4 Altmetric

Metrics details

Vietnam’s primary mechanism of achieving sustainable funding for universal health coverage (UHC) and financial protection has been through its social health insurance (SHI) scheme. Steady progress towards access has been made and by 2020, over 90% of the population were enrolled in SHI. In 2022, as part of a larger transition towards the increased domestic financing of healthcare, tuberculosis (TB) services were integrated into SHI. This change required people with TB to use SHI for treatment at district-level facilities or to pay out of pocket for services. This study was conducted in preparation for this transition. It aimed to understand more about uninsured people with TB, assess the feasibility of enrolling them into SHI, and identify the barriers they faced in this process.

A mixed-method case study was conducted using a convergent parallel design between November 2018 and January 2022 in ten districts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Quantitative data were collected through a pilot intervention that aimed to facilitate SHI enrollment for uninsured individuals with TB. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 34 participants, who were purposively sampled for maximum variation. Qualitative data were analyzed through an inductive approach and themes were identified through framework analysis. Quantitative and qualitative data sources were triangulated.

We attempted to enroll 115 uninsured people with TB into SHI; 76.5% were able to enroll. On average, it took 34.5 days to obtain a SHI card and it cost USD 66 per household. The themes indicated that a lack of knowledge, high costs for annual premiums, and the household-based registration requirement were barriers to SHI enrollment. Participants indicated that alternative enrolment mechanisms and greater procedural flexibility, particularly for undocumented people, is required to achieve full population coverage with SHI in urban centers.

Conclusions

Significant addressable barriers to SHI enrolment for people affected by TB were identified. A quarter of individuals remained unable to enroll after receiving enhanced support due to lack of required documentation. The experience gained during this health financing transition is relevant for other middle-income countries as they address the provision of financial protection for the treatment of infectious diseases.

Peer Review reports

Contributing to universal health coverage (UHC) by improving access to fair and sustainable health financing, of which one mechanism is health insurance, has become a priority among low- and middle-income countries [ 1 , 2 ]. Many countries in the Asia Pacific region have made steady progress towards UHC coverage through sustained political commitments and fiscal policy aligned with their commitment [ 3 ]. By 2020, 27 countries had implemented a social health insurance (SHI) financing mechanism, which typically includes open enrollment for the full population along with partial or full subsidization of healthcare costs for vulnerable groups [ 4 ].

Vietnam’s first SHI scheme was piloted in 1989 and grew through successive pilots and expansions. In 2009 the national-level Health Insurance Law (HIL) went into effect, uniting the existing health insurance programs and schemes for the poor [ 5 ]. Amendments to the HIL effective in 2015 made SHI compulsory for all and pooled risk by re-structuring registration around the household unit [ 4 ]. A household in Vietnam is defined by inclusion in the ‘family book ’, the national system of family and address registration [ 6 ].

Access to SHI in Vietnam increased rapidly, principally through subsidization of premiums. Specific groups were enrolled automatically with full subsidy, including vulnerable populations (e.g., households classified as ‘poor’, children aged < 6, people aged > 80), pensioners and meritorious groups (e.g., veterans). Partial premium subsidization was also available for students, households classified as ‘near-poor’ and some farmers [ 7 ]. More than half of SHI members are entitled to 80% coverage with a 20% co-payment for services [ 8 ]. However, co-payments are reduced to 5% or are eliminated for subsidized groups (e.g., households classified as ‘poor’ and ‘near-poor’, children < 6) [ 4 ].

By 2020, Vietnam recorded a 91% national SHI coverage rate [ 7 ]. Those remaining uninsured mainly consisted of informally employed individuals [ 7 ]. Enrollment rates were highest among low- and high-income groups, leaving the so-called “missing middle” of uninsured [ 5 ].

Vietnam continues to transition to domestic financing of healthcare from donor financing by expanding the breadth of the national SHI. The Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) have begun to close service gaps and integrate vertical health programs (e.g., those with stand-alone budget allocations and/or direct donor financing) into SHI financing [ 7 ]. The costs for antiretroviral therapy (ART) were transitioned from donor funding to SHI in 2019 [ 9 ], COVID-19 treatments were covered by SHI in 2020, and financing for tuberculosis (TB) care was fully transitioned to SHI in 2022 [ 7 ].

Until this financing transition, anti-TB medications and consultations were provided free of charge in the public sector, funded by a mixture of domestic and international funding [ 10 ]. While first-line TB medications were included in the SHI-reimbursable list of essential medicines, the government network of District TB Units (DTUs) were ineligible for registration with VSS, or reimbursement for services provided. Since July 2022, TB health facilities that met certain conditions could register with VSS and receive reimbursements for TB consultations, diagnostics and anti-TB medications [ 11 ]. The financing for drug-resistant (DR-)TB tests and medications remains largely unchanged, co-financed by the Global Fund and domestic budgets [ 12 ].

This transition of the TB financing model in Vietnam is a large undertaking as the country has the world’s 10th highest TB burden and the SHI benefits package is already considered to be generous, and the sustainability of the SHI fund is a concern [ 4 , 13 ] An estimated 169,000 individuals developed TB in 2021, and the disease killed approximately 14,200 [ 14 ]. A national costing survey of TB-affected households showed that 63% experienced catastrophic costs, spending ≥ 20% of their annual income on TB [ 10 ]. Many face food insecurity and cope with TB-related costs by taking loans, dissavings and informally borrowing money [ 10 , 15 , 16 ].

As Vietnam continues to expand SHI financing for the TB program, it is now vital for people with TB to have SHI. Those without SHI coverage will need to finance their care out of pocket (OOP) or purchase SHI and make co-payments for their care to be subsidized. For these reasons, it is important to understand why certain people with TB are uninsured, the feasibility of enrolling them in insurance when they begin treatment, and the challenges they may face with enrolling in SHI.

We conducted a convergent parallel mixed-method case study [ 17 ]. A case study was selected because it is well-suited to describe a complex issue in a real-life setting [ 18 ]. We used a naturalistic design with theoretical sampling of uninsured persons with TB using an interpretivist approach [ 19 ]. Mixed methods were selected to facilitate comparisons between quantitative and qualitative data and interpretation of the findings. An intervention, assisting TB-affected households to enroll in SHI, was conducted between November 2019 and January 2022, prior to the integration of the TB program into the SHI financing scheme. Quantitative data collection sought to answer questions regarding enrollment success rate, time to enrollment and cost of SHI enrollment for uninsured TB-affected households upon TB treatment initiation. The qualitative data explored barriers to SHI enrollment to explain and contextualize the quantitative findings. The quantitative and qualitative data were weighted equally [ 17 ].

Intervention description

A pilot intervention was conducted to facilitate SHI enrollment for people with TB in ten districts of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The standard process for first-time enrollment into SHI was mapped and costed from a household’s perspective (Additional file 1 ). Uninsured individuals were identified from the TB treatment register when they were enrolled in drug-susceptible (DS-)TB treatment at DTUs [ 20 ]. Study staff then attempted to facilitate enrollment of the person with TB and up to three household members into SHI.

SHI enrollment support included home visits by study staff to provide detailed information and counseling about the process of SHI enrollment, assistance with SHI application preparation including obtaining photocopies of all required documents, follow-up to obtain missing documentation within the household, accompaniment to the SHI office for application submission, and direct payment of the annual SHI premium for the household. For people who did not have the paperwork certifying temporary residence in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, staff visited the local government office to obtain the information about the process for individual cases to obtain residency certificates and support participants with navigation of the bureaucracy. TB-affected people and their household members were also provided with a hotline number to call and receive support during working hours from the social workers who were employed by the study. Study staff attempted to facilitate the SHI enrollment process throughout the entire 6-month duration of DS-TB treatment. After a TB treatment outcome was recorded by the DTU, study staff stopped assisting with SHI enrollment and participants were recorded as ‘not enrolled in SHI’ in the study’s evaluation.

Quantitative methods

Case-level TB treatment notification data and SHI status were exported from VITIMES, the government-implemented electronic TB register for Vietnam, for all individuals who started TB treatment during the intervention period. The pilot intervention recruited participants from two TB treatment support projects (Project 1, n  = 59 and Project 2, n  = 56) [ 21 , 22 ] and tracked study forms housed in ONA.io. The sample size was determined by the availability of funding provided by the donor for treatment support service delivery, rather than to measure a specific end point of SHI enrollment. Descriptive statistics summarizing the enrollment cascade and turnaround time of enrollment were calculated using Stata v17 (Stata17 Corp, College Station, USA). To obtain the mean costs for household SHI enrollment, total direct costs for purchasing SHI were summed and divided by the total number of participants. Costs were captured in Vietnamese Dong (VND) and converted to United States Dollars (USD) using the exchange rate from the mid-point of the pilot intervention (1 June 2020) from OANDA.com.

Qualitative methods

Individuals were purposively sampled for maximum variation to ensure representation of all implementation areas and provide gender balance [ 23 ].The concept of information power guided the sample size [ 24 ]. Given the well-defined study aim, high quality in-depth responses from the participants and the authors’ expertise in the subject area, the sample size of 19 individual interviews and three focus group discussions was deemed appropriate. These were conducted in Ha Noi and HCMC. A total of 34 individuals participated in the interviews (Table  1 ).

They included 14 people enrolled in the pilot intervention, five community members who were non-beneficiaries of the treatment support intervention, 13 TB program staff from the national-, provincial- and district-levels and two study staff. Interviews were conducted at two time points: June 2019 and 2020. SHI enrollment barriers were collected as part of a qualitative study on the acceptability of providing cash transfers and SHI enrollment to adults with TB [ 25 ]. During the second round of interviews in 2020, study staff were included due to their in-depth knowledge of the challenges faced by TB-affected households when attempting to enroll in SHI and their ability to suggest programmatic-level solutions to these challenges. These interviews were conducted one-on-one, after the other interviews and focus groups had been conducted to reduce bias. The interviews were conducted at the National Lung Hospital, HCMC Provincial Lung Hospital, study office or DTUs. All interviews were conducted and transcribed in Vietnamese, translated into English, checked and finalized by a lead translator.

The interviews were analyzed through an inductive approach and themes were drawn through a framework analysis [ 26 ] to identify barriers to enrolling in SHI using Dedoose Version 7.0.23 (SocioCultural Research Consultants, Los Angeles, USA).

Data triangulation

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected in parallel. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data was conducted to synthesize findings and assess the level of agreement, convergence, and divergence from the findings generated by the different methods [ 17 ].

During the study, 5887 individuals were treated for DS-TB across the 10 intervention districts (Table  2 ). TB registers indicated that 2846 (48.3%) individuals were uninsured upon treatment initiation, or their SHI enrollment status was not recorded. Among 115 uninsured study participants, 88 (76.5%) were successfully enrolled in SHI before the end of their TB treatment. Among those, the household had an average of two members, resulting in a total of 206 individuals living in TB-affected households receiving SHI coverage through the pilot intervention.

The median time between DS-TB treatment initiation and SHI card issuance was 34.5 days (IQR 24–68): 11 days (IQR 5–23) between treatment initiation and pilot enrollment, 7 days (IQR 1–19.5) for SHI application preparation and submission, and 12 days (IQR 9–20) for application processing and SHI card provision.

The qualitative data showed that participants across all participant groups broadly understood that SHI is a system designed to prevent catastrophic OOP medical expenditure. As shown in Table  3 , National and provincial-level TB staff described SHI as a human right and spoke about achieving UHC as a nation; no other participant groups discussed SHI in this way. However, district-level doctors and intervention beneficiaries spoke in greater details about coverage and service gaps, and the practicalities of utilizing SHI. These participant groups expressed that when individuals purchase SHI only after a negative health event, such as a TB diagnosis, then the social safety net is unavailable to provide support until SHI coverage begins. Drawn from these views, the first theme indicated that the optimal time to purchase SHI is prior to a TB diagnosis.

One DTU staff member described how the standard processing time, or delays in processing SHI applications led to periods of high OOP expenditure:

“Unfortunately, claims are not immediately paid upon [SHI registration] submission. They may be handled in about 2 or 3 weeks, or even one month. That is why the insurance is not available at the time that they want to go for an examination and treat their condition using insurance.” (Female, District-level TB staff)

A complementary theme was that perceived lack of knowledge about SHI enrollment procedures prevents or delays enrollment. District-level TB doctors and program staff identified a lack of understanding and knowledge of the SHI enrollment process as a main contributor to lack of insurance or delays in obtaining coverage.

“Actually, for some people [with TB] who do not clearly understand the [enrollment] procedures… it will take a lot of time [to obtain SHI]. It also depends on the staff who handle the files at the commune; some staff are very enthusiastic and they help patients complete forms. There are cases [...] where they [people with TB] are required to fill in all information and write specific codes of each insurance card [from other family members] on a form. Meanwhile some people in their family work far from home and cannot send their insurance cards home in a timely manner.” (Female, program staff)

Participants tended to believe that individuals who lacked information about SHI made up the small minority of uninsured people in Vietnamese society. The above quote illustrated that the complicated administrative process prohibits enrollment; however, a factor potentially facilitating SHI enrollment may be the helpfulness of the person processing the SHI application.

The average cost per household to obtain SHI enrollment for one year (Table  2 ) was VND 1,503,313 (USD 65.52). (For detailed information on the costs of SHI enrollment, see Additional file 1 ). A third theme contextualized this finding and showed that SHI enrollment costs were perceived as prohibitively high for some. Cost was a greater challenge for lower income families, who did not meet the government’s criterion of households classified as ‘poor’ or ‘near-poor’, and were therefore ineligible for premium subsidies and SHI registration with lower co-payment rates. One DTU doctor reported that:

“We think that it is simple to buy health insurance cards, but that is only true for those who have sustainable income - when our income is much higher than the fee for buying health insurance. For some people, buying health insurance is a luxury.” (Male, District-level TB staff)

Twenty-seven people with TB (23.5%) were unable to obtain SHI coverage. The primary reason (70.4%) was missing documentation. In four instances (14.8%) a household member other than the person with TB refused to enroll in SHI. One individual (3.7%) died during the enrollment process. Three individuals (11.1%) did not enroll for other reasons.

SHI refusal by household members was not identified as a barrier to SHI enrollment in the qualitative data. However, a fourth theme confirmed the primary reason for non-enrollment by showing that some individuals do not possess the required documentation to obtain SHI, such as their identity card or ‘family book.’ [See Supplementary File] Even with six months of support from study staff, some TB-affected households were unable to gather the required documents for enrollment. The following quotation by an undocumented, elderly woman with TB illustrates the prolonged challenges she faced with obtaining formal employment, access to government services and SHI:

“I have had problems with my personal papers for a few decades and I cannot adjust my papers because I don’t have the money. […] I searched for my Identity Card and found out that I had lost it. Then I came back there [my hometown] to get the family book, to reissue my ID and to get my CV certified so I could join a company. I was very young at that time, just a little bit more than thirty years old, and I learned that I was cut from the family book.” (Female, pilot beneficiary)

To address challenges with documentation, one DTU officer in HCMC suggested that individuals who had never been insured required a change to the SHI registration requirements to ensure that everyone in Vietnam can access SHI:

“I think we should be flexible with these cases or we can find another way. Normally, the people who really need the support and the insurance or cash support, they are the people who have less information. […] We cannot have the same requirements for these people as for other people. Actually, for those who have [met] all conditions, they already have health insurance cards.” (Male, District-level TB staff)

Participants expressed that the uninsured had often not purchased SHI for a reason, and alternative registration procedures were needed to make SHI accessible for all. A fifth theme was identified indicating that current SHI enrollment procedures may prevent full population coverage.

Beyond the undocumented, some participants reported the enrollment mandate for the entire household (made under the Amendment to the HIL) for first-time enrollees was viewed as prohibitive of SHI coverage.

“Because in the old days, health insurance was sold individually for each person, but now it is sold to households, and many households do not have as good economic [situation]… so they can only afford to buy it for 50% or 60% of the household. Unskilled labor or low-income labor cannot afford to buy it for the whole family. That is to say, it is easier to buy it for each individual and it is difficult to buy for the whole family.” (Male, community member)

Though individual registration would make SHI more accessible to individuals with TB due to lower annual costs, household members with high vulnerability to TB would not be covered if policy promoted individual enrollment solely for TB.

This mixed-methods case study showed that by providing full subsidy and registration assistance, most uninsured people with TB could access SHI. However, the median time to insurance coverage meant that approximately 20% of a person’s DS-TB treatment duration remained uncovered by SHI despite successful enrollment. A substantial number of participants were unable to enroll in SHI and are likely to be perpetually locked out of SHI due to lack of personal documentation. Additional barriers to SHI enrollment were found to be lack of knowledge, the cost of obtaining coverage, and the household-based registration requirement.

The pilot intervention had dedicated staff who facilitated SHI application development and submission, yet it still took a median of 34.5 days for SHI coverage to take effect. In a context where this level of support is not available to all people with TB, it is likely that the turnaround time for SHI coverage is longer due to the complicated bureaucracy involved. This poses a major challenge, as TB-affected households incur the highest cost during the first two months of treatment [ 15 ]. One cost avoidance/mitigation strategy that people with a TB diagnosis may employ following the health financing transition is delaying TB treatment initiation until SHI coverage commences. This will likely lead to worse outcomes and sustained community transmission. The time between diagnosis and treatment should be rigorously monitored to ensure that this coping strategy is not employed, and alternative support should be made available to ensure that people diagnosed with TB are able to receive immediate treatment.

With the TB health financing transition, the uninsured will be asked to pay OOP for TB treatment and most insured individuals must co-pay for TB services which were previously provided free of cost. A national patient cost survey in 2018 found that 63% of TB-affected households experienced catastrophic costs under the previous health financing model [ 10 ]. There is a risk that the proportion of TB-affected households experiencing catastrophic costs could increase with the introduction of fees. This was not found to be the case for people living with HIV (PLHIV) when the costs of ART transitioned to SHI in Vietnam, but a new nationally representative TB costing survey is needed to assess this risk [ 9 ]. Several domestic solutions could ameliorate these challenges. As suggested for the Indian context, domestic revenues allocated by the Ministry of Finance to VSS could be increased to better support TB care [ 27 ]. VSS could also reclassify the category of TB disease and thus ensure that SHI paid for all diagnostics and drugs associated with TB treatment, without the need for a co-payment. A mid-term review of the Global Fund program in Vietnam has also called for a SHI package specifically designed to cover the OOP medical costs of TB care [ 28 ]. There are several potential mechanisms to prevent costs from falling on TB-affected households. A deeper investigation is needed to understand the fiscal space available within the Vietnamese government to cover such costs.

This case study showed that 23.5% of the uninsured people with TB were never able to enroll for the duration of their treatment, primarily due to lack of documentation. Specific provisions need to be made for the undocumented to receive free TB diagnosis, consultations, and medications through routine practice of the TB program. Multi- and bi-lateral funding mechanisms can also play a role in filling gaps by paying for TB tests for the uninsured, purchasing SHI for those diagnosed with TB, subsidizing or reimbursing OOP expenditure in the period before SHI coverage takes effect, and fully financing TB care for the undocumented. Furthermore, longer-term health system strengthening initiatives, such as creating a legal mechanism for the undocumented to obtain SHI, are likely needed to address the challenges faced by the 9% of the general population that remain uninsured. The ILO has called for “determining new strategies, which may include extension of state budget-funded subsidies to further support the participation of workers in the informal economy [ 7 ].” These forms of inclusive initiatives would solve the TB-specific challenges identified in this study and have a large positive impact on society.

We found that addressing the cost of SHI premiums and knowledge gaps in the enrollment procedures may improve SHI coverage. These findings mirror those following the transition of HIV financing to SHI in 2017. A study among PLHIV identified burdensome processes, lack of information about SHI registration procedures, and high SHI premium costs for a household as key barriers to SHI coverage [ 29 ]. However, a cluster randomized control trial which provided education, a 25% premium subsidy, or both to uninsured households found that these interventions had limited effects on SHI enrollment. Yet, “less healthy” individuals had higher SHI enrollment rates [ 30 ]. This suggests that people who have just received a TB diagnosis could be more receptive to interventions promoting SHI enrollment through premium subsidization and education. Vietnam’s National TB Program (NTP) has established a fund to subsidize SHI enrollment costs for TB-affected individuals. The size of the fund could be increased with additional support while access to the fund and the procedures for receiving support could be optimized [ 31 ]. Given the SHI transition, the NTP should also consider providing educational materials about the SHI enrollment process through the DTU network to uninsured persons with TB.

TB registers indicated that 52% of people starting TB treatment in the urban intervention districts had recorded SHI coverage. This rate is lower than other recent SHI coverage reports. A 2018–2022 DS-TB costing survey reported a SHI coverage of 70% [ 32 ], while in a DR-TB costing survey (2020–2022) it was 85% [ 16 ]. All available data sources indicate that SHI coverage among people with TB is lower than the general population, which is indicative of their socioeconomic vulnerability [ 33 ]. However, this large SHI coverage rate discrepancy may be explained by people with TB not revealing they had SHI coverage, or DTU staff could have also inconsistently recorded an individual’s SHI status in the paper TB registers since these data did not have much clinical relevance for TB treatment at the time. Now that DTUs receive financial reimbursements for the TB services from VSS, SHI coverage rates in treatment registers are likely to increase. Further research should be conducted to understand the national SHI coverage rate for people receiving TB treatment, along with the risk factors associated with being uninsured.

Limitations

This case study was conducted in the two largest cities of Vietnam and findings may not be representative of the entire country. Quantitative data were collected in a programmatic setting, and SHI coverage data for all individuals initiating TB treatment in the intervention areas appear to be underreported for reasons described above. Lastly, we were unable to collect SHI enrollment data from a control population, either prospectively during the pilot intervention or retrospectively during the pilot evaluation. As a result, we do not have information on the enrollment status or time to obtain SHI coverage among a population that did not receive assistance from the pilot intervention. However, given the substantial additional support provided by study staff for the enrollment process, we believe it is safe to assume that if left alone, TB-affected households would be slower in the enrollment process and likely enroll in lower rates.

Vietnam is viewed as a leader among Southeast Asian nations in its commitment and progress towards UHC. This mixed-methods case study illustrated the progress that Vietnam has made in its path to greater domestic financing of healthcare through SHI. This study is one of the first to examine the integration of TB services into SHI in Vietnam and define the challenges that people with TB face while attempting to gain access to financial protection after receiving a TB diagnosis. In order to make strides towards UHC in Vietnam and to close population coverage gaps, initiatives are required to specifically address the barriers faced by the uninsured. This study found that the majority of the uninsured were able to gain access to SHI through full subsidization of premiums, enrollment assistance and education. However, initiating TB care and SHI enrollment concomitantly left a significant portion of the 6-month TB treatment duration without financial protection. Additionally, a quarter of the uninsured with TB were unable to gain access to SHI during treatment, primarily due to a lack of documentation. There is great need for official mechanisms to be in place that enable those without sufficient state documents to access the TB program and to address the time-sensitive nature of providing effective financial protection during treatment of an infectious disease. These findings are relevant for other high TB burden, middle-income countries who are on a similar pathway for transitioning away from donor-financed TB programs to ones supported with a higher proportion of domestic resources.

Availability of data and materials

The quantitative dataset used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Seven anonymized transcripts of interviews with the people enrolled in the pilot intervention and non-beneficiaries have been uploaded to the following URL: https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7736220 .

Abbreviations

Anti antiretroviral therapy

Drug resistant tuberculosis

Drug susceptible tuberculosis

District TB Unit

Ho Chi Minh City

Health Insurance Law

Human immunodeficiency virus

International Labour Organization

Interquartile range

National Tuberculosis Program

Out of pocket

People Living with HIV

Social Health Insurance

• Tuberculosis

Universal Health Coverage

United States Dollar

Vietnamese Dong

Vietnam Social Security

World health statistics 2023: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals. https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789240074323 . Accessed 31 May 2023.

SDG Target 3.8 | Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/indicator-groups/indicator-group-details/GHO/sdg-target-3.8-achieve-universal-health-coverage-(uhc)-including-financial-risk-protection . Accessed 29 May 2023.

Hondo D, Kim Y. Achieving universal health coverage in developing Asia and the Pacific. Asian Development Bank Institute; 2023. Report No.: 2023-15 (November). https://doi.org/10.56506/VUWA5043 . Accessed 1 Feb 2024.

Le QN, Blizzard L, Si L, Giang LT, Neil AL. The evolution of social health insurance in Vietnam and its role towards achieving universal health coverage. Health Policy OPEN. 2020;100011. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590229620300095 . Accessed 10 Sep 2023.

Somanathan A, Tandon A, Dao HL, Hurt KL, Fuenzalida-Puelma HL. Moving toward universal coverage of social health insurance in Vietnam: assessments and options. Washington, DC: World Bank; 2014, p. 177. (Directions in Development). https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0261-4

Hardy A. Rules and resources: negotiating the household registration system in Vietnam under reform. Sojourn J Soc Issues Southeast Asia. 2001;16(2):187–212.

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Bales S, Phe Goursat M, Phuong NK. Extending social health protection in Viet Nam: accelerating progress towards universal health coverage. International Labour Organization; 2021, p. 1–14. (Social Protection in action: building social protection floors for all.). https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/ShowRessource.action;jsessionid=iFmxgS-hSrmJjf_1uG90JAnijskVEc8XJD9-4lubAqbFD4-JPYOm!341651707?id=57668 . Accessed 26 Aug 2022.

Bao Hiem Xa Hoi [Vietnam Social Security]. 2019. Phát triển bền vững BHYT toàn dân [Sustainable development of universal health insurance]. https://baohiemxahoi.gov.vn/congkhai/Pages/so-lieu-thong-ke-nganh.aspx?CateID=130&ItemID=12916 . Accessed 26 Aug 2022.

Vu LTH, Johns B, Bui QTT, Duong Thuy A, Nguyen Thi D, Nguyen Thi H, et al. Moving to social health insurance financing and payment for HIV/AIDS treatment in Vietnam. Health Serves Insights. 2021;14:1178632920988843. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632920988843 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Nhung NV, Hoa NB, Anh NT, Anh LTN, Siroka A, Lonnroth K, et al. Measuring catastrophic costs due to tuberculosis in Viet Nam. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2018;22(9):983–90.

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Tran VT. Circular No. 36/2021/TT-BYT dated December 31, 2021 on Medical examination and treatment, and payment for medical examination and treatment costs covered by health insurance relating to tuberculosis examination and treatment. 36/2021/TT-BYT Dec 31, 2021. https://hethongphapluat.com/circular-no-36-2021-tt-byt-dated-december-31-2021-on-medical-examination-and-treatment-and-payment-for-medical-examination-and-treatment-costs-covered-by-health-insurance-relating-to-tuberculosis-examination-and-treatment.html .

The Global Fund. Country Profiles Tuberculosis- 2022- Viet Nam. The Global Fund; 2023. https://data.theglobalfund.org/location/VNM/documents . Accessed 30 May 2023.

Nguyen Thi Thu Cúc. Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: strengthening the policy and institutional framework of social health insurance. Hanoi, Vietnam: Asian Development Bank; 2021, p. 1–27. Report No.: 50139–002. https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/vie-50139-002-tacr-4 . Accessed 26 Aug 2022.

Global tuberculosis report 2022. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789240061729 .

Vo LNQ, Forse RJ, Codlin AJ, Dang HM, Van Truong V, Nguyen LH, et al. Socio-protective effects of active case finding on catastrophic costs from tuberculosis in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam: a longitudinal patient cost survey. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):1051. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06984-2 .

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Pham TAM, Forse R, Codlin AJ, Phan THY, Nguyen TT, Nguyen N, et al. Determinants of catastrophic costs among households affected by multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam: a prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):2372. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17078-5 .

Creswell JW, Clark Plano VL. Designing and conducting mixed methods research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications; 2017. p. 520.

Google Scholar  

George AL, Bennett A. Case studies and theory development in the social sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2005.

Crowe S, Cresswell K, Robertson A, Huby G, Avery A, Sheikh A. The case study approach. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2011;11(1):100. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-11-100 .

Thai LH, Nhat LM, Shah N, Lyss S, Ackers M. Sensitivity, completeness and agreement of the tuberculosis electronic system in Ho Chi Minh City. Viet Nam Public Health Act. 2017;7(4):294–8.

IMPACT TB Overview | IMPACT TB. https://impacttbproject.org/impact-tb-overview/ . Accessed 2 Jun 2023.

Fact Sheet: USAID Erase TB Project 2020. 2020. https://www.usaid.gov/vietnam/documents/fact-sheet-erase-tb-project . Accessed 24 Sep 2024.

Palinkas LA, Horwitz SM, Green CA, Wisdom JP, Duan N, Hoagwood K. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2015;42(5):533–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y .

Malterud K, Siersma VD, Guassora AD. Sample size in qualitative interview studies: guided by information power. Qual Health Res. 2016;26(13):1753–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315617444 .

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Forse R, Nguyen TT, Dam T, Vo LNQ, Codlin AJ, Caws M, et al. A qualitative assessment on the acceptability of providing cash transfers and social health insurance for tuberculosis-affected families in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023;3(12): e0002439.

Ritchie J, Lewis J, Nicholls CM, Ormston R. Qualitative research practice: a guide for social science students and researchers. Second edn. SAGE Publications Ltd; 2013. p. 456.

Behera DK, Dash U, Sahu SK. Exploring the possible sources of fiscal space for health in India: insights from political regimes. Health Res Policy Syst. 2022;20(1):32. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-022-00831-4 .

Draft Report: Key Messages from the TB National Strategic Plan Mid Term Review (MTR) for Vietnam, between 8th to 18th January 2023. Hanoi, Vietnam: Vietnam’s National TB Program; 2023 Jan p. 1.

Matsumoto S, Nguyen HDT, Nguyen DT, Van Tran G, Tanuma J, Mizushima D, et al. The patient voice: a survey of worries and anxieties during health system transition in HIV services in Vietnam. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2020;20:1.

Wagstaff A, Nguyen HTH, Dao H, Bales S. Encouraging health insurance for the informal sector: a cluster randomized experiment in Vietnam. Health Econ. 2016;25(6):663–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3293 .

Hoa NB, Nhung NV. National tuberculosis patients cost survey: research findings lead to change in policy and practice. Viet Nam Public Health Act. 2019;9(2):50–2.

Wiemers A, Sidney-Annerstedt K, Forse R, Phan THY, Codlin A, Vo LNQ, et al. EP-13-729 COVID-19 lockdowns resulting in household income decline for people with TB in Ho Chi Minh City: interrupted time series analysis of household income changes. In: Proceedings of the union world conference on lung health 2022. Virtual event, 8–11 November 2022: the international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease (IJTLD); 2022. p. 191.

Lönnroth K, Jaramillo E, Williams BG, Dye C, Raviglione M. Drivers of tuberculosis epidemics: the role of risk factors and social determinants. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68(12):2240–6.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Hoang Thi My Linh, Chu Thi Hoang Anh, Nguyen Khac Cuong, Nham Thi Yen Ngoc and Tran Thai Hiep for conducting qualitative interviews and assisting with SHI enrollment activities. Special thanks to Dr. Kerri Viney for providing insightful comments on an early draft of this manuscript; they greatly strengthened the final version. This work was graciously supported by the staff of Vietnam’s National TB Program, the Hanoi Lung Hospital, Pham Ngoc Thach Provincial TB Hospital and 10 District TB Units. Lastly, we would like to thank the interview participants who shared their time and insights.

Open access funding provided by Karolinska Institute. The European Commission's Horizon 2020 program supported the provision of SHI and all data collection in 2019 through the IMPACT-TB study under grant agreement number 733174. For the period of 2020–2022, support to implement the pilot and conduct the evaluation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the USAID under award number 72044020FA00001. TW was supported by grants from: the Wellcome Trust, UK ( Seed Award, grant number 209075/Z/17/Z); the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome, UK (Joint Global Health Trials, MR/V004832/1); the Medical Research Council (Public Health Intervention Development Award “PHIND”, APP2293); and the Medical Research Foundation (Dorothy Temple Cross International Collaboration Research Grant, MRF-131–0006-RG-KHOS-C0942). KSA was supported by the ASPECT Trial funded the Swedish Research Council (2022-00727). The contents of this study are the responsibility of the listed authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Friends for International TB Relief, Hanoi, Vietnam

Rachel Forse, Thanh Thi Nguyen, Luan N. Q. Vo & Andrew J. Codlin

Department of Global Public Health, WHO Collaboration Centre on Tuberculosis and Social Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Rachel Forse, Clara Akie Yoshino, Luan N. Q. Vo, Andrew J. Codlin, Tom Wingfield, Knut Lönnroth & Kristi Sidney-Annerstedt

Centre for Development of Community Health Initiatives, Hanoi, Vietnam

Thi Hoang Yen Phan

IRD VN, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Lan Nguyen & Chi Hoang

USAID Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam

Lopa Basu & Minh Pham

National Lung Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam

Hoa Binh Nguyen & Luong Van Dinh

Centre for TB Research, Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK

Maxine Caws & Tom Wingfield

Birat Nepal Medical Trust, Kathmandu, Nepal

Maxine Caws

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

This study was conceived of by RF, KSA, TTN, THYP, CAY, AJC, LNQV. The study was administered by RF, YP, TTN, AJC. Support from Vietnam’s National TB program was provided by HBN and LVD. The methodology was developed by RJ, CAY, KV, KL, KSA. The analysis was carried out by RF, CAY, TTN, and THYP. LNQV, AJC, TW, LN, CH, LB, MP, HBN, LVD, MC, KV, KL, and KSA supported the interpretation of findings. The first manuscript was written by RF. All co-authors reviewed and commented on the initial manuscript. The final manuscript was approved and reviewed by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Forse .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

All study procedures were conducted in strict adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approvals were granted by the National Lung Hospital Institutional Review Board (114/19/CT-HĐKH-ĐĐ), the Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital Institutional Review Board (1225/PNT-HĐĐĐ) and Ha Noi University of Public Health Institutional Review Board (300/2020/YTCC-HD3). All participants provided written informed consent and individual-level data were pseudonymized prior to analysis.

Consent for publication

Informed written consent was obtained for all individuals who the study attempted to enroll in SHI, as part of the pilot intervention. It was also obtained for all individuals who participated in the qualitative interviews.

Competing interests

Ten of the authors received salary support from one of the funding agencies to implement the pilot interventions and their evaluation. Two of the authors were employed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which funded one of the two pilot interventions. They played no role in the design or implementation of the pilot interventions or their evaluation, but during the development of the manuscript, they provided their insights about the context of the results and Vietnam’s health financing transition as experts in the field.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Additional file 1..

Mapping of procedures and costs for first-time enrollment into Vietnam's social health insurance scheme.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Forse, R., Yoshino, C.A., Nguyen, T.T. et al. Towards universal health coverage in Vietnam: a mixed-method case study of enrolling people with tuberculosis into social health insurance. Health Res Policy Sys 22 , 40 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-024-01132-8

Download citation

Received : 11 August 2023

Accepted : 13 March 2024

Published : 02 April 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-024-01132-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Social health insurance
• Universal health coverage
• Health financing transition
• Financial protection

Health Research Policy and Systems

ISSN: 1478-4505

• Submission enquiries: Access here and click Contact Us
• General enquiries: [email protected]

  Journal of Business and Administrative Studies Journal / Journal of Business and Administrative Studies / Vol. 9 No. 1 (2017) / Articles (function() { function async_load(){ var s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; var theUrl = 'https://www.journalquality.info/journalquality/ratings/2404-www-ajol-info-jbas'; s.src = theUrl + ( theUrl.indexOf("?") >= 0 ? "&" : "?") + 'ref=' + encodeURIComponent(window.location.href); var embedder = document.getElementById('jpps-embedder-ajol-jbas'); embedder.parentNode.insertBefore(s, embedder); } if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent('onload', async_load); else window.addEventListener('load', async_load, false); })();  

Article sidebar.

Article Details

Main article content, assessment of pay scale determination practices at st. mary’s university, zelalem ayalew.

The purpose of the study was to examine how the pay scale of St. Mary’s University (SMU) has been determined or established, and to analyze whether the pay scale may serve as a motivational tool. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches and descriptive research design were pursued. Stratified and convenient sampling techniques were employed in administering the questionnaires. Out of 220 senior (serve 5 years and beyond in the University) staff members residing in Addis Ababa, 74 were stratified and 94 copies of questionnaire were distributed for alleviating of disqualified questionnaire and non-responses. Therefore, the response rate of the questionnaire was 69%. Validity and reliability tests were conducted and results (average Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.790) proven to be both reliable and valid. Data were subjected to simple descriptive statistics and analysis was made using SPSS 20 for quantitative data and interpretational and reflective for qualitative data. The study will contribute to and expand the frontiers of knowledge in the field of study; enrich the literature and forward directions to the management of the University to identify the areas of pay scale weaknesses and improve pay policy so as to acquire and retain best minds that will enable the University to achieve its goals. The study is limited to the phenomenon of only one institution on the thematic area, hence, practices of other similar institutions does not compare & included that the research could not start with the general research gap in the thematic area. Results of the study shows that pay scale practices of SMU are resulting on intuitive decisions of the top management regardless of proper job evaluation and grading (JEG) processes and lacking commensuration with internal alignment and external market pressures. The researcher concluded that emphasis should be given to periodically review of the pay policy and pay scale up to meeting standardized principles and procedures. Furthermore, pay in-equity and unfairness is also becoming severe. Therefore, the University ought to effort promoting equal pay for work of equal volume and shall seek to provide salaries that attract, retain and motivate competent employees.

AJOL is a Non Profit Organisation that cannot function without donations. AJOL and the millions of African and international researchers who rely on our free services are deeply grateful for your contribution. AJOL is annually audited and was also independently assessed in 2019 by E&Y.

Your donation is guaranteed to directly contribute to Africans sharing their research output with a global readership.

• For annual AJOL Supporter contributions, please view our Supporters page.

Journal Identifiers