Case study methodology in business research / Jan Dul and Tony Hak.

Includes index.

The complete guide for how to design and conduct theory-testing and other case studies...

Case Study Methodology in Business Research sets out structures and guidelines that assist students and researchers from a wide range of disciplines to develop their case study research in a consistent and rigorous manner. It clarifies the differences between practice-oriented and theory-oriented research and, within the latter category, between theory-testing and theory-building. It describes in detail how to design and conduct different types of case study research, providing students and researchers with everything they need for their project. The main aims are to:

* present a broad spectrum of types of case study research (including practice-oriented case studies, theory-building case studies and theory-testing case studies) in one consistent methodological framework.

* emphasize and clearly illustrate that the case study is the preferred research strategy for testing deterministic propositions such as those expressing a necessary condition case by case and that the survey is the preferred research strategy for testing probabilistic propositions.

* stress the role of replication in all theory-testing research, irrespective of which research strategy is chosen for a specific test.

* give more weight to the importance of theory-testing relative to theory-building.

Case Study Methodology in Business Research is a clear, concise and comprehensive text for case study methodology. Templates are supplied for case study protocol and how to report a case study.

A modular textbook primarily aimed at serving research methodology courses for final year undergraduate students and graduate students in Business Administration and Management, which is also useful as a handbook for researchers.