Case Study - Misconceptions

Misconceptions

Flyvbjerg identified five common misunderstandings about case-study research:

1. General, theoretical knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical knowledge.
2. One cannot generalize on the basis of an individual case and, therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development.
3. The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building.
4. The case study contains a bias toward verification, i.e., a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions.
5. It is often difficult to summarize and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies.

These statements can be said to represent the cautionary view of case studies in conventional philosophy of science. Flyvbjerg argued that these statements are too categorical, and argued for the value of phenomenological insights gleaned by closely examining contextual "expert knowledge".