This accessible text introduces students and researchers to the basics of case study research, using a wide range of real-life examples. It deals with the core issues and methods that anyone new to case study will need to understand: What is a case study? When and why should case study methods be used? How are case studies designed? What methods can be used? How do we analyze our data and write up our case?

PART ONE: GETTING YOUR BEARINGS ; What Is a Case Study? ; Case Study and Research Design ; Models of the Whole ; Ensuring Quality in Your Case Study: What's Important? -- PART TWO: GETTING DOWN TO DOING IT ; Kinds of Case Studies: Finding Your Case ; Your Purpose ; Your Approach ; Your Process -- PART THREE: GETTING ON WITH IT AND FINISHING ; Out in the Field: Some Ways to Collect Data and Evidence ; A Toolkit for Analysing and Thinking ; Writing Your Study ; The Fancy Stuff: Generalization, Induction, Abduction, Phronesis and Theory.

"In this lucid, accessible and often witty new text, Gary Thomas introduces students and researchers to the basics of case study research."--Cover.

includes index