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Appendix

Studies That Illustrate Research Design

We have emphasized that phase one of theory-oriented case studies is of critical importance. Inadequate research design is likely to lead researchers to undertake the case studies in ways that will make it difficult to draw robust implications from case study findings and achieve the objectives of the study. Of course, even a well-developed design cannot ensure a successful study, since that also depends on the quality of the individual case studies (phase two) and on effective use of the findings of the case studies to achieve the objective of the study in phase three.548

In this Appendix we review a large number of studies to demonstrate the variety of research designs that have been employed in the past. The selection of these studies for presentation here is intended to illustrate the flexibility and variety of methods for case research.

These studies are not representative of all case studies, which number, no doubt, in the hundreds. Many other studies could be cited, but space limitations require that we restrict the number described here. We use these studies to illustrate how case research has either made explicit use of the method of structured, focused comparison or has approximated it. Our commentary on the design of these studies is selective; to give a full description of the research strategies these studies employ would require much more space. If our brief account of a study is of particular interest to a reader, he or she will want to turn to the book in question.

The studies we review use the within-case approach to causal analysis and employ process-tracing for this purpose. A few of these books make use of the congruence method as well as process-tracing.549 In almost all of these studies,550 the author chose a research objective that focused on a particular subclass of a broader phenomenon and contributes to the development of middle-range theory.551 Choosing to focus on a particular subclass has two important implications: it determines the type of case to be selected for study and it circumscribes and delimits the scope of the findings and theory. This can be depicted as follows:

Figure A.1. Implications of Subclass Selection for Middle-Range Theory.

In most of the studies reviewed, it should be noted that the author or authors carefully specified a subclass and justified it with reference to the research objective of the study. A number of authors called attention to the limited scope of their findings and cautioned against generalizing them to the entire class of the phenomenon (e.g., all revolutions, all interventions).552 Others implied as much and avoided overgeneralization of their findings.

In these commentaries, we focus largely on research design; we do not attempt to evaluate the overall merit of the studies. The commentaries focus on research design because of its importance. Inadequate research design is likely to make it more difficult to select appropriate cases and to study them in ways that will produce case findings that will enable the investigator to draw robust implications for the study’s research objectives. Three of the studies report research in the field of American politics, eleven are in comparative politics, and nineteen are from the field of international relations.553 In addition to the cases reviewed here, a large number of case studies in international political economy are briefly noted by John S. Odell, a former editor of International Studies Quarterly (which published many articles in the field of international political economy) in his article, “Case Study Methods in International Political Economy.” He states that “research on the world political economy relies heavily on qualitative methods” and urges greater use of “thoughtfully designed case studies.”554

Studies From American Politics

RICHARD F. FENNO, CONGRESSMEN IN COMMITTEES. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, 1973.

Fenno undertook this study to more systematically document