Description: This handbook provides a clear, critical examination of case-oriented research. It defines case-based social research as a subfield of methodology.
Brief description:
David Byrne is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Applied Social Sciences at the University of Durham. He has published widely on the methodology of social research, for example, in Interpreting Quantitative Data (2002) and with Charles Ragin edited The SAGE Handbook of Case Based Methods (2009). His major theoretical engagement is with the deployment of the complexity frame of reference across the social sciences--see Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences: The State of the Art (with Gillian Callaghan, 2011) with a particular focus on application to policy and practice. His current research focus is on the implications of the transition to the post-industrial in welfare capitalism--Paying for the Welfare State in the 21st Century (with Sally Ruane, 2011) and Class After Industry (2018).
Review Quotes: '[This Handbook] offers concrete proposals about the best research methods, and provides a guide to the emergence and complexity of the field. It also situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues, shows the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods, distinguishes between case-based and case study research, elucidates the philosophical issues around case-based methods, and examines case-based work in the context of both social theory and theories of research methods'
Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment
'This book provides a fresh and stimulating approach to causal analysis in the social sciences. International experts provide not just the philosophical arguments for a case-based approach to research but also detailed chapters on: 'why-to', 'when-to' and 'how-to'. Traditional distinctions between qualitative and quantitative are rejected in favour of a case-based approach which is applicable across the social sciences and beyond.'
Professor Angela Dale, The University of Manchester
'This wide-ranging volume gives an excellent overview of diverse contemporary case study methods. Case study researchers of all kinds will find this book deepens their understanding of the methods they already use and broadens their knowledge of approaches they have not yet explored.'
Professor Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University
'An invaluable resource for social researchers who want to know how and why case studies are conducted. The contributors represent a rich stream of research active practitioners who provide an excellent guide to both qualitative and quantitative approaches to case based enquiry. Illustrations are drawn from a broad range of disciplines and provide a fertile terrain for application'
Professor Dick Wiggins, The Institute of Education, University of London