14 Facts About Case studies

Case studies adds that "the defining feature of qualitative work is its use of noncomparable observations—observations that pertain to different aspects of a causal or descriptive question", whereas quantitative observations are comparable.

Case studies have commonly been seen as a fruitful way to come up with hypotheses and generate theories.

Case studies are useful for understanding outliers or deviant cases.

Classic examples of case studies that generated theories includes Darwin's theory of evolution, and Douglass North's theories of economic development.

Case studies are useful for formulating concepts, which are an important aspect of theory construction.

Case studies add descriptive richness, and can have greater internal validity than quantitative studies.

Case studies are suited to explain outcomes in individual cases, which is something that quantitative methods are less equipped to do.

Case studies have been characterized as useful to assess the plausibility of arguments that explain empirical regularities.

Case studies are useful for understanding outliers or deviant cases.

Case studies can identify necessary and insufficient conditions, as well as complex combinations of necessary and sufficient conditions.

Christopher H Achen and Duncan Snidal similarly argue that case studies are not useful for theory construction and theory testing.

Commonly described limit of case studies is that they do not lend themselves to generalizability.

Outside of law, teaching case studies have become popular in many different fields and professions, ranging from business education to science education.

Similarly, teaching case studies have become increasingly popular in science education, covering different biological and physical sciences.