Case Closed: An Earnest Review of Ganon's Case Study as Research Method

Why am I here? What is knowledge? How should one live an ethical life? The most arduous of philosophers may dwell on these issues for a lifetime. Also taking up these concerns are scientists or researchers, particularly qualitative researchers. For myself, I can remember having an existential curiosity long ago as a child, but graduate school provided a focused and guided opportunity to explore how qualitative researchers have developed methodologies to produce knowledge. I was introduced to case study research design and methods during a course bearing that name in graduate school. Through the work of Stake (1995), Merriam (1998), and Yin (2003), we discussed enduring questions and essential concepts such as "what is a case," "why do case study," as well as data collection and analysis methods. This past year I was also embarking on a descriptive case study of Major League Baseball strength and conditioning coaches and their coaching practices. The research design would be case study, drawing primarily upon Stake (2006) and secondarily Yin. This brief historical context provides the backdrop for this review. In earnest, when I saw The Qualitative Report had a new case study book (Gagnon, 2010) available for review I was intrigued. No sooner had I seen the front cover, however, than I became bothered by the title, The Case Study as Research Method: A Practical Handbook. For me, case study is a design (i.e., framework, structure), not a method (i.e., tools, steps, and procedures). Thinking perhaps I was being nitpicky, I attempted to bracket out (Husserl, 1962) the front cover to open myself up to the text. The table of contents was next. The chapters were not called by that name, but are labeled stages, which could be seen as conveying the message that the research process (i.e., case study), is a linear process. This is a far cry from Stake (1995) who talks about case study in its "complexity" and "particularity" (p. xi) and Merriam's (1998) belief that this design is best suited to gain an "in-depth understanding of the situation and meaning for those involved" (p. 19). Indeed, it is a challenge for authors to write clearly and orderly, without being reductionistic, misleading, or failing to convey important details and interrelationships. Beginning with stages (read chapters) on "assessing appropriateness and usefulness," "ensuring accuracy of results," and "preparation," the organization of the book is also different than most introductory research texts, but in a good way. The thoughtful researcher needs to have an understanding of paradigms and epistemologies before being unleashed to do empirical research. The rest of the text proceeds in typical format with chapters on how to collect, analyze, interpret, and report research. By beginning with some foundational epistemological issues from the outset, Gagnon (2010) is to be applauded for not reducing issues of knowing and research to methods and procedures. Unfortunately, this discussion struck me as somewhat unclear and contradicting. For example, upon citing the advent of postmodernism as a challenge to truth and knowledge, Gagnon immediately proclaims, "thus while I have defended the qualitative approach to research, I also believe it must meet the same requirements as the quantitative approach" (p. x). So, although he recognizes postmodernism, Gagnon seems to reconstruct critical realist criteria for truth and knowledge claims. As I struggled to interpret the meaning of the introduction, I appreciated the author's attempt to address topics and terms related to the purpose of research, research design, sampling, and the uses of case study. In the end, however, case study is never operationally defined; as opposed to Stake (2006) who notes at the outset of his text, "A case is a noun, a thing, an entity ..." (p. 1). Gagnon (2010) begins stage one, "assessing appropriateness and usefulness," by challenging the reader to identify their paradigm as being constructivist, or anything else. …