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1、Theconceptofthe"case"isabasicfeatureofsocialscienceresearch,andyetmanyquestionsabouthowacaseshouldbedefined,howcasesshouldbeselected,andwhatthecriteriaareforagoodcaseorsetofcasesarefarfromsettled.Arecasespreexistingphenomenathatneedonlybeidentifiedbytheresearcherbeforeanalysiscanbegin?Orarecasesco
2、nstructedduringthecourseofresearch,onlyafteranalysishasrevealedwhichfeaturesshouldbeconsid•ereddefiningcharacteristics?Willcasesbeselectedrandomlyfromthetotalpoolofavailablecases?Orwillcasesbechosenbecauseoftheiruniquequali•ties?Towhatdegreemustcasesbecomparable?Isthelogicofquantitativeresearch,us
3、ingalargenumberofcases,fundamentallydifferentfromthatofqualitativeresearch,usingonlyoneorafewcases?Thesequestionsandmanyothersareaddressedbythecontributorstothisvolumeastheyprobethenatureofthecaseandthewaysinwhichdifferentunderstandingsofwhatacaseisaffecttheconductandtheresultsofresearch.Thecontri
4、butorsfindagooddealofcommonground,andyettheyalsoexpressstrikinglydifferentviewsonmanykeypoints.Inhisintroduction,CharlesRaginprovidesaframeworkfordistinguishingfourfundamentallydifferentapproachestocase-basedresearch.Theseapproachesareorganizedaroundtwodichotomiesinhowcasesareconceived:whetherthey
5、areconsideredtobeempiricalunitsortheoreticalconstructsandwhethertheyareunderstoodasexamplesofgeneralphenomenaorasspecificphenomena.Eachapproachinvolvesproceduralandanalyticalguidelinesthatwillaffectthecourseofresearchandtheconclusionstheresearchdraws.AsRaginarguesandtheothercontributorsdemonstrate
6、,theworkofanygivenresearcheroftenischaracter•izedbysomehybridofthesebasicapproaches,anditisimportanttounder•standthatmostresearchinvolvesmultipledefinitionsandusesofcases,bothasspecificempiricalphenomenaandasgeneraltheoreticalcategories.Whatisacase?WHATISACASE?Exploringthefoundationsofsocialinquir
7、yEditedbyCharlesC.Ragin,NorthwesternUniversityandHowardS.Becker,UniversityofWashington•mmCAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESSCAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESSCambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SaoPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,
