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1、AmericanPoliticalScienceReviewVol.98,No.2May2004WhatIsaCaseStudyandWhatIsItGoodfor?JOHNGERRINGBostonUniversityhispaperaimstoclarifythemeaning,andexplaintheutility,ofthecasestudymethod,amethodoftenpracticedbutlittleunderstood.A“casestudy,”Iargue,isbestdefinedasanintensivestudyTofasingleunitwit
2、hanaimtogeneralizeacrossalargersetofunits.Casestudiesrelyonthesamesortofcovariationalevidenceutilizedinnon-casestudyresearch.Thus,thecasestudymethodiscorrectlyunderstoodasaparticularwayofdefiningcases,notawayofanalyzingcasesorawayofmodelingcausalrelations.Ishowthatthisunderstandingofthesubjec
3、tilluminatessomeofthepersistentambiguitiesofcasestudywork,ambiguitiesthatare,tosomeextent,intrinsictotheenterprise.Thetravailsofthecasestudywithinthedisciplineofpoliticalsciencearealsorootedinaninsufficientappreciationofthemethodologicaltradeoffsthatthismethodcallsforth.Thispaperpresentsthefa
4、miliarcontrastbetweencasestudyandnon-casestudyworkasaseriesofcharacteristicstrengthsandweaknesses—affinities—ratherthanasantagonisticapproachestotheempiricalworld.Intheend,theperceivedhostilitybetweencasestudyandnon-casestudyresearchislargelyunjustifiedand,perhaps,deservestoberegardedasamiscon
5、ception.Indeed,thestrongestconclusiontoarisefromthismethodologicalexaminationconcernsthecomplementarityofsingle-unitandcross-unitresearchdesigns.hecasestudyoccupiesavexedpositioninthetionofworkgeneratedbythediscipline,thecasestudydisciplineofpoliticalscience.Ontheonehand,methodisheldinlowreg
6、ardorissimplyignored.EvenTmethodologistsgenerallyviewthecasestudyamongitsdefendersthereisconfusionoverthevirtuesmethodwithextremecircumspection(Achenandandvicesofthisambiguousresearchdesign.Practi-Snidal1989;King,Keohane,andVerba1994;Liebersontionerscontinuetoplytheirtradebuthavedifficulty[19
7、91]1992,1994;Njolstad1990).Aworkthatfocusesarticulatingwhatitisthattheyaredoing,methodolog-itsattentiononasingleexampleofabroaderphe-icallyspeaking.Thecasestudysurvivesinacuriousnomenonisapttobedescribedasa“mere”casestudy.methodologicallimbo.Atthes
