Explanatory Case Study (ECS) method: A Brief Summary
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The document outlines the explanatory case study (ECS) method used by the SOPHIE team to analyze welfare and social protection policies. It describes the criteria for selecting cases, the importance of data triangulation, and various data collection and analysis approaches. Examples of both single and multiple case studies illustrate the application of this method in understanding policy changes, particularly in the context of fuel poverty and health in all policies initiatives.
Explanatory Case Study (ECS) method: A Brief Summary
- 1. Explanatory Case Study (ECS) Method: A Brief Summary SOPHIE newsletter, May 2015
- 2. Our SOPHIE team, working on Work Package 2: Welfare and Social Protection Policies, is based at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health in Toronto, Canada. Our Team: Fariaha Ali Carles Muntaner Aysha Butt Edwin Ng Alix Freiler Patricia O’Campo Jongnam Hwang Emilie Renahy Christiane Mitchell Ketan Shankardass About Us SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 3. Case Study Definition The essence of a case study is that it tries to illuminate a decision or set of decisions: why they were taken, how they were implemented, and with what results (Schramm 1971 as cited in Yin 2014). SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 4. ECS: Single and Multiple Designs SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 5. ECS: Process SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 6. ECS: Case Study Selection Three conditions must be met to be deemed suitable for an explanatory case study method. The research project must (Yin, 2014): • seek to explain “how”/“why” a phenomenon occurs, • seek to examine a contemporary phenomenon, and, • the researchers must have no control over the phenomenon. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 7. ECS: Data Collection Examples of ECS data sources: • Documents (e.g., newspapers such as la Repubblica; articles, books) • Archival records (e.g., government reports) • Interviewers (e.g., open-ended conversations with key informants) • Direct observations (e.g., observing parliamentary proceedings) • Focus groups (e.g., group interviews with key stakeholders) *ECS are stronger when there are multiple sources of data as it enables triangulation of evidence. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 8. ECS: Data Collection • Data Triangulation: Establishes converging lines of evidence to increase the robustness of findings. • Use multiple sources of evidence to establish the same set of events or “facts”. • Evidence can include qualitative and quantitative types of data. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015) Source: Yin, 2014, p.121.
- 9. ECS: Data Analysis Approaches • Pattern-matching: Assessing collected evidence against expected outcomes • Explanation building: Explaining a case and identifying a set of causal links • Cross-case synthesis: Using multiple case studies to augment study aims *Increasing the robustness of findings involves developing and testing rival explanations or alternative perspectives. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 10. ECS: SOPHIE Examples Explanatory Single-Case Study: Using an explanatory case study method, we explain how opposition efforts (i.e. strategies and activities) have influenced the maintenance of fuel poverty policies and programmes in England during a time of fiscal austerity (O’Campo et al., Manuscript in preparation). Explanatory Multiple-Case Study: Following the single-case study, we hope to undertake a subsequent multiple- case study that compares our findings with other SOPHIE explanatory case studies. The purpose of a multiple-case analysis is to find similarities across cases, and to further explain the broader mechanisms around opposition efforts and policy change in a time of widespread austerity. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 11. ECS: HiAP Example Explanatory Multiple-Case Study: In addition to the SOPHIE projects, we have undertaken another explanatory multiple-case study that uncovers how well-established Health in All Policies (HiAP) initiatives managed to sustain implementation across sectors and across geographic levels of government (Shankardass et al., 2014). SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)
- 12. Useful References • O’Campo, P., Muntaner, C., Frieler, A., Ali, F., Butt, A. & Mitchell, C. Opposition Efforts to Fuel Poverty Cuts: An Explanatory Single-Case Study (Manuscript in preparation). • Shankardass, K., Renahy, E., Muntaner, C., & O’Campo, P. (2014). Strengthening the implementation of Health in All Policies: a methodology for realist explanatory case studies. Health Policy and Planning, czu021. • Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Sage • Yin, R. K. (2014). Case Study: Design and Methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. • Yin, R. K. (2012). Applications of Case Study Research (3nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. SOPHIE Newsletter: Explanatory Case Study Method (June 2015)