The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

CCase Study

PATRICIA A. DUFF

Defining Case‐Study Research

Case study is a very common and important approach to research in applied linguistics and many other academic and professional fields. Case studies are frequently qualitative and interpretive, but they can also be combined with, or can include, quantitative analyses and other approaches to knowledge generation. Case studies generally involve rich contextualization and a deep, inductive analysis of data from a small set of participants, sites, or events in order to understand aspects of language teaching and learning, or other situations in which languages are being used. Sometimes the focus is the knowledge, performance, or perspectives of a single individual, such as a language learner or teacher. Other types of case study may focus less on the individuals involved and more on a single speech event, activity, institution, policy, country, or scenario in which particular language issues figure prominently and are the focus of analysis. Regardless of what constitutes the case (a person, site, or situation), by definition one or more single bounded units are selected for study because they exemplify an issue of theoretical or practical concern. Cases may confirm, disconfirm, complicate, illustrate, describe, explain, or extend existing knowledge in a variety of ways by drawing on diverse epistemological, theoretical, and methodological frameworks. Despite the range in types and purposes of case studies, one commonality is ...