Designing Case Studies Explanatory Approaches in Small-N Research [Paperback]

The authors explore three ways of conducting causal analysis in case studies. They draw on established practices as well as on recent innovations in case study methodology and integrate these insights into coherent approaches. They highlight the core features of each approach and provide advice on each step of the research process.Relevance and Refinements of Case Studies Co-variational Analysis Causal-Process Tracing Congruence Analysis Combining Diverse Research Approaches Bibliography

Hardly any subfield of political science methods has witnessed such dynamic development in recent years as the literature on case study designs. Case studies have always been at the core of central advances in political sciences research, but only in recent

years have the methodological underpinnings been elaborated on in corresponding depth. The book by Joachim Blatter and Markus Haverland contributes significantly to this field of study in two ways: firstly, it suggests a new, convincing typology of case studies; and secondly, it takes the 'designing' aspect of its title seriously by including many case studies from political science research to provide practical illustrations of their three suggested modes of designing case studies. - Julian Junk, West European Politics, 36:4, 893-894

Joachim Blatter is Professor of Political Science at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. He has previously held positions at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the University of Konstanz, Germany, Free University Berlin, Germany, and the University of St Gallen, Switzerland. His research interests include transformations of governance, citizenship, and democracy.

Markus Haverland is Professor of Political Science, Department of Public Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and lectures on methodology at the Dutch Graduate School for Public Administration and Political Science (NIG) there. Amongst hislsB