History of Case Studies

Fatih Avclar
1002130103

What is the Case Study?

A case study is an account of an activity, event or problem that contains a real or
hypothetical situation and includes the complexities you would encounter in the workplace.
Case studies are used to help you see how the complexities of real life influence decisions.
Analysing a case study requires you to practice applying your knowledge and your
thinking skills to a real situation. To learn from a case study analysis you will be "analysing,
applying knowledge, reasoning and drawing conclusions" (Kardos & Smith 1979).
According to Kardos and Smith (1979) a good case has the following features:
It is taken from real life (true identities may be concealed).
It consists of many parts and each part usually ends with problems and points for
discussion. There may not be a clear cut off point to the situation.
It includes sufficient information for the reader to treat problems and issues.
It is believable for the reader (the case contains the setting, personalities, sequence of
events, problems and conflicts)

Introduction
It is generally believed that the case-study method was first introduced into social science by
Frederic Le Playin 1829 as a handmaiden to statistics in his studies of family budgets.
Other roots stem from the early 20th century, when case studies began taking place in the
disciplines of sociology, psychology, and anthropology. In all these disciplines, case studies were
an occasion for creating new theory, as in the Grounded Theory work of sociologists Barney Glaser
and Anselm Strauss..
The popularity of case studies in testing theory or hypotheses has developed only in recent
decades. One of the areas in which case studies have been gaining popularity is education and in
particular educational evaluation.
Case studies have also been used as a teaching method and as part of professional
development, especially in business and legal education. Theproblem-based learning(PBL)
movement is such an example. When used in (non-business) education and professional
development, case studies are often referred to ascritical incidents.

Who is Frederic Le Play

Frdric Le Play,in fullPierre-Guillaume-Frdric Le Play (bornApril 11, 1806,La Rivire-SaintSauveur,FrancediedApril 5, 1882,Paris),French mining engineer and sociologist who developed techniques for
systematic research on thefamily.
Le Play was engineer in chief and a professor ofmetallurgyat the cole des Mines from 1840 and the
inspector of the school from 1848. He devoted his spare time to sociological research until about 1855, when,
dismayed by the conditions of industrial labourers and by the recurring revolutions in France, he gave up mining
in favour ofsociology. He served as a senator from 1867, but, after his countrys defeat in the Franco-German
War of 187071, he also abandoned politics.
As a sociologist, Le Play opposed the then-fashionable notion of societys continuous evolutionary progress.
He viewed thefamilyas the chief agent of social stability and moral authority in the face ofindustrializationand
its accompanying social conflicts, and he propounded a theory of cyclic changes insocietythat were related to
rises or declines infamilymorale. In the course of gathering data for his theories, Le Play developed what is now
known as thecase-studymethod, in which a field-worker lives with a family for a period of time, gathering data
on the family members attitudes and interactions and on their income, expenditures, and physical possessions.
The development of statisticalsampling, fundamental to social surveymethodology, was influenced by Le Plays
method of collating data that he obtained through field research.

Accounting and Finance

Case studies in Finance and

Accounting
The research methods books of Yin are frequently cited as references to justify the use of case study
research. In his early work he defined a case study as:
an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context;
when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and
in which multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin, 1984, p. 23).

However, case studies are used in many different ways in the various disciplines of the social sciences,
and across the humanities. In accounting, and business management more generally, case studies are
frequently used to understand the nature of accounting and management practices. Frequently, such
studies are criticised as not generalisable. However, such criticism is grounded in a rather positivistic
view of case study research, whereas in accounting and business management case studies are used in a
broad range of different methodological approaches.
n simple terms it is possible to distinguish positive to interpretive case studies. Both types of studies fit
Yins definition (summarised above), but they use case studies in very different ways. Positive case studies
present objective facts which should ultimately lead to generalisable findings, but further quantitative work
is usually needed for (statistical) generalisation. Hence, the case studies can only be exploratory - providing
insights and propositions which could be tested through statistical analysis of large samples. In contrast,
interpretive case studies are grounded in subjective understandings, which provide local explanations of
the social phenomena of interest. Hence, such case studies should seek to be explanatory; providing ways
of understanding the nature of accounting and management practices as social phenomena.

Scapens and Roberts

Scapens and Roberts, 1993 Research Issues and Questions

Role of Management Accounting Systems
Accounting Control & Impacts of New Systems Case Analysis
Understanding the Process of Change
Accounting as a Social Process of Control Theoretical Framework
Giddens' Duality of Structure Signification/Legitimation/Domination
Sensitizing Device: Production-v-Accounting meanings

Positive vs. Interpretive Case

Studies

Positive case studies: seek to discover verifiable facts want generalisable findings Hence,
usually exploratory
Interpretive case studies: seek possible explanations provide (local) understandings Hence,
should be explanatory
Positive Case Studies Neo-classical economic/functionalist framework Role of management
practices not questioned Exploratory cases Small samples
Interpretive Case Studies Management practices are socially constructed Interpretation:
Understanding day-to-day practices Holistic perspective Explanatory cases

Summary of Case Research

Methods

Bibliography
http://www.scdl.net/downloads/samplecsfin.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Yin
http://www.ft.com/management/case-study
http://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/docs/casestudy.pdf
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederic-Le-Play
http://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/resources/categories/casestudies/accounting/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWfcwGwGag0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_study