What is a Case Study?
"A case study is an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon, or social unit" (Sharan Merriam, 1988, p.21).
Case studies aims at detailed analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their relationships. It is an investigation of the phenomenon in a real-life context within a particular boundary. The main criticism of the case study is the issue of sampling where the number of cases or subjects are small and the issue of reliability and generalisability arises. In this respective, some have argued that the case study is only useful as an exploratory method. However, others argue that if case studies a properly planned, they will be able to yield explanations of phenomena that occur in real-life situations.
