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Academy of Management Review, 1989, Vol. 14, No. 4, 532-550.
This paper makes two contributions: “A roadmap for building theories from case study research”
and “positioning theory building from case studies into the larger context of social science
research.”
The process Eisenhardt proposes for building theory includes the following steps: 1. Getting
Started, 2. Selecting Cases, 3. Crafting Instruments and Protocol, 4. Entering the Field, 5.
Analyzing Data, 6. Shaping Hypothesis, 7. Enfolding Literature, 8. Reaching Closure. These are
detailed in Table 1 on page 533.
Eisenhardt states, “Finally and most importantly, theory-building research is begun as close as
possible to the ideal of no theory under consideration and no hypotheses to test.” She proposes
overlapping data collection with analysis and changing the data collection as necessary called
“flexible data collection.” She goes on to advocate adding data collection methods during the
study to get as much information as possible. Shaping hypotheses is considered an iterative
process with assessing the framework with the data and modifying the framework until the
construct matches the data well. This is called sharpening the constructs. After the construct is
created qualitative data are used to understand “why or why not the emergent relationships
hold.” Closure is reached when theoretical saturation is reached through the iterative process.
The paper defines three strengths of this technique of building theory from case studies.
1. The likelihood of generating novel theory.
2. The emergent theory is likely to testable and falsifiable.
3. The theory is likely to empirically valid.
Weaknesses mentioned are:
1. The theory may be overly complex from the tendency to try to capture all the data.
2. The resulting theory may be narrow and idiosyncratic and therefore not generalizable.
Critique: The article was well written and very understandable. It provides a opposing view to
those that believe that starting from theory and going to experimentation to attempt to falsify the
hypotheses is the only way to generate theory. As an over-simplification, Eisenhardt proposes to
go gather data and then use that data to formulate a theory. The theory generated in this manner
should be testable by using the methods used to gather the original data. One can only imagine
the debate this article must have created in 1989.
Building Theories from Case Study Research
Summary on article Building Theories from Case Study Research by
Kathleen Eisenhardt
Introduction
The paper introduces different views about case study research and tries clear the confusion
about combining them. To do so it offers a framework with eight steps, that shows how to
conduct the process of building theory from case study research.
The Process
The process is highly iterative and the steps can be moved backward and forward
Getting started
• Create initial research question otherwise you might be overwhelmed by the volume of
data.
• Look for priori constructs to get help in measuring them.
• Start with no theory in mind, since initial theory could blind you.
Selecting cases
• Select appropriate population to draw cases from
• Choose cases for theoretical not statistical reasons
• Random sampling of cases is not preferable
Analysing Data
• Analysing data is the most import and difficult part in building theories from case study
• Within-case analysis can help to deal with vast amount of data
• Study each case individually before making generalizations between cases to see unique
patterns in each case
• People are poor processors of information, and there is risk of reaching premature or false
conclusion
• Good cross case analysis will help the information processing by forcing the researcher to
see beyond initial impressions.
• Tactics for cross case analysis
1. Categorize the cases and look within-group similarities and differences between
groups
2. Select pairs of cases and then list similarities and differences
3. Divide data by data source e.g. one researches looks the observational data, other
studies the interviews etc.
Shaping Hypotheses
• The main idea is to iterate toward theory that fits the data. This can be done with
following steps
1. Sharpen the constructs
2. Compare hypothesis to cases
3. Cases which match hypothesis enhance confidence.
4. Cases that don’t match give opportunity to refine and extend theory
5. Qualitative data can help understanding why emergent relationships hold or fail. This
helps in creating internal validity
Enfolding literature
• Compare with conflicting literature: A) To increase confident in findings and B) to
pursue the opportunity for more deeper insight to the emergent theory and conflicting
literature
• Compare with similar findings to tie results to phenomena not normally associated with
each other.
Reaching Closure
• When to stop adding cases and when stop iterating between theory and data
1. No perfect number for cases exists. 4-10 cases usually works well
2. Stop iterating when improvements to theory are minimal (what might this mean)
Applicability
• Building theories from case studies can be used, when little is known from the subject or
new view to phenomenon is need
Resumo e crítica de "Construção de Teorias Case Study Research", Eisenhardt K., Academy of
Management Review, 1989, vol. 14, No. 4, 532-550.
Este artigo faz duas contribuições: "Um roteiro para a construção de teorias de estudo de caso" e
"construção de teorias de posicionamento de estudos de caso no contexto mais amplo da
pesquisa em ciências sociais."
The process Eisenhardt proposes for building theory includes the following steps: 1. Getting
Started, 2. Selecting Cases, 3. Crafting Instruments and Protocol, 4. Entering the Field, 5.
Analyzing Data, 6. Shaping Hypothesis, 7. Enfolding Literature, 8. Reaching Closure. These are
detailed in Table 1 on page 533.
O documento define três pontos fortes desta técnica de construção de teoria a partir de estudos
de caso.
1. A teoria pode ser excessivamente complexo da tendência para tentar capturar todos os dados.
Introdução
O artigo apresenta diferentes visões sobre estudo de caso e tenta limpar a confusão sobre a
combiná-los. Para tanto, oferece um quadro com oito etapas, que mostra como conduzir o
processo de construção da teoria do estudo de caso.
O Processo
O processo é altamente interativo e as etapas podem ser movidas para trás e para frente
Começar
• Crie questão de pesquisa inicial de outra forma você poderia ser dominado pelo volume
de dados.
• Procure priori constrói para obter ajuda na sua medição.
• Comece com uma teoria em mente, desde a teoria inicial pode cegá-lo.
Seleção de casos
Entrando no campo
Análise de Dados
Moldando Hipóteses
• A idéia principal é fazer uma iteração para a teoria que se ajusta aos dados. Isso pode ser
feito com os seguintes passos
1. Afie as construções
Alcançando Encerramento
• Quando parar de adicionar casos e quando parar a iteração entre teoria e dados
1. Nenhum número perfeito para os casos existe. 4-10 casos geralmente funciona
bem
1. Pare quando a iteração melhorias teoria são mínimas (o que poderia significar
essa)
Aplicabilidade
• teorias de construção de estudos de caso podem ser usados, quando pouco se sabe da
nova ou para ver fenômeno está sujeito precisa