Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences

Alexander L. George, Andrew Bennett

MIT Press, 2005 - Political Science - 331 pages

Winner of the 2006 Giovanni Sartori Book Award, given by the American Political Science Association's Qualitative Methods Section.

The use of case studies to build and test theories in political science and the other social sciences has increased in recent years. Many scholars have argued that the social sciences rely too heavily on quantitative research and formal models and have attempted to develop and refine rigorous methods for using case studies. This text presents a comprehensive analysis of research methods using case studies and examines the place of case studies in social science methodology. It argues that case studies, statistical methods, and formal models are complementary rather than competitive. The book explains how to design case study research that will produce results useful to policymakers and emphasizes the importance of developing policy-relevant theories. It offers three major contributions to case study methodology: an emphasis on the importance of within-case analysis, a detailed discussion of process tracing, and development of the concept of typological theories. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences will be particularly useful to graduate students and scholars in social science methodology and the philosophy of science, as well as to those designing new research projects, and will contribute greatly to the broader debate about scientific methods.

About the author

Andrew Bennett is Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is also President of the Consortium on Qualitative Research Methods, which sponsors the annual Institute on Qualitative and Multi-Method Research at Syracuse University. He is the co-author, with Alexander L. George, of Case Studies and Theory Development (2005), which won the Giovanni Sartori Prize in 2005 for the best book on qualitative methods.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences; BCSIA book; BCSIA studies in international security; Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, Alexander L. George
• Authors: Alexander L. George, Andrew Bennett
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: MIT Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0262072572, 9780262072571
• Length: 331 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory; Social Science / Research