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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Research Design

Case study

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

nounCore term

In academic english & research, case study means: An in-depth study of one particular person, group, organization, event or place, used to understand it in its real context.

In Turkish: durum çalışması, vaka çalışması, örnek olay incelemesi

How it is used

Common in education, business, law, medicine and the social sciences. A case study can be single or multiple and may combine interviews, documents and observation. Researchers usually name the case: 'a case study of a primary school in Izmir'.

Example sentences

  1. This case study examines how one small company moved to remote work.

  2. We conducted a multiple case study of three rural schools.

Common collocations

  • conduct a case study
  • single case study
  • multiple case study
  • in-depth case study
  • qualitativeDescribing research that studies experiences, meanings and behavior through words, images or observation rather than numbers, often with smaller groups of people.
  • methodologyThe overall approach and reasoning behind how a study is done, including the choice of design, methods, data and analysis, and the reasons for those choices.
  • research questionA clear, focused question that a study is designed to answer; it guides the choice of methods, data and analysis.
  • mixed methodsA research design that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis in one study to answer a question more fully.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Research Design

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