What are common standards for case studies based dissertations?
• Is case study research a social science substitute for scientific experimentation? It is interesting to note that case study research plays an important role in the natural sciences as well as social sciences. Many scientific fields, such as astronomy, geology, and human biology, do not lend themselves to scientific investigation through traditional controlled experiments. Darwin’s theory of evolution was based, in essence, on case study research, not experimentation, for instance. • Aren’t case studies unscientific because they cannot be replicated? It is true that a later researcher using case methods will of necessity be studying a different case, if only because he or she comes later, and therefore may come to different conclusions. Similarly, in experimental and quasi-experimental research the subjects will differ, meaning relationships may differ. What makes research replicable in either case study or experimental research is not the units of analysis but whether the research h
