Selection Strategies for Single Case Study Research

Abstract

In qualitative case study research, case selection is important, in particular if there is only one case. This paper interrogates the rationales for case selection in 139 papers using single-case designs, which are published in Academy of Management, Organization Studies, Organization Science, Administrative Science Quarterly and Strategic Journal of Management between 1998 and 2016. We find that the most sophisticated research designs distinguish case selection decisions on two levels: the case and within the case (i.e. embedded units). While nearly all papers provide ‘inclusionary criteria’ for selecting the case, majority of papers actually build theory from systematic comparisons of embedded units present within the case. Albeit, less than half of our papers provide an explicit inclusionary criterion for selecting these embedded units. To improve rigor (or trustworthiness) in single-case research, we propose (a) that researchers should discuss ‘inclusionary’ criteria both at the level of the case and embedded units, and (b) researchers should also discuss ‘exclusionary’ criteria at the level of embedded units.