Richard de Neufville's TPP SM Thesis Manual - Title Page - MIT

Use of a case study as part of an inductive effort is also, to a great extent, acontradiction in terms. The essence of the inductive approach is to draw generalconclusions from many particular examples; the essence of a case study is to beunique. Evidently, I do not recommend inductive case studies!Limits on Usefulness: The use of a case study as part of an argument to developor validate a theory suffers from limitations inherent in the unique nature of anycase study, and thus unavoidable. These are that:• A single case study cannot prove a general theory, and it is really a singleanecdote; and• It is always questionable whether the single case study is representative ofmore general situations.A single case study cannot prove a general theory, since it cannot demonstratethat there are no counter-examples. The case study can at best corroborate ageneral theory, show that it is plausible. This is what Renata Pomponi did in herstudies of product design in the aerospace industry (Pomponi, R. (1998)"Organizational Structures for Technology Transition: Rethinking InformationFlow in the Integrated Product Team," Ph.D. Dissertation Technology,Management and P9olicy Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA).The fact that it is extremely difficult to demonstrate that a particular case isrepresentative of a general situation places definite limits on the kinds ofconclusions one can draw. Simply put, you cannot expect to go from a singlecase to a general theory. For example, it is inappropriate to use a single casestudy of a design process of refineries in Indonesia in the 1990's, to argue atheory about the design problems for all kinds of projects at any period, for all ofIndonesia, let alone for all developing countries. Recognize at the start that asingle case study can only indicate a possibility.A single case study can, however, disprove a general theory. It can be acounter-example, a demonstration that the general theory does not work.Advantage of Several CasesIt should be obvious that using more than one case as evidence to support athesis can strengthen the argument. The logic seems compelling: moreinformation means a better understanding. The use of several cases can thus bea critical element of a successful thesis.Dealing successfully with several cases requires careful thought. Thedifferences between the cases may lead to confusion. This is because theresults of each case will inevitably not be identical. For example, theThesis Definition and Preparation - Richard de Neufville 40