Doing Case Study Research: A Practical Guide for Beginning Researchers, SECOND EDITION

“A highly accessible introductory text and a very quick read. . . . Hancock and Algozzine are pedagogically savvy when introducing readers to case study research.”

—Journal of College Student Development

“Novice researchers need a step-by-step guide like this one to help them with their own research, and professors of research always need more textbooks about research methods to use with their students. Doing Case Study Research, Second Edition is a definitive guide that will help across many fields.” 

—M. Elizabeth Hendrix, Missouri Western State University

“It is a perfect fit for the early-stage researchers that I teach in public policy. This book tackles the breadth of coverage that I need in this capstone course that takes students from identifying a research topic and question to collecting and analyzing data.” 

—Billie Gastic, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston

This popular handbook has been updated to provide today’s beginning researchers with everything they need to plan and implement case studies. Starting with how to establish a rationale for conducting a systematic case study and identify literature that informs the research effort, this resource shows students how to determine an appropriate research design and conduct informative interviews, observations, and document analyses. It also describes methods for deriving meaning from data and communicating the results. Finally, the authors delineate the ways to verify the results attained. Students and advisors can use these easy-to-follow steps to shape a thesis, dissertation, or independent project from conceptualization to completion.

The Second Edition features:

• Many new examples illustrating the types of programs, activities, individuals, and situations examined by case study research.


• New material on evaluating case studies and factors to consider when examining reliability and validity.


• The use of nonstandard forms of research dissemination, such as blogs and editorials.

Dawson R. Hancock is chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Bob Algozzine is the director of the Behavior and Reading Improvement Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.