Science of the Particular: An Advocacy of Naturalistic Case Study in Health Research

Case studies can provide us with in-depth understanding of a single demarcated entity. Cases can be corporations and clinics, but are usually people. There are several approaches to case study. Naturalistic case study constitutes the science of the particular. The aim of naturalistic case study is t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2014-08, Vol.24 (8), p.1150-1161
Main Authors: Abma, Tineke A., Stake, Robert E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Commitments
Intervention
Oldest old people
Qualitative research
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Case studies can provide us with in-depth understanding of a single demarcated entity. Cases can be corporations and clinics, but are usually people. There are several approaches to case study. Naturalistic case study constitutes the science of the particular. The aim of naturalistic case study is to understand with minimum intervention the particularity of a case in its ordinary situation from multiple perspectives. Naturalistic case study relies on a humanistic commitment to study the world from the human perspective. The purpose here is to illuminate how five key features of naturalistic case study can be used in health research. Case studies are of use in various disciplines. In this article we show that the naturalistic case study can have extraordinary value in health research, and is useful from a variety of perspectives. We do so by presenting a case report of a 92-year-old resident moving to a care center.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732314543196