case study for anthropology

Case study method in anthropology

Karen Sykes, Anthropology.

A paraphrase of Gluckman’s thoughts on the case study captures the essence of the method:

Anthropologists use ‘case’ in a slightly different way than some legal scholars or psychoanalysts, either of whom might use cases to illustrate their points or theories. Anthropologists often describe a case first, and then extract a general rule or custom from it, in the manner of inductive reasoning. Most often, the event is complex, or even a series of events, and we call these social situations, which can be analysed to show that the different conflictive perspectives on them are enjoined in the same social system (and not based in the assumption of cultural difference as a prima face condition of anthropological inquiry).

The case study, as a part of ‘situational analysis,’ is a vital approach that is used in anthropological research in the postcolonial world. In it we use the actions of individuals and groups within these situations to exhibit the morphology of a social structure, which is most often held together by conflict itself. Each case is taken as evidence of the stages in the unfolding process of social relations between specific persons and groups. When seen as such, we can dispense with the study of sentiment as accidental eruptions of emotions, or as differences of individual temperament, and bring depth to the study of society by penetrating surface tensions to understand how conflict constructs human experiences and gives shape to these as ‘social dramas’, which are the expressions of cultural life.

Experts/users at Manchester

The Case Study Method in Anthropology is used in many different research projects from ethnography of urban poverty, through studies of charismatic Christian movements, Cultural Property and in visual methods.

• Professor Caroline Moser  - Caroline Moser, Professor of Urban Development and Director of GURC uses variations of the case study in her uses of the participatory urban appraisal methods to conduct research into peace processes, urban violence, as well as climate change.
• Dr Andrew Irving  - Andrew Irving has used variations of the case study as social drama when examining life-events of his informants, as way to access their thoughts about immanence of death (which he calls interior knowledge).
• Professor Karen Sykes  - Karen Sykes originally experimented with the use of case study method in order to understand how people came to see cultural property rights as a legal device to protect their cultural life from exploitation. Her book “Culture and Cultural Property in the New Guinea Islands Region: Seven Case Studies” was co-authored with J. Simet and S. Kamene and features the work of five female students at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Key references

Evens, T. M. S. and D. Handelman (2007) The Manchester School: Practice and ethnographic praxis in anthropology, Oxford: Berghahn. This book deals with the Case Study method as the cornerstone of all of the Manchester School methodologies.

Turner, V. (1953) Schism and Continuity in an African Society, Manchester University Press for the Rhodes Livingstone Institute. Turner’s first use of the social drama as a version of the case study method.

Mitchell, C. (1983) Case and Situation Analysis, Sociological Review, 31: 187 – 211. The definitive paper on Situational Analysis which can be compared to van Velson on the extended case method.

Van Velson, J. (1967) The Extended Case Method and Situational Analysis in Epstein, A. L., 1967, The Craft of Anthropology, London: Tavistock. This edited book collected chapters by Manchester School members on various approaches to anthropology.

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Case Study Method

• Last Updated: Jun 18, 2023

A case study is an in-depth examination of a specific phenomenon, individual, or context, usually from a qualitative perspective. The case study method is typically used in social sciences, such as anthropology , sociology , and psychology, to explore real-life, complex, multifaceted phenomena within their context [1] . It often involves a blend of various data collection techniques, including interviews, observations, and document analysis.

History and Development of the Case Study Method

The origin of the case study method can be traced back to medical and psychological research, with seminal work by Freud and Piaget employing this approach. Gradually, it spread to disciplines like sociology and anthropology, where researchers found the method valuable for deeply understanding social phenomena, cultural practices, and individual behaviors within their natural contexts.

Anthropology, in particular, has a long-standing history with case study research, with seminal anthropologists like Bronislaw Malinowski advocating for detailed participant observation and in-depth study of individual cultures, essentially a form of case study. Malinowski’s work in the Trobriand Islands stands as a classic case study, providing detailed insights into the native culture [2] .

Use of the Case Study Method in Different Disciplines

While the case study method has broad applicability across many disciplines, its utilization in anthropology is distinct for several reasons. Firstly, anthropologists emphasize cultural relativism, a perspective where a culture is understood within its own context. The case study method lends itself well to this, allowing for deep immersion and understanding of a particular culture or social group.

For example, Clifford Geertz’s interpretive case study of the Balinese cockfight is a perfect demonstration of the anthropological use of the case study method [3] . Through this study, Geertz explored the symbolic meaning of the cockfight in Balinese society, a discovery that would not have been possible without the in-depth, contextual exploration offered by the case study method.

Types of Case Study Methods

Case study research in anthropology is far from monolithic. It encompasses a range of different types, each suited to specific research objectives and questions. In this section, we will explore several main types of case studies, namely exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, intrinsic, instrumental, and collective case studies.

Exploratory Case Studies

Exploratory case studies aim to investigate a phenomenon or situation where there is little prior knowledge or where new insights are desired. They are often employed when a researcher wants to identify the important research questions and suitable research methods for a subsequent larger study. For instance, an anthropologist may conduct an exploratory case study to understand the dynamics of a newly discovered indigenous tribe.

Descriptive Case Studies

Descriptive case studies, as the name implies, aim to describe a phenomenon in its natural context. These studies emphasize a detailed, in-depth portrayal of the case, often drawing on various data sources for a comprehensive understanding. For example, a descriptive case study might provide a detailed account of a unique cultural ritual or societal structure within a specific ethnic group.

Explanatory Case Studies

Explanatory case studies seek to explain a particular phenomenon or outcome. These case studies are common in disciplines that focus on causation or causal relationships. In anthropology, explanatory case studies might investigate the cause-effect relationship between cultural practices and societal outcomes, such as the impact of gender roles on societal structure in a particular culture.

Intrinsic Case Study

Intrinsic case study research focuses on the case itself, typically when the case presents an unusual or unique phenomenon. The goal is not to generalize beyond the case but to gain a deeper understanding of the case itself. An anthropologist might use this method to study an isolated community that has not had contact with the outside world, for example.

Instrumental Case Study

Instrumental case studies, on the other hand, focus on a particular issue or concern, using the case as a means to provide insight into that issue. The case itself is of secondary interest and serves as a conduit to understand the wider issue. An anthropologist might use an instrumental case study to understand the impacts of globalization on indigenous cultures.

Collective Case Study

Collective case studies, also known as multiple case studies, involve studying several cases simultaneously to understand a phenomenon, population, or general condition. This approach is valuable in anthropology when comparing and contrasting different cultures or societies.

Design and Development of Case Studies

Case study research involves a rigorous design and development process, ensuring that the data gathered is representative, robust, and relevant.

Selecting the Case(s)

The process begins with careful case selection. In anthropology, the selection is typically driven by the research question and the phenomenon under investigation. For instance, if an anthropologist is studying the impact of modernization on tribal cultures, a tribe undergoing significant societal changes would be an apt case.

Data Collection Methods in Case Studies

Once the case is selected, data collection becomes the next pivotal step. Anthropologists often employ a multimethod approach, using methods such as interviews, observations, and document analysis to ensure a holistic understanding of the case. For example, when studying an indigenous tribe, anthropologists might live within the community, conduct interviews, observe daily activities, and study any available historical or legal documents.

Importance of Contextualization in Case Studies

Contextualization is essential in anthropological case studies. The aim is to understand the case within its natural setting, taking into account the cultural, social, political, and environmental factors that might affect it. In studying a cultural practice, an anthropologist must contextualize it within the broader cultural beliefs, societal norms, and historical background of the community.

The Role of Triangulation in Enhancing Validity

Triangulation, using multiple data sources or methods to study the same phenomenon, enhances the validity of case study research. By corroborating findings from different data sources or methods, anthropologists can build a more credible and comprehensive understanding of the case.

Analyzing and Interpreting Case Studies

After data collection, the task shifts to analysis and interpretation.

Coding and Thematic Analysis

Coding and thematic analysis are common methods for analyzing qualitative data in case studies. Through a process of coding, data are broken down into manageable chunks, then grouped into themes that allow for patterns and insights to emerge.

Grounded Theory Analysis

Grounded theory analysis is another approach often used in case studies. It involves developing a theory grounded in the data collected, providing a framework for understanding the phenomenon under study.

Cross-case Synthesis

In multiple or collective case studies, cross-case synthesis can be useful. This process involves comparing and contrasting the findings across different cases, identifying common themes and differences.

Analyzing Case Studies within Cultural Context

Importantly, all analysis and interpretation must consider the cultural context. In anthropology, this means understanding the cultural norms, beliefs, and values that may influence the phenomenon under study.

Strengths and Limitations of Case Study Methods

Like all research methods, case studies come with both strengths and limitations. Understanding these aspects is essential for researchers in anthropology and other disciplines, as it allows them to leverage the strengths and mitigate the limitations.

Strengths of Case Study Methods

Depth of information and insights.

One of the key strengths of case studies lies in the depth of information they provide. By focusing on a single case or a small number of cases, researchers can delve into the intricacies and complexities of the subject matter. This depth is invaluable in anthropology, allowing anthropologists to understand phenomena from the insider’s perspective. For instance, studying a specific cultural practice within an indigenous tribe can provide profound insights into the tribe’s worldview and belief systems.

Flexibility in Data Collection

The case study method allows for flexibility in data collection. Researchers can employ a mix of methods, such as interviews, observations, document analysis, and more, depending on what is most suitable for the case and the research question. This flexibility enables anthropologists to adapt to the field situation, ensuring they capture the most relevant and meaningful data.

Context Sensitivity

Case studies are highly sensitive to context. They allow for the study of a phenomenon within its real-world context, providing a rich, holistic understanding. This sensitivity aligns with the anthropological commitment to cultural relativism, ensuring that phenomena are understood within the cultural, social, and historical context in which they occur.

Limitations of Case Study Methods

Challenges in generalization.

A common critique of case study research is its limited ability to generalize. Because case studies focus on specific cases, the findings might not be applicable to other cases or broader populations. However, it is worth noting that generalization is not always the goal in anthropological research. Often, the aim is to provide an in-depth understanding of a specific cultural context.

Time and Resource Constraints

Conducting case study research is often time-consuming and resource-intensive [4] . Collecting and analyzing data from multiple sources, spending extensive time in the field, and the iterative nature of qualitative analysis can demand substantial resources. These constraints might limit the feasibility of case studies in some situations.

The Future of Case Study Method in Anthropology

In the rapidly evolving world of research, the case study method continues to be a crucial tool in the anthropologist’s arsenal. However, the future will likely see further evolution and innovation in the application of this method, in response to new challenges and opportunities.

Emerging Trends in Case Study Research

Digital technology has revolutionized the way we conduct research, and case studies are no exception. Digital ethnography, for example, is becoming increasingly prominent. It allows anthropologists to study online communities and digital cultures just as they would physical communities.

In the context of case studies, this might involve studying the interactions and norms within an online gaming community or a social media network. As digital spaces become increasingly important in our lives, the relevance and prevalence of digital ethnography and virtual case studies are likely to grow.

Interdisciplinary Case Studies

Interdisciplinary case studies, where multiple disciplines combine to study a single case, are another promising trend. For example, anthropologists might collaborate with psychologists, sociologists, or environmental scientists to study a community’s response to climate change or other multifaceted phenomena. Such interdisciplinary studies can offer a more comprehensive understanding, taking into account the biological, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions.

Globalization and Its Impact on Case Study Research

Globalization has major implications for case study research in anthropology. As communities become more interconnected and influences become more global, anthropologists can no longer study cultures in isolation. Instead, they need to consider global influences, from the influx of technology to the impacts of international policies [5] .

In practical terms, this might involve studying how global trends impact local cultures, or how local cultures resist, adapt to, or influence global trends. The case study method, with its focus on specific contexts, is well-suited to explore these complex dynamics.

In conclusion, while the principles of case study research remain the same, the future will bring new contexts, new challenges, and new opportunities. Anthropologists will need to innovate and adapt, ensuring that the case study method continues to be a valuable tool for understanding human societies.

[1] Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 544-559.

[2] Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

[3] Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.

[4] Yin, R. K. (2013). Case study research: Design and methods. Sage publications.

[5] Inda, J. X., & Rosaldo, R. (2002). The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Blackwell Publishers.

Vasundhra, an anthropologist, embarks on a captivating journey to decode the enigmatic tapestry of human society. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, she unravels the intricacies of social phenomena, immersing herself in the lived experiences of diverse cultures. Armed with an unwavering passion for understanding the very essence of our existence, Vasundhra fearlessly navigates the labyrinth of genetic and social complexities that shape our collective identity. Her recent publication unveils the story of the Ancient DNA field, illuminating the pervasive global North-South divide. With an irresistible blend of eloquence and scientific rigor, Vasundhra effortlessly captivates audiences, transporting them to the frontiers of anthropological exploration.

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Case Study Research

• First Online: 29 September 2022

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• Robert E. White   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8045-164X 3 &
• Karyn Cooper 4  

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As a footnote to the previous chapter, there is such a beast known as the ethnographic case study. Ethnographic case study has found its way into this chapter rather than into the previous one because of grammatical considerations. Simply put, the “case study” part of the phrase is the noun (with “case” as an adjective defining what kind of study it is), while the “ethnographic” part of the phrase is an adjective defining the type of case study that is being conducted. As such, the case study becomes the methodology, while the ethnography part refers to a method, mode or approach relating to the development of the study.

The experiential account that we get from a case study or qualitative research of a similar vein is just so necessary. How things happen over time and the degree to which they are subject to personality and how they are only gradually perceived as tolerable or intolerable by the communities and the groups that are involved is so important. Robert Stake, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

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A Case in Case Study Methodology

Christine Benedichte Meyer

Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration

Meyer, C. B. (2001). A Case in Case Study Methodology. Field Methods 13 (4), 329-352.

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive view of the case study process from the researcher’s perspective, emphasizing methodological considerations. As opposed to other qualitative or quantitative research strategies, such as grounded theory or surveys, there are virtually no specific requirements guiding case research. This is both the strength and the weakness of this approach. It is a strength because it allows tailoring the design and data collection procedures to the research questions. On the other hand, this approach has resulted in many poor case studies, leaving it open to criticism, especially from the quantitative field of research. This article argues that there is a particular need in case studies to be explicit about the methodological choices one makes. This implies discussing the wide range of decisions concerned with design requirements, data collection procedures, data analysis, and validity and reliability. The approach here is to illustrate these decisions through a particular case study of two mergers in the financial industry in Norway.

In the past few years, a number of books have been published that give useful guidance in conducting qualitative studies (Gummesson 1988; Cassell & Symon 1994; Miles & Huberman 1994; Creswell 1998; Flick 1998; Rossman & Rallis 1998; Bryman & Burgess 1999; Marshall & Rossman 1999; Denzin & Lincoln 2000). One approach often mentioned is the case study (Yin 1989). Case studies are widely used in organizational studies in the social science disciplines of sociology, industrial relations, and anthropology (Hartley 1994). Such a study consists of detailed investigation of one or more organizations, or groups within organizations, with a view to providing an analysis of the context and processes involved in the phenomenon under study.

As opposed to other qualitative or quantitative research strategies, such as grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967) or surveys (Nachmias & Nachmias 1981), there are virtually no specific requirements guiding case research. Yin (1989) and Eisenhardt (1989) give useful insights into the case study as a research strategy, but leave most of the design decisions on the table. This is both the strength and the weakness of this approach. It is a strength because it allows tailoring the design and data collection procedures to the research questions. On the other hand, this approach has resulted in many poor case studies, leaving it open to criticism, especially from the quantitative field of research (Cook and Campbell 1979). The fact that the case study is a rather loose design implies that there are a number of choices that need to be addressed in a principled way.

Although case studies have become a common research strategy, the scope of methodology sections in articles published in journals is far too limited to give the readers a detailed and comprehensive view of the decisions taken in the particular studies, and, given the format of methodology sections, will remain so. The few books (Yin 1989, 1993; Hamel, Dufour, & Fortin 1993; Stake 1995) and book chapters on case studies (Hartley 1994; Silverman 2000) are, on the other hand, mainly normative and span a broad range of different kinds of case studies. One exception is Pettigrew (1990, 1992), who places the case study in the context of a research tradition (the Warwick process research).

Given the contextual nature of the case study and its strength in addressing contemporary phenomena in real-life contexts, I believe that there is a need for articles that provide a comprehensive overview of the case study process from the researcher’s perspective, emphasizing methodological considerations. This implies addressing the whole range of choices concerning specific design requirements, data collection procedures, data analysis, and validity and reliability.

WHY A CASE STUDY?

Case studies are tailor-made for exploring new processes or behaviors or ones that are little understood (Hartley 1994). Hence, the approach is particularly useful for responding to how and why questions about a contemporary set of events (Leonard-Barton 1990). Moreover, researchers have argued that certain kinds of information can be difficult or even impossible to tackle by means other than qualitative approaches such as the case study (Sykes 1990). Gummesson (1988:76) argues that an important advantage of case study research is the opportunity for a holistic view of the process: “The detailed observations entailed in the case study method enable us to study many different aspects, examine them in relation to each other, view the process within its total environment and also use the researchers’ capacity for ‘verstehen.’ ”

The contextual nature of the case study is illustrated in Yin’s (1993:59) definition of a case study as an empirical inquiry that “investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context and addresses a situation in which the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.”

The key difference between the case study and other qualitative designs such as grounded theory and ethnography (Glaser & Strauss 1967; Strauss & Corbin 1990; Gioia & Chittipeddi 1991) is that the case study is open to the use of theory or conceptual categories that guide the research and analysis of data. In contrast, grounded theory or ethnography presupposes that theoretical perspectives are grounded in and emerge from firsthand data. Hartley (1994) argues that without a theoretical framework, the researcher is in severe danger of providing description without meaning. Gummesson (1988) says that a lack of preunderstanding will cause the researcher to spend considerable time gathering basic information. This preunderstanding may arise from general knowledge such as theories, models, and concepts or from specific knowledge of institutional conditions and social patterns. According to Gummesson, the key is not to require researchers to have split but dual personalities: “Those who are able to balance on a razor’s edge using their pre-understanding without being its slave” (p. 58).

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE STUDY

The study that will be used for illustrative purposes is a comparative and longitudinal case study of organizational integration in mergers and acquisitions taking place in Norway. The study had two purposes: (1) to identify contextual factors and features of integration that facilitated or impeded organizational integration, and (2) to study how the three dimensions of organizational integration (integration of tasks, unification of power, and integration of cultures and identities) interrelated and evolved over time. Examples of contextual factors were relative power, degree of friendliness, and economic climate. Integration features included factors such as participation, communication, and allocation of positions and functions.

Mergers and acquisitions are inherently complex. Researchers in the field have suggested that managers continuously underestimate the task of integrating the merging organizations in the postintegration process (Haspeslaph & Jemison 1991). The process of organizational integration can lead to sharp interorganizational conflict as the different top management styles, organizational and work unit cultures, systems, and other aspects of organizational life come into contact (Blake & Mounton 1985; Schweiger & Walsh 1990; Cartwright & Cooper 1993). Furthermore, cultural change in mergers and acquisitions is compounded by additional uncertainties, ambiguities, and stress inherent in the combination process (Buono & Bowditch 1989).

I focused on two combinations: one merger and one acquisition. The first case was a merger between two major Norwegian banks, Bergen Bank and DnC (to be named DnB), that started in the late 1980s. The second case was a study of a major acquisition in the insurance industry (i.e., Gjensidige’s acquisition of Forenede), that started in the early 1990s. Both combinations aimed to realize operational synergies though merging the two organizations into one entity. This implied disruption of organizational boundaries and threat to the existing power distribution and organizational cultures.

The study of integration processes in mergers and acquisitions illustrates the need to find a design that opens for exploration of sensitive issues such as power struggles between the two merging organizations. Furthermore, the inherent complexity in the integration process, involving integration of tasks, unification of power, and cultural integration stressed the need for in-depth study of the phenomenon over time. To understand the cultural integration process, the design also had to be linked to the past history of the two organizations.

DESIGN DECISIONS

In the introduction, I stressed that a case is a rather loose design that requires that a number of design choices be made. In this section, I go through the most important choices I faced in the study of organizational integration in mergers and acquisitions. These include: (1) selection of cases; (2) sampling time; (3) choosing business areas, divisions, and sites; and (4) selection of and choices regarding data collection procedures, interviews, documents, and observation.

Selection of Cases

There are several choices involved in selecting cases. First, there is the question of how many cases to include. Second, one must sample cases and decide on a unit of analysis. I will explore these issues subsequently.

Single or Multiple Cases

Case studies can involve single or multiple cases. The problem of single cases is limitations in generalizability and several information-processing biases (Eisenhardt 1989).

One way to respond to these biases is by applying a multi-case approach (Leonard-Barton 1990). Multiple cases augment external validity and help guard against observer biases. Moreover, multi-case sampling adds confidence to findings. By looking at a range of similar and contrasting cases, we can understand a single-case finding, grounding it by specifying how and where and, if possible, why it behaves as it does. (Miles & Huberman 1994)

Given these limitations of the single case study, it is desirable to include more than one case study in the study. However, the desire for depth and a pluralist perspective and tracking the cases over time implies that the number of cases must be fairly few. I chose two cases, which clearly does not support generalizability any more than does one case, but allows for comparison and contrast between the cases as well as a deeper and richer look at each case.

Originally, I planned to include a third case in the study. Due to changes in management during the initial integration process, my access to the case was limited and I left this case entirely. However, a positive side effect was that it allowed a deeper investigation of the two original cases and in hindsight turned out to be a good decision.

Sampling Cases

The logic of sampling cases is fundamentally different from statistical sampling. The logic in case studies involves theoretical sampling, in which the goal is to choose cases that are likely to replicate or extend the emergent theory or to fill theoretical categories and provide examples for polar types (Eisenhardt 1989). Hence, whereas quantitative sampling concerns itself with representativeness, qualitative sampling seeks information richness and selects the cases purposefully rather than randomly (Crabtree and Miller 1992).

The choice of cases was guided by George (1979) and Pettigrew’s (1990) recommendations. The aim was to find cases that matched the three dimensions in the dependent variable and provided variation in the contextual factors, thus representing polar cases.

To match the choice of outcome variable, organizational integration, I chose cases in which the purpose was to fully consolidate the merging parties’ operations. A full consolidation would imply considerable disruption in the organizational boundaries and would be expected to affect the task-related, political, and cultural features of the organizations. As for the contextual factors, the two cases varied in contextual factors such as relative power, friendliness, and economic climate. The DnB merger was a friendly combination between two equal partners in an unfriendly economic climate. Gjensidige’s acquisition of Forenede was, in contrast, an unfriendly and unbalanced acquisition in a friendly economic climate.

Unit of Analysis

Another way to respond to researchers’ and respondents’ biases is to have more than one unit of analysis in each case (Yin 1993). This implies that, in addition to developing contrasts between the cases, researchers can focus on contrasts within the cases (Hartley 1994). In case studies, there is a choice of a holistic or embedded design (Yin 1989). A holistic design examines the global nature of the phenomenon, whereas an embedded design also pays attention to subunit(s).

I used an embedded design to analyze the cases (i.e., within each case, I also gave attention to subunits and subprocesses). In both cases, I compared the combination processes in the various divisions and local networks. Moreover, I compared three distinct change processes in DnB: before the merger, during the initial combination, and two years after the merger. The overall and most important unit of analysis in the two cases was, however, the integration process.

Sampling Time

According to Pettigrew (1990), time sets a reference for what changes can be seen and how those changes are explained. When conducting a case study, there are several important issues to decide when sampling time. The first regards how many times data should be collected, while the second concerns when to enter the organizations. There is also a need to decide whether to collect data on a continuous basis or in distinct periods.

Number of data collections. I studied the process by collecting real time and retrospective data at two points in time, with one-and-a-half- and two-year intervals in the two cases. Collecting data twice had some interesting implications for the interpretations of the data. During the first data collection in the DnB study, for example, I collected retrospective data about the premerger and initial combination phase and real-time data about the second step in the combination process.

Although I gained a picture of how the employees experienced the second stage of the combination process, it was too early to assess the effects of this process at that stage. I entered the organization two years later and found interesting effects that I had not anticipated the first time. Moreover, it was interesting to observe how people’s attitudes toward the merger processes changed over time to be more positive and less emotional.

When to enter the organizations. It would be desirable to have had the opportunity to collect data in the precombination processes. However, researchers are rarely given access in this period due to secrecy. The emphasis in this study was to focus on the postcombination process. As such, the precombination events were classified as contextual factors. This implied that it was most important to collect real-time data after the parties had been given government approval to merge or acquire. What would have been desirable was to gain access earlier in the postcombination process. This was not possible because access had to be negotiated. Due to the change of CEO in the middle of the merger process and the need for renegotiating access, this took longer than expected.

Regarding the second case, I was restricted by the time frame of the study. In essence, I had to choose between entering the combination process as soon as governmental approval was given, or entering the organization at a later stage. In light of the previous studies in the field that have failed to go beyond the initial two years, and given the need to collect data about the cultural integration process, I chose the latter strategy. And I decided to enter the organizations at two distinct periods of time rather than on a continuous basis.

There were several reasons for this approach, some methodological and some practical. First, data collection on a continuous basis would have required use of extensive observation that I didn’t have access to, and getting access to two data collections in DnB was difficult in itself. Second, I had a stay abroad between the first and second data collection in Gjensidige. Collecting data on a continuous basis would probably have allowed for better mapping of the ongoing integration process, but the contrasts between the two different stages in the integration process that I wanted to elaborate would probably be more difficult to detect. In Table 1 I have listed the periods of time in which I collected data in the two combinations.

Sampling Business Areas, Divisions, and Sites

Even when the cases for a study have been chosen, it is often necessary to make further choices within each case to make the cases researchable. The most important criteria that set the boundaries for the study are importance or criticality, relevance, and representativeness. At the time of the data collection, my criteria for making these decisions were not as conscious as they may appear here. Rather, being restricted by time and my own capacity as a researcher, I had to limit the sites and act instinctively. In both cases, I decided to concentrate on the core businesses (criticality criterion) and left out the business units that were only mildly affected by the integration process (relevance criterion). In the choice of regional offices, I used the representativeness criterion as the number of offices widely exceeded the number of sites possible to study. In making these choices, I relied on key informants in the organizations.

SELECTION OF DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

The choice of data collection procedures should be guided by the research question and the choice of design. The case study approach typically combines data collection methods such as archives, interviews, questionnaires, and observations (Yin 1989). This triangulated methodology provides stronger substantiation of constructs and hypotheses. However, the choice of data collection methods is also subject to constraints in time, financial resources, and access.

I chose a combination of interviews, archives, and observation, with main emphasis on the first two. Conducting a survey was inappropriate due to the lack of established concepts and indicators. The reason for limited observation, on the other hand, was due to problems in obtaining access early in the study and time and resource constraints. In addition to choosing among several different data collection methods, there are a number of choices to be made for each individual method.

When relying on interviews as the primary data collection method, the issue of building trust between the researcher and the interviewees becomes very important. I addressed this issue by several means. First, I established a procedure of how to approach the interviewees. In most cases, I called them first, then sent out a letter explaining the key features of the project and outlining the broad issues to be addressed in the interview. In this letter, the support from the institution’s top management was also communicated. In most cases, the top management’s support of the project was an important prerequisite for the respondent’s input. Some interviewees did, however, fear that their input would be open to the top management without disguising the information source. Hence, it became important to communicate how I intended to use and store the information.

To establish trust, I also actively used my preunderstanding of the context in the first case and the phenomenon in the second case. As I built up an understanding of the cases, I used this information to gain confidence. The active use of my preunderstanding did, however, pose important challenges in not revealing too much of the research hypotheses and in balancing between asking open-ended questions and appearing knowledgeable.

There are two choices involved in conducting interviews. The first concerns the sampling of interviewees. The second is that you must decide on issues such as the structure of the interviews, use of tape recorder, and involvement of other researchers.

Sampling Interviewees

Following the desire for detailed knowledge of each case and for grasping different participant’s views the aim was, in line with Pettigrew (1990), to apply a pluralist view by describing and analyzing competing versions of reality as seen by actors in the combination processes.

I used four criteria for sampling informants. First, I drew informants from populations representing multiple perspectives. The first data collection in DnB was primarily focused on the top management level. Moreover, most middle managers in the first data collection were employed at the head offices, either in Bergen or Oslo. In the second data collection, I compensated for this skew by including eight local middle managers in the sample. The difference between the number of employees interviewed in DnB and Gjensidige was primarily due to the fact that Gjensidige has three unions, whereas DnB only has one. The distribution of interviewees is outlined in Table 2 .

The second criterion was to use multiple informants. According to Glick et al. (1990), an important advantage of using multiple informants is that the validity of information provided by one informant can be checked against that provided by other informants. Moreover, the validity of the data used by the researcher can be enhanced by resolving the discrepancies among different informants’ reports. Hence, I selected multiple respondents from each perspective.

Third, I focused on key informants who were expected to be knowledgeable about the combination process. These people included top management members, managers, and employees involved in the integration project. To validate the information from these informants, I also used a fourth criterion by selecting managers and employees who had been affected by the process but who were not involved in the project groups.

Structured versus unstructured. In line with the explorative nature of the study, the goal of the interviews was to see the research topic from the perspective of the interviewee, and to understand why he or she came to have this particular perspective. To meet this goal, King (1994:15) recommends that one have “a low degree of structure imposed on the interviewer, a preponderance of open questions, a focus on specific situations and action sequences in the world of the interviewee rather than abstractions and general opinions.” In line with these recommendations, the collection of primary data in this study consists of unstructured interviews.

Using tape recorders and involving other researchers. The majority of the interviews were tape-recorded, and I could thus concentrate fully on asking questions and responding to the interviewees’ answers. In the few interviews that were not tape-recorded, most of which were conducted in the first phase of the DnB-study, two researchers were present. This was useful as we were both able to discuss the interviews later and had feedback on the role of an interviewer.

In hindsight, however, I wish that these interviews had been tape-recorded to maintain the level of accuracy and richness of data. Hence, in the next phases of data collection, I tape-recorded all interviews, with two exceptions (people who strongly opposed the use of this device). All interviews that were tape-recorded were transcribed by me in full, which gave me closeness and a good grasp of the data.

When organizations merge or make acquisitions, there are often a vast number of documents to choose from to build up an understanding of what has happened and to use in the analyses. Furthermore, when firms make acquisitions or merge, they often hire external consultants, each of whom produces more documents. Due to time constraints, it is seldom possible to collect and analyze all these documents, and thus the researcher has to make a selection.

The choice of documentation was guided by my previous experience with merger and acquisition processes and the research question. Hence, obtaining information on the postintegration process was more important than gaining access to the due-diligence analysis. As I learned about the process, I obtained more documents on specific issues. I did not, however, gain access to all the documents I asked for, and, in some cases, documents had been lost or shredded.

The documents were helpful in a number of ways. First, and most important, they were used as inputs to the interview guide and saved me time, because I did not have to ask for facts in the interviews. They were also useful for tracing the history of the organizations and statements made by key people in the organizations. Third, the documents were helpful in counteracting the biases of the interviews. A list of the documents used in writing the cases is shown in Table 3 .

Observation

The major strength of direct observation is that it is unobtrusive and does not require direct interaction with participants (Adler and Adler 1994). Observation produces rigor when it is combined with other methods. When the researcher has access to group processes, direct observation can illuminate the discrepancies between what people said in the interviews and casual conversations and what they actually do (Pettigrew 1990).

As with interviews, there are a number of choices involved in conducting observations. Although I did some observations in the study, I used interviews as the key data collection source. Discussion in this article about observations will thus be somewhat limited. Nevertheless, I faced a number of choices in conducting observations, including type of observation, when to enter, how much observation to conduct, and which groups to observe.

The are four ways in which an observer may gather data: (1) the complete participant who operates covertly, concealing any intention to observe the setting; (2) the participant-as-observer, who forms relationships and participates in activities, but makes no secret of his or her intentions to observe events; (3) the observer-as-participant, who maintains only superficial contact with the people being studied; and (4) the complete observer, who merely stands back and eavesdrops on the proceedings (Waddington 1994).

In this study, I used the second and third ways of observing. The use of the participant-as-observer mode, on which much ethnographic research is based, was rather limited in the study. There were two reasons for this. First, I had limited time available for collecting data, and in my view interviews made more effective use of this limited time than extensive participant observation. Second, people were rather reluctant to let me observe these political and sensitive processes until they knew me better and felt I could be trusted. Indeed, I was dependent on starting the data collection before having built sufficient trust to observe key groups in the integration process. Nevertheless, Gjensidige allowed me to study two employee seminars to acquaint me with the organization. Here I admitted my role as an observer but participated fully in the activities. To achieve variation, I chose two seminars representing polar groups of employees.

As observer-as-participant, I attended a top management meeting at the end of the first data collection in Gjensidige and observed the respondents during interviews and in more informal meetings, such as lunches. All these observations gave me an opportunity to validate the data from the interviews. Observing the top management group was by far the most interesting and rewarding in terms of input.

Both DnB and Gjensidige started to open up for more extensive observation when I was about to finish the data collection. By then, I had built up the trust needed to undertake this approach. Unfortunately, this came a little late for me to take advantage of it.

DATA ANALYSIS

Published studies generally describe research sites and data-collection methods, but give little space to discuss the analysis (Eisenhardt 1989). Thus, one cannot follow how a researcher arrives at the final conclusions from a large volume of field notes (Miles and Huberman 1994).

In this study, I went through the stages by which the data were reduced and analyzed. This involved establishing the chronology, coding, writing up the data according to phases and themes, introducing organizational integration into the analysis, comparing the cases, and applying the theory. I will discuss these phases accordingly.

The first step in the analysis was to establish the chronology of the cases. To do this, I used internal and external documents. I wrote the chronologies up and included appendices in the final report.

The next step was to code the data into phases and themes reflecting the contextual factors and features of integration. For the interviews, this implied marking the text with a specific phase and a theme, and grouping the paragraphs on the same theme and phase together. I followed the same procedure in organizing the documents.

I then wrote up the cases using phases and themes to structure them. Before starting to write up the cases, I scanned the information on each theme, built up the facts and filled in with perceptions and reactions that were illustrative and representative of the data.

The documents were primarily useful in establishing the facts, but they also provided me with some perceptions and reactions that were validated in the interviews. The documents used included internal letters and newsletters as well as articles from the press. The interviews were less factual, as intended, and gave me input to assess perceptions and reactions. The limited observation was useful to validate the data from the interviews. The result of this step was two descriptive cases.

To make each case more analytical, I introduced the three dimensions of organizational integration—integration of tasks, unification of power, and cultural integration—into the analysis. This helped to focus the case and to develop a framework that could be used to compare the cases. The cases were thus structured according to phases, organizational integration, and themes reflecting the factors and features in the study.

I took all these steps to become more familiar with each case as an individual entity. According to Eisenhardt (1989:540), this is a process that “allows the unique patterns of each case to emerge before the investigators push to generalise patterns across cases. In addition it gives investigators a rich familiarity with each case which, in turn, accelerates cross-case comparison.”

The comparison between the cases constituted the next step in the analysis. Here, I used the categories from the case chapters, filled in the features and factors, and compared and contrasted the findings. The idea behind cross-case searching tactics is to force investigators to go beyond initial impressions, especially through the use of structural and diverse lenses on the data. These tactics improve the likelihood of accurate and reliable theory, that is, theory with a close fit to the data (Eisenhardt 1989).

As a result, I had a number of overall themes, concepts, and relationships that had emerged from the within-case analysis and cross-case comparisons. The next step was to compare these emergent findings with theory from the organizational field of mergers and acquisitions, as well as other relevant perspectives.

This method of generalization is known as analytical generalization. In this approach, a previously developed theory is used as a template with which to compare the empirical results of the case study (Yin 1989). This comparison of emergent concepts, theory, or hypotheses with the extant literature involves asking what it is similar to, what it contradicts, and why. The key to this process is to consider a broad range of theory (Eisenhardt 1989). On the whole, linking emergent theory to existent literature enhances the internal validity, generalizability, and theoretical level of theory-building from case research.

According to Eisenhardt (1989), examining literature that conflicts with the emergent literature is important for two reasons. First, the chance of neglecting conflicting findings is reduced. Second, “conflicting results forces researchers into a more creative, frame-breaking mode of thinking than they might otherwise be able to achieve” (p. 544). Similarly, Eisenhardt (1989) claims that literature discussing similar findings is important because it ties together underlying similarities in phenomena not normally associated with each other. The result is often a theory with a stronger internal validity, wider generalizability, and a higher conceptual level.

The analytical generalization in the study included exploring and developing the concepts and examining the relationships between the constructs. In carrying out this analytical generalization, I acted on Eisenhardt’s (1989) recommendation to use a broad range of theory. First, I compared and contrasted the findings with the organizational stream on mergers and acquisition literature. Then I discussed other relevant literatures, including strategic change, power and politics, social justice, and social identity theory to explore how these perspectives could contribute to the understanding of the findings. Finally, I discussed the findings that could not be explained either by the merger and acquisition literature or the four theoretical perspectives.

In every scientific study, questions are raised about whether the study is valid and reliable. The issues of validity and reliability in case studies are just as important as for more deductive designs, but the application is fundamentally different.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

The problems of validity in qualitative studies are related to the fact that most qualitative researchers work alone in the field, they focus on the findings rather than describe how the results were reached, and they are limited in processing information (Miles and Huberman 1994).

Researchers writing about qualitative methods have questioned whether the same criteria can be used for qualitative and quantitative studies (Kirk & Miller 1986; Sykes 1990; Maxwell 1992). The problem with the validity criteria suggested in qualitative research is that there is little consistency across the articles as each author suggests a new set of criteria.

One approach in examining validity and reliability is to apply the criteria used in quantitative research. Hence, the criteria to be examined here are objectivity/intersubjectivity, construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and reliability.

Objectivity/Intersubjectivity

The basic issue of objectivity can be framed as one of relative neutrality and reasonable freedom from unacknowledged research biases (Miles & Huberman 1994). In a real-time longitudinal study, the researcher is in danger of losing objectivity and of becoming too involved with the organization, the people, and the process. Hence, Leonard-Barton (1990) claims that one may be perceived as, and may even become, an advocate rather than an observer.

According to King (1994), however, qualitative research, in seeking to describe and make sense of the world, does not require researchers to strive for objectivity and distance themselves from research participants. Indeed, to do so would make good qualitative research impossible, as the interviewer’s sensitivity to subjective aspects of his or her relationship with the interviewee is an essential part of the research process (King 1994:31).

This does not imply, however, that the issue of possible research bias can be ignored. It is just as important as in a structured quantitative interview that the findings are not simply the product of the researcher’s prejudices and prior experience. One way to guard against this bias is for the researcher to explicitly recognize his or her presuppositions and to make a conscious effort to set these aside in the analysis (Gummesson 1988). Furthermore, rival conclusions should be considered (Miles & Huberman 1994).

My experience from the first phase of the DnB study was that it was difficult to focus the questions and the analysis of the data when the research questions were too vague and broad. As such, developing a framework before collecting the data for the study was useful in guiding the collection and analysis of data. Nevertheless, it was important to be open-minded and receptive to new and surprising data. In the DnB study, for example, the positive effect of the reorganization process on the integration of cultures came as a complete surprise to me and thus needed further elaboration.

I also consciously searched for negative evidence and problems by interviewing outliers (Miles & Huberman 1994) and asking problem-oriented questions. In Gjensidige, the first interviews with the top management revealed a much more positive perception of the cultural integration process than I had expected. To explore whether this was a result of overreliance on elite informants, I continued posing problem-oriented questions to outliers and people at lower levels in the organization. Moreover, I told them about the DnB study to be explicit about my presuppositions.

Another important issue when assessing objectivity is whether other researchers can trace the interpretations made in the case studies, or what is called intersubjectivity. To deal with this issue, Miles & Huberman (1994) suggest that: (1) the study’s general methods and procedures should be described in detail, (2) one should be able to follow the process of analysis, (3) conclusions should be explicitly linked with exhibits of displayed data, and (4) the data from the study should be made available for reanalysis by others.

In response to these requirements, I described the study’s data collection procedures and processing in detail. Then, the primary data were displayed in the written report in the form of quotations and extracts from documents to support and illustrate the interpretations of the data. Because the study was written up in English, I included the Norwegian text in a separate appendix. Finally, all the primary data from the study were accessible for a small group of distinguished researchers.

Construct Validity

Construct validity refers to whether there is substantial evidence that the theoretical paradigm correctly corresponds to observation (Kirk & Miller 1986). In this form of validity, the issue is the legitimacy of the application of a given concept or theory to established facts.

The strength of qualitative research lies in the flexible and responsive interaction between the interviewer and the respondents (Sykes 1990). Thus, meaning can be probed, topics covered easily from a number of angles, and questions made clear for respondents. This is an advantage for exploring the concepts (construct or theoretical validity) and the relationships between them (internal validity). Similarly, Hakim (1987) says the great strength of qualitative research is the validity of data obtained because individuals are interviewed in sufficient detail for the results to be taken as true, correct, and believable reports of their views and experiences.

Construct validity can be strengthened by applying a longitudinal multicase approach, triangulation, and use of feedback loops. The advantage of applying a longitudinal approach is that one gets the opportunity to test sensitivity of construct measures to the passage of time. Leonard-Barton (1990), for example, found that one of her main constructs, communicability, varied across time and relative to different groups of users. Thus, the longitudinal study aided in defining the construct more precisely. By using more than one case study, one can validate stability of construct across situations (Leonard-Barton 1990). Since my study only consists of two case studies, the opportunity to test stability of constructs across cases is somewhat limited. However, the use of more than one unit of analysis helps to overcome this limitation.

Construct validity is strengthened by the use of multiple sources of evidence to build construct measures, which define the construct and distinguish it from other constructs. These multiple sources of evidence can include multiple viewpoints within and across the data sources. My study responds to these requirements in its sampling of interviewees and uses of multiple data sources.

Use of feedback loops implies returning to interviewees with interpretations and developing theory and actively seeking contradictions in data (Crabtree & Miller 1992; King 1994). In DnB, the written report had to be approved by the bank’s top management after the first data collection. Apart from one minor correction, the bank had no objections to the established facts. In their comments on my analysis, some of the top managers expressed the view that the political process had been overemphasized, and that the CEO’s role in initiating a strategic process was undervalued. Hence, an important objective in the second data collection was to explore these comments further. Moreover, the report was not as positive as the management had hoped for, and negotiations had to be conducted to publish the report. The result of these negotiations was that publication of the report was postponed one-and-a-half years.

The experiences from the first data collection in the DnB had some consequences. I was more cautious and brought up the problems of confidentiality and the need to publish at the outset of the Gjensidige study. Also, I had to struggle to get access to the DnB case for the second data collection and some of the information I asked for was not released. At Gjensidige, I sent a preliminary draft of the case chapter to the corporation’s top management for comments, in addition to having second interviews with a small number of people. Beside testing out the factual description, these sessions gave me the opportunity to test out the theoretical categories established as a result of the within-case analysis.

Internal Validity

Internal validity concerns the validity of the postulated relationships among the concepts. The main problem of internal validity as a criterion in qualitative research is that it is often not open to scrutiny. According to Sykes (1990), the researcher can always provide a plausible account and, with careful editing, may ensure its coherence. Recognition of this problem has led to calls for better documentation of the processes of data collection, the data itself, and the interpretative contribution of the researcher. The discussion of how I met these requirements was outlined in the section on objectivity/subjectivity above.

However, there are some advantages in using qualitative methods, too. First, the flexible and responsive methods of data collection allow cross-checking and amplification of information from individual units as it is generated. Respondents’ opinions and understandings can be thoroughly explored. The internal validity results from strategies that eliminate ambiguity and contradiction, filling in detail and establishing strong connections in data.

Second, the longitudinal study enables one to track cause and effect. Moreover, it can make one aware of intervening variables (Leonard-Barton 1990). Eisenhardt (1989:542) states, “Just as hypothesis testing research an apparent relationship may simply be a spurious correlation or may reflect the impact of some third variable on each of the other two. Therefore, it is important to discover the underlying reasons for why the relationship exists.”

Generalizability

According to Mitchell (1983), case studies are not based on statistical inference. Quite the contrary, the inferring process turns exclusively on the theoretically necessary links among the features in the case study. The validity of the extrapolation depends not on the typicality or representativeness of the case but on the cogency of the theoretical reasoning. Hartley (1994:225) claims, “The detailed knowledge of the organization and especially the knowledge about the processes underlying the behaviour and its context can help to specify the conditions under which behaviour can be expected to occur. In other words, the generalisation is about theoretical propositions not about populations.”

Generalizability is normally based on the assumption that this theory may be useful in making sense of similar persons or situations (Maxwell 1992). One way to increase the generalizability is to apply a multicase approach (Leonard-Barton 1990). The advantage of this approach is that one can replicate the findings from one case study to another. This replication logic is similar to that used on multiple experiments (Yin 1993).

Given the choice of two case studies, the generalizability criterion is not supported in this study. Through the discussion of my choices, I have tried to show that I had to strike a balance between the need for depth and mapping changes over time and the number of cases. In doing so, I deliberately chose to provide a deeper and richer look at each case, allowing the reader to make judgments about the applicability rather than making a case for generalizability.

Reliability

Reliability focuses on whether the process of the study is consistent and reasonably stable over time and across researchers and methods (Miles & Huberman 1994). In the context of qualitative research, reliability is concerned with two questions (Sykes 1990): Could the same study carried out by two researchers produce the same findings? and Could a study be repeated using the same researcher and respondents to yield the same findings?

The problem of reliability in qualitative research is that differences between replicated studies using different researchers are to be expected. However, while it may not be surprising that different researchers generate different findings and reach different conclusions, controlling for reliability may still be relevant. Kirk and Miller’s (1986:311) definition takes into account the particular relationship between the researcher’s orientation, the generation of data, and its interpretation:

For reliability to be calculated, it is incumbent on the scientific investigator to document his or her procedure. This must be accomplished at such a level of abstraction that the loci of decisions internal to the project are made apparent. The curious public deserves to know how the qualitative researcher prepares him or herself for the endeavour, and how the data is collected and analysed.

The study addresses these requirements by discussing my point of departure regarding experience and framework, the sampling and data collection procedures, and data analysis.

Case studies often lack academic rigor and are, as such, regarded as inferior to more rigorous methods where there are more specific guidelines for collecting and analyzing data. These criticisms stress that there is a need to be very explicit about the choices one makes and the need to justify them.

One reason why case studies are criticized may be that researchers disagree about the definition and the purpose of carrying out case studies. Case studies have been regarded as a design (Cook and Campbell 1979), as a qualitative methodology (Cassell and Symon 1994), as a particular data collection procedure (Andersen 1997), and as a research strategy (Yin 1989). Furthermore, the purpose for carrying out case studies is unclear. Some regard case studies as supplements to more rigorous qualitative studies to be carried out in the early stage of the research process; others claim that it can be used for multiple purposes and as a research strategy in its own right (Gummesson 1988; Yin 1989). Given this unclear status, researchers need to be very clear about their interpretation of the case study and the purpose of carrying out the study.

This article has taken Yin’s (1989) definition of the case study as a research strategy as a starting point and argued that the choice of the case study should be guided by the research question(s). In the illustrative study, I used a case study strategy because of a need to explore sensitive, ill-defined concepts in depth, over time, taking into account the context and history of the mergers and the existing knowledge about the phenomenon. However, the choice of a case study strategy extended rather than limited the number of decisions to be made. In Schramm’s (1971, cited in Yin 1989:22–23) words, “The essence of a case study, the central tendency among all types of case study, is that it tries to illuminate a decision or set of decisions, why they were taken, how they were implemented, and with what result.”

Hence, the purpose of this article has been to illustrate the wide range of decisions that need to be made in the context of a particular case study and to discuss the methodological considerations linked to these decisions. I argue that there is a particular need in case studies to be explicit about the methodological choices one makes and that these choices can be best illustrated through a case study of the case study strategy.

As in all case studies, however, there are limitations to the generalizability of using one particular case study for illustrative purposes. As such, the strength of linking the methodological considerations to a specific context and phenomenon also becomes a weakness. However, I would argue that the questions raised in this article are applicable to many case studies, but that the answers are very likely to vary. The design choices are shown in Table 4 . Hence, researchers choosing a longitudinal, comparative case study need to address the same set of questions with regard to design, data collection procedures, and analysis, but they are likely to come up with other conclusions, given their different research questions.

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Christine Benedichte Meyer is an associate professor in the Department of Strategy and Management in the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen-Sandviken, Norway. Her research interests are mergers and acquisitions, strategic change, and qualitative research. Recent publications include: “Allocation Processes in Mergers and Acquisitions: An Organisational Justice Perspective” (British Journal of Management 2001) and “Motives for Acquisitions in the Norwegian Financial Industry” (CEMS Business Review 1997).

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White, R.E., Cooper, K. (2022). Case Study Research. In: Qualitative Research in the Post-Modern Era. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85124-8_7

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Ideal for any cultural anthropology course, this brief collection of ethnographic case studies exposes students to 15 different cultures. The groups selected are peoples whose traditional cultures are uniquely their own. Each has distinctive patterns and practices; each has faced the challenge of an encroaching world, with differing results. Moreover, they often provide the prime illustrations of important concepts in introductory anthropology course including Azande witchcraft, Ju/’hoansi egalitarianism, Trobriand kula exchange, and Minangkabau matriliny. As such, this volume can stand alone as an introduction to central ethnographic concepts through these 15 societies, or serve as a valuable companion to anthropology texts. Many of the peoples presented are involved in the diaspora; some struggle to preserve old ways in new places. All sketches follow a logical, consistent organization that makes it easy for students to understand major themes such as history, subsistence, sociopolitical organization, belief systems, marriage, kinship, and contemporary issues.

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Policy - environment - development, case study 1 'what you shouldn't ask': environment, landscape and vested interests in england by andrew garner.

This page discusses a case study set in England. It highlights how ethical issues are often imbedded in personal relationships and yet are heavily influenced by a wide range of powers that are quite diffuse.

Whenever we talk about ethical dilemmas as anthropologists the textual/oral mode subtly changes. Often we move from smoothly polished commentator encapsulating the trends of our chosen subject, highlighting the pertinent details and revealing surprising and unrealised connections, to a far more personal mode. There is far greater reflexivity; there are personal revelations; and what emerges is research - warts and all. From the impact of Malinowski's diaries, which proved the icon of ethnographic field methodologies to have feet of clay, considering the ethical dilemmas of field research can be a risky business for anthropologists. It has a tendency to reveal the sheer messiness of research relationships, the serendipity of finding connections, and the balancing act of immediate responses to unfolding events against a longer duration of reflection.

This trajectory of textual production should alert us to the 'nature' of ethics in anthropology. Questions about ethical dilemmas result in personal revelations because it is precisely in the social relationships between people that ethical questions arise. Even such umbrella statements as 'we are protecting the environment' which seems to imply an ethical stance on and about a reasonably stable object, in practice is about the politics of influencing others. Explanations about events and actions are also justifications and attempts to persuade.

What this paper attempts to do is navigate a route between the ethical dilemmas of research (the me, me, me bit) and the broader political field where the ethics involved are about the justifications for the fundamental values that people hold. I will do this by flitting between a number of instances where research went 'wrong', a case study of the competing interests and stakeholders in an environmental programme, and end up with a look at how I have gone about analysing and attempting to understanding implicit value systems.

Two key ideas structure the trajectory I wish to take:

• Changing arenas of the production of knowledge Recalling the slightly alarming experience of having the people whose situation she was discussing turn up at an international conference, an anthropologist slightly - in a slightly exasperated tone, asked 'Why don't they - my 'informants' - just stay in the field?' In a globalised world these arenas are becoming less protected by distance or the bastions of academia. Accessibility to information is vastly increasing. The global economy is also a global knowledge economy. Groups, organisations, governments are tooling up to ensure that their agendas are pursued more widely than ever before.
• The recent theoretical discussions about what might be broadly termed the social production of nature. The social production of nature thesis casts doubt on the moral logic underlying environmental concerns. The argument that nature is intrinsically social makes it easier to ask uncomfortable questions of our world: who is currently empowered to define what counts as 'nature' - discursively and materially? What are the implications of accepted or hegemonic definitions? Asking pointed questions like this also leads to others such as: what counter-hegemonic definitions are available to us? What kind of world - socially, economically, politically and culturally - does this allow us to imagine?

When research goes wrong

A. The issue of hunting and identity

In the process of doing my PhD research in two Forest sites in the UK, I found myself, a little against my will asking questions about the vexed issue of hunting. At Hatfield Forest, National Trust staff were slightly guarded when talking about 'culling' the deer population and considerably more guarded when it came to fox-hunting. Polite promises to arrange a meeting later, for a "more convenient time", subtle discouragement in tone and body language, followed by enthusiasm for other requests or tasks, all served notice of an arena where the potential for strained social relationships was high.

Compared to the sense of cordial social relations of Hatfield, albeit pregnant with carefully managed potential stresses, tensions over hunting in the New Forest are significantly nearer the surface. In an otherwise positive initial meeting with the Forestry Commission to discuss access and directions for my research, a tentative question on the subject of hunting provoked this thin-lipped response.

If you are going to ask anything about hunting I am afraid that we can have nothing to do with your project. We are dealing directly with the Minister on the hunting issue and it already takes up far too much of our staff time. I can't have you speaking to Forestry Commission staff about it. As civil servants we are required to be neutral. It is just too much of a hot political potato at the moment. (Senior Forester, Forestry Commission)

Suddenly desperately worried that I might not be able to access a key areas for my research, I back tracked rapidly. I suggested that this would only be a small part of my project and that, anyway, I was thinking of pursuing it elsewhere. Apparently, about a month before this interview the FC had "been forced" to revoke a foxhunting licence for a short period because hunt saboteurs had filmed evidence of an infraction of the terms under which the licence was issued. For many of the locals this simply reinforced their view of the FC riding rough-shod over their traditional rights. For others this was a small step by the FC away from their cosy relationship with traditional countryside interests and towards fulfilling their public duties. For staff at the FC, again it seemed they could do little right.

As I came to know certain FC staff better, it became clear that hunting was an issue that evoked the whole gamut of responses. Some (most of the Game Keepers) nursed quiet, but bitterly held resentment against the enforcing of "neutrality" on an issue they felt fundamental to their identity and to the Forest. For those in this camp, the fact that I came "down from London" as a researcher with a high degree of access to the FC marked me as probably 'anti', likely to misunderstand the depths of their attachment to the landscape and definitely to be treated with suspicion. Other staff champed at the bureaucratic slowness and their inability to change the Forest "for the better" by taking an overt stance against foxhunting. A cartoon that appeared in the Log Roll , an unofficial magazine produced internally by FC staff, makes wry comment on the ambivalence of their role as preservers of the landscape (below). The nearer an issue is to the 'surface' of social life, the less room there is for neutrality. Asking almost any question about hunting presupposes a reflexivity about the issue - a thinking through which implies an already known and decided position on hunting. One is expected to have an opinion. In this sense it was virtually impossible to talk about hunting without

The problems of preserving cultural heritage ( Log Roll , 3rd Ed. Christmas 2000)

implicating ourselves in relation to the debate and thus in who we are. For certain senior Foresters the combustibility of the issue forced decisions they might otherwise have preferred to avoid. Staff, for example, had to be specially allocated to manage the FC's 'official' stance. At another level, the Deputy Surveyor, as a civil servant, provides advice and information to the Minister of Agriculture Food and Fisheries (now DEFRA) and his team, thus directly influencing government policy. Again, in this fraught situation my interest in hunting was bound to provoke strong reactions. In the end I had to approach the issue of hunting through a completely different set of gatekeepers. At the same time I found myself keeping my involvement with the Forestry Commission somewhat played down.

Since completing my PhD I have returned to the Forest to do further research, but this time on the anti-hunt protestors. Partly this was spurred by comments and suggestions from my examiners, but mostly this was enforced by the ethical and practical realities of researching such a contested issue. By contacting the antis I have pretty much burned my bridges of access with the Hunt. Certainly, I will have compromised the view by hunt members that I was relatively 'safe'. On the other hand there are other researchers involved in foxhunting and relatively few examining the experience of the antis. Despite my determination to remain a neutral observer the tenseness of the political field around hunting is one that has no room for neutrality - certainly not in terms of research access. What this 'ethical' move from one side to the other made clear, however, were the complexities and diffuse nature of the power arrangements in the New Forest Landscape. On the one hand the hunt members could call on traditional cordial relations with the Forestry Commission, their unparalleled rights and ability to access the Forest, and their continuing connections with wealth and the land-owning classes; on the other there are the diffuse winds of political change - a distant but noticeable effect of the urban majority in this country - made cogently real by the strict application of the letter of the law by the Police and Forestry Commission staff. In order to understand perceptions of the environment from the perspective of people who hunt and/or those that don't one has to take into account the multi-sited elsewhere-ness of the immediate landscape.

B. stand-up arguments over the environment

(This example is examined more fully in a chapter by Garner in Bender and Winer book Contested Landscapes , Berg 2001)

The New Forest, like almost everywhere else in England, is a landscape of artifice (Cloke 1994), and in this particular area the artifice of 'natural countryside' is being deployed in increasingly urgent debates over the future of rural landscapes. The arguments, and the array of interest groups, work at many different levels - local, national and European. Part of the engagement and debate occurs in arenas that are far removed from the forest, but much of it occurs 'on the ground'. But 'on the ground' covers a multitude of places. A great deal of landscape 'making' in the New Forest is formed in the techniques and technologies deployed by those responsible for managing the landscape. Management discourse not only takes 'place' in the physical landscape but also in processes of a professionalised technological imagination - at some remove from the teams who do the work. This same metaphor of removal from the landscape - into an office - can be extended to the application of national and international laws, agreements and guidelines, with which managers are compelled to comply.

Whether dealing with the privileged landscapes of the managers or the less privileged ones of the work teams, place is always an embodied experience (Tilley 1999:177). We tend to over-emphasise the visual, forgetting how powerful soundscapes, smellscapes, and touchscapes can be (Gell 1995, Feld 1996, Porteous 1990, Corbin 1986). Thus, as well as a recognition of discourses that 'image' landscapes through various technical tools, we need to return to the immediately physical, phenomenological landscape made up of experienced places. What follows threads a tentative path between discourse and engagement, between a remote and mythical, and an intimate, lived-in and worked-over New Forest. Firstly, the Forest is introduced as not 'out there' but rather something subjectively understood and engaged with; an amalgam of historical contestation and recent tourism pressures. The way in which the Forest is presented to the 'outsider'/visitor is discussed before examining contemporary 'insider' politics emerging in one moment of confrontation. That confrontation is described, teasing apart some perceptions of place and situating these within larger social and political contexts.

The contours of contemporary landscape contests are set by the Forestry Commission (FC), Verderers Court and Commoners whom together mark the poles of a confrontational legal and management landscape. The FC is most closely connected with the everyday management of Crown land within the perambulation.

A second focus for conflict lies in the enormous growth in visitors since the early 1950s and the concomitant changes in the significance of the Forest landscape. Essentially, the New Forest has moved from land that supported a rural agricultural economy, to a major recreational and natural-heritage target for the jaded urbanite. In the process, there have been significant changes in the priorities of the FC, driven increasingly by the heritage and environmental values of a vocal urban population . At the same time there have been considerable social changes in the communities living in and around the forest - gradual erosion of older class certainties (a theme returned to in chapter 5), greater mobility and changing economic arrangements as urban incomers move to the rural fringes to commute or retire. This has had a profound effect on the importance and expression of 'local' identity.

Identity is often most clearly expressed through comparison and contrast (Boon 1982) and, furthermore, is very plastic in application. Locals are not tourists: "I was held up by grockles (tourists) queuing for cakes"(interview, 22/5/99). Local identity is also a way of claiming authority (in terms that the visitors themselves value, for very different reasons, concerning the perceived authenticity of the landscape). Often heard was the statement that, "There are only a few real Commoners left" Degrees of localness of identity and position in relation to 'local people' appeared in and underpinned the discourse of members of other 'user' groups - the Hunt, Ramblers, cyclists, horse-riders, and environmental organisations. While the discourse on who is local and who is an outsider is pervasive, and morally loaded, it is also highly variable, contradictory and contingent in application (cf Strathern 1982).

Contesting the Forest: "bunny-huggers", Commoners and the Forest with no trees.

This section moves from a mobile and essentially mythic visitor landscape to that of a face-to-face, lived-in and managed place. While the former is presented as contested, it is largely experienced as highly structured and cohesive. What follows is a description from field-notes of a meeting that took place in May 1999 between various 'interested parties' to consider the proposals for a new conservation plan. Here the day-to-day landscape is literally experienced as contested, and as a site for fervently felt and powerfully expressed emotions. It also becomes an occasion to voice a series of justifications about identity, power and knowledge.

The meeting took place at Puttles Pines a few miles out of Brockenhurst. Puttles Pines are a small straggly group of Scots pines ( Pinus sylvestrus ) huddled around the car park with a long view up a shallow heathland valley. The group, dressed predominately in green Barbours , gathered on the small foot-bridge at the upper end of the valley. In the middle, Joe, the FC 'Life' Ecologist helped by Clare (English Nature and the only female present) were explaining what they planned to do to re-establish a wet mire in the lower part of the valley. Standing around them were three other FC Keepers and a senior Forester, one Verderer, one Agister , two Commoners - one the representative of the Commoners Defence Association, an assistant Ecologist, and two members of a TV crew filming for a documentary being aired at the end of the year. I was introduced as a researcher looking at different perceptions of the Forest. There was laughter as someone commented that I had come to the right place.

The meeting was called by the Life Partnership staff to discuss the future of this particular part of the open forest. The Life Partnership is built around a 5million budget, half of which comes from the European Union and half from ten partner organisations . The project aims to "restore and enhance" the New Forest's ancient woodlands, lowland valley mires and heathland, by

removal of exotic species, repair of erosion damage, encouragement of traditional forest management practices, protection of heathland from encroaching plants and reconstruction of endangered wetland habitats. (Life leaflet on Lowland Valley Mires, nd.[1998])

This was an important meeting for them as they needed to persuade the Commoners of the necessity of their work so the Verderers court would not exercise their right of veto over these proposals. Such a blunt statement does little to convey the complexity of politics involved or the degree to which the Life Project cross-cuts other categories of belonging. The Verderers of the New Forest are already members of the Life Partnership. The presence of so many Keepers, indicates both their interest in the project and that most are also Commoners. The Life team needed to persuade the FC Keepers as much as anyone else. The presence of the TV camera crew may also have encouraged a certain amount of statement-of-position-for-the-record rather than debate.

Joe started by getting out a clipboard and a map. He referred to this as he described what he planned to do to re-establish the mire system. Essentially, the work consisted of collapsing some of the deeper drainage ditches and filling in the side of the eroded main stream with heather bales. This would slow the through-flow of water and help "wet up" the surrounding valley. "Any questions?" he asked.

"How are our ponies going to cross the stream when it's all backed up?" "Why are you collapsing the ditches - they help take the water away to the stream?" "What is going to happen to the grassland on either side - next thing we know there won't be any grazing for our stock?" "Why don't you fill in lower down where it is wet already?"

As Joe fielded the questions it became increasingly clear among those listening that their ideas of what the landscape was for were fundamentally different. Joe temporised and suggested we move further down the valley to look at the erosion of the stream edge. There he explained that the attempts to drain the valley in the past had caused this erosion. "Yes, and gave us grazing", a Commoner interrupted. One of the Keepers, prodding a collapsing bank with his stick to check the depth, wanted to know why they didn't just leave it alone as it looked like it was already well on the way to re-establishing a bog. Joe referred to his map and started to explain slope angles and drainage rates. One of the Keepers interrupted to ask why they didn't just leave it all alone and save them all a wasted morning. Joe abandoned his notes and asked if they really understood how important valley mires were and then launched into a justification of the project.

I don't think you understand. We have to do this because of the EU requirement and because this sort of environment is so rare and threatened. There are only 120 valley mire systems in the whole of Europe and 90 of them are found here. There are plants and animals and insects that are only found in these systems. Anyway the mire acts like a big sponge and slowly releases the water over the summer, keeping grass greener and supplying water in a drought. Surely you can see that what we are doing is right? (Joe, Life Project Ecologist, 1999)

Somebody snorted loudly during his outburst. The atmosphere was tense. Clare talked about the statutory requirements under Ramsar and SSSI status to protect this sort of environment. They decided to move on further down the valley to discuss putting bales in at the bottom end that was already quite boggy.

As they spread out to wander I found myself next to one of the Commoners.

"Bloody bunny-huggers!" I nodded. "You know we are the true original ecologists. We have looked after the countryside for hundreds of years and don't need any university-educated ecologists to tell us what to do. Why not trust us to do what has protected the countryside so far? If it is not one thing its another with this bloody FC. They are coming on all soft now but they just want us to agree to their plans. This Forest has survived for 900 years without European money and protection for bits of boggy land. They only want to do this because they have to show that they are spending the money. Why don't they spend it on something that they are legally meant to do- like draining and clearing the gorse ? Those heather bales - they are just going to fill up with mud and make it dangerous for the ponies. Next thing you know we'll be pulling a dead animal out of here. Why can't they leave well alone? All those plants and bugs have survived so long anyway."

At the final stop, almost directly opposite the pine trees planted to shield the car park, things deteriorated further. Voices got louder and a senior Forester reminded everyone of the "rules of civilised discussion". Joe was visibly rattled and suggesting that if they were only going to allow him to put bales in down here it was hardly worth it. Where was their give and take? No agreement was forthcoming. The group broke into individual conversations and most meandered back to their vehicles to move on to the next site. The TV crew cornered four people to interview rounding off what for them was a very successful day's filming.

Naming something states what it 'is' and claims ownership of it. In the New Forest, at one level calling a place a "valley mire system" is obviously different from calling it "grazing". At a second level there are the namings that enforce national and worldwide landscape encoding. Here are the reminders of the FC's legal requirement to drain the valley, the subsequent (and not-so-subtle) reminder of the English Nature representative of statutory requirements of environmental protection. These designations themselves immediately include those in the know and exclude others. Here also, the Life project through its capital investment, its staff, and the new coalitions it has spawned represents a new spatial arena. In this arena contemporary environmental notions of nature as threatened by humans on a global scale are written afresh in the valorisation of "endangered habitats" and "rare species". Finally, there is the reflexive naming - "bloody FC", "pig-headed Commoners" - where rehearsal of roles in the landscape is paramount. Embedded in this is a degree of ambivalence as the Life project has opened up the concept of landscape value for an imagined human totality, and a subsequent trying-on-for-size of this new expanded field within the terms of the old power structures.

Secondly, who is making these power/knowledge statements? Using the metaphors of colonial geography of Blunt and Rose (1994), we might imagine the FC as representing a powerful 'colonial' discourse. They have the ability to significantly change the landscape, to 'make' it theirs through direct intervention. But 'the FC' on examination disintegrates. Keepers, Foresters, Ecologists - each have distinctive landscapes, part inherited pattern, part training, part individual interests. Joe was as much talking to the Keepers present as anyone else. On another occasion a manager asked how they should keep the Keepers "on message"? The FC attempts to present a cohesive discourse but is itself riven, complex and dynamic - Keepers are often also Commoners. The Commoners themselves claim an identity part historical, part mythical. But they, too, fragment into partial representatives, occasional visitors to the role of Commoner among their other social lives. In other contexts they distinguish between 'real' Commoners and those who are just visitors who have bought land. Some who are vocal, active in consultation panels and at the Verderers Court, are also incomers with time and motivation to spare for debate. Others with commoning rights do not exercise them and maintain a very low profile in debates about the Forest. They also have families with children who either cannot afford to take over farms or do not want to.

Thirdly, there are the technical and professional modes of claiming power/knowledge. In the introduction it was suggested that a great deal of 'making' the landscape by managers takes 'place' in office environments. A crucial part of this process is the production and use of maps and the measurements on which these are based. The FC has a planning department whose sole aim is producing maps for management interventions (see also chapter 6). With constant reference to his maps and plans Joe was making claims to an authority and a sense of control not evident in the 'real' world of bitter confrontation. The Commoners and Keepers present were repeatedly drawing his attention away from the maps to their landscape. For Joe, power to imagine the morally right universe of a re-established mire was most effectively expressed through the maps and the technical surety of his measurements. The power claimed in this discourse is what Lefebvre (1991) glosses as the "illusion of transparency", the claim of mimetic representation in maps. As Blunt and Rose explain;

Transparent space assumes that the world can be seen as it really is and that there can be unmediated access to the truth of objects it sees; it is a space of mimetic representation (1994:5)

Furthermore, transparent space tends toward homogeneity, toward a denial of difference and an assumption of authority by removing the possibility of alternative landscapes. Creating what the valley might have been (a boggy piece of land that evolved into a particular environment over hundreds of years of human/animal/vegetable interaction) measuring what it is, and mapping what it should be elides an imagined future with a 'transparent' present and past. Technical tools obscure the highly specific valuation, the careful selection of significance and the overriding import of proposing a dramatic change in the landscape by reference to the past.

I hope this discussion has been successful in highlighting some of the ethical dilemmas facing researchers in England (or at least me). It demonstrates how much of the ethics involved are to do with personal relationships, but ones which are tensioned, and indeed in some instances created by quite distant and diffuse powers and places. It sometimes takes research to go 'wrong' to underline how much issues observed through a distant academic lens always have the potential to become personal, immediate and challenging. We should never forget that 'interesting' issues can be fundamental to people's identities and we are required to respect that. On the other hand, to stress a distant observers role fails to engage with our own, messy, 'already-engaged' status. There are certainly no easy answers.

As a brief coda, below is a table that represents one of my attempts to make sense of a moral/ethical landscape from the point of view of members of the hunt.

007811702x 2012 Ideal for any Cultural Anthropology course, this brief and inexpensive collection of ethnographic case studies exposes students to fifteen different cultures. Culture Sketches introduces students to ethnography without overwhelming them with excessive reading material. Each sketch, or chapter, was selected for its relevance to students and for its ability to reflect the basic concepts found in introductory courses. All sketches follow a logical, consistent organization that makes it easy for students to understand major themes such as geography, myth creation, history, sociopolitical systems, and belief systems. The new edition offers a new chapter, "The Roma: , Rights, and the Road Ahead", adding geographic breadth to the text. To obtain an instructor login for this Online Learning Center, ask your . If you're an instructor thinking about adopting this textbook, for review. and . is one of the many fine businesses of . 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IN COLLECTIONS Uploaded by station15.cebu on December 14, 2021 SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)   > >   > > >                                                                                                         ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~           --   [archive] Wikipedia : cultural anthropology   found at <http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.html. Scroll through the site, noting, in general, that are being reported in the area of Prehistoric Cultures. , write a paragraph or two about what trends you found. This will be the " " to your . of those trends or discoveries that you mentioned in your introduction and explore it in greater depth. If you are looking at those items listed with several entries grouped together are usually the easiest ones to do. . , and ice age , elelctronically stored journals, and look for other items from the . ) you will be required to find and translate at least one foreign language source (which is found at the top of each class WebPage). You might want to start that part of the project now, especially if your project deals with something found in another country (for e.g., Neanderthal in Germany, Chauvet Cave in France, "Ötzi" the "Iceman" now in Bolzano Italy). WebPage to help you figure out a WebPage's language. identifies more than a dozen languages: 1. English, 2. French, 3. Spanish, 4. German, 5. Italian, 6. Dutch, 7. Afrikaans, 8. Norwegian, 9. Danish, 10. Swedish, 11. Portuguese, 12. Icelandic, and 13. Latin. ." of the Case Studies -- you may also use traditional library materials, and, where appropriate, interviews and videotapes. So have a look at one or more of the daily papers to see what they're reporting. ® © ® to discuss your paper with others in the class. . you should consider , , and . For your case studies, your audience should be your classmates in this class. (Do write your college papers to the professor as audience.) " section of the to see the details of what your Case Study report should look like when you hand it in. Basically, it should look like this: ] by George Bush, Jr. Anthropology 1604 Case Study #1 Professor Roufs ) here. [Give this section an interesting subtitle, something other than "Body"] . The " ," , , , , and are often helpful. if you do not have much experience writing college papers. " or "Works Cited" information should go on a separate page. " for information on how to cite items from the web. © 1998 - 2025     Page URL: http:// www.d.umn.edu /cla/faculty/troufs/anth1604/case_studies/caCS-01-2002-02-16.html ~ The is an equal opportunity educator and employer. View All Book Series BOOK SERIES Case studies in anthropology. Series Titles 11 Series Titles The Lao Gender, Power, and Livelihood 1st Edition The Iraqw of Tanzania Negotiating Rural Development Tanners of Taiwan Life Strategies and National Culture Black Skins, French Voices Caribbean Ethnicity And Activism In Urban France From Mukogodo to Maasai Ethnicity and Cultural Change In Kenya Magical Writing In Salasaca Literacy And Power In Highland Ecuador Muslim Youth Tensions And Transitions In Tajikistan Tecpan Guatemala A Modern Maya Town In Global And Local Context Daughters of Tunis Women, Family, and Networks in a Muslim City Fulbe Voices Marriage, Islam, and Medicine In Northern Cameroon Namoluk Beyond The Reef The Transformation Of A Micronesian Community The Lao: Gender, Power, and Livelihood By Carol Ireson-Doolittle, Geraldine Moreno-Black September 12, 2003 The Lao discusses culture and village life in Laos, exploring topics of kinship and family, gender relations, households, religion, livelihood strategies, and ethnicity. In particular, the effects of recent development projects on the relative power of men and women in rural Lao society, and the ... The Iraqw of Tanzania: Negotiating Rural Development By Katherine A. Snyder February 25, 2005 In The Iraqiv of Tanzania: Negotiating Rural Development author Katherine Snyder focuses on how the Iraqw perceive, respond to, and affect development in Tanzania. Snyder explores how the ideology of development affects people’s actions, from what crops to plant, to what to wear and do at their ... Tanners of Taiwan: Life Strategies and National Culture By Scott Simon March 04, 2005 Tanners of Taiwan is an ethnography of identity construction set in the leather-tanning communities of Southern Taiwan. Through life history analysis and ethnographic observation, Simon examines what it means to be Chinese - or alternatively Taiwanese - in contemporary Taiwan. Under forty years of ... Black Skins, French Voices: Caribbean Ethnicity And Activism In Urban France By David Beriss August 06, 2004 This book is about the choices black French citizens make when they move from Martinique and Guadeloupe to Paris and discover that they are not fully French. It shows how ethnic activists in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora organize to demand what has never been available to them in France. ... From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change In Kenya By Lee Cronk August 06, 2004 This book focuses on the strategic manipulation of ethnic identity by the Mukogodo of Kenya. It is about how Mukogodo people changed their way of life to a radically different one, that is their change as Maasai people, giving them a new way of living, a new language, and a new set of beliefs. ... Magical Writing In Salasaca: Literacy And Power In Highland Ecuador By Peter Wogan August 01, 2003 This book demonstrates that the beliefs about writing reflect extensive contact with birth certificates, baptism records, and other church and state documents. It reviews Ecuadorian history to identify the specific documentation sources that have most influenced beliefs in the witch's book. ... Muslim Youth: Tensions And Transitions In Tajikistan By Colette Harris January 24, 2006 This book presents a compelling ethnography of the changes Tajikistan faces at the turn of the twenty-first century as seen through the eyes of its youth. It discusses the ethnographic gaze on the tremendous cultural changes being played out in post-Soviet Tajikistan. ... Tecpan Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town In Global And Local Context By Edward F Fischer, Carol Hendrickson August 13, 2002 This book discusses the indigenous people of Tecpan Guatemala, a predominantly Kaqchikel Maya town in the Guatemalan highlands. It seeks to build on the traditional strengths of ethnography while rejecting overly romantic and isolationist tendencies in the genre. ... Daughters of Tunis: Women, Family, and Networks in a Muslim City By Paula Holmes-Eber August 14, 2002 Daughters of Tunis is an innovative ethnography that carefully weaves the words and intimate, personal stories of four Tunisian women and their families with a statistical analysis of women's survival strategies in a rapidly urbanizing, industrializing Muslim nation. Delineating three distinct ... Fulbe Voices: Marriage, Islam, and Medicine In Northern Cameroon By Helen A. Regis August 14, 2002 Fulbe Voices is based on everyday conversations in the West African village of Domaayo, Cameroon, where men and women struggle with the multiple cultural contradictions and social tensions emerging from their varied perspectives as farmers and entrepreneurs, schoolboys and elders, married and free ... Namoluk Beyond The Reef: The Transformation Of A Micronesian Community By Mac Marshall March 12, 2004 This case study examines emigrants from Namoluk Atoll in the Eastern caroline islands of Micronesia, in the Western pacific. Most members of the Namoluk Community (cbon Namoluk) do not currently live there. some 60 percent of them have moved to chuuk, Guam, Hawai'i, or the mainland United states ( ... The country you have selected will result in the following: Product pricing will be adjusted to match the corresponding currency. The title Perception will be removed from your cart because it is not available in this region. Sign in / Join Portuguese (Brazil) Portuguese (Portugal) Publisher Series Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology The peasants of central Russia by Stephen Porter Dunn Abkhasians: The Long Living People of the Caucasus by Sula Benet The Ainu of the Northwest Coast of Southern Sakhalin by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney Aleuts, Survivors of the Bering Land Bridge by William S. Laughlin A Bagful of Locusts and the Baboon Woman: Constructions of Gender, Change, and Continuity in Botswana by David N. Suggs The Balinese by J. Stephen Lansing Bunyoro: An African Kingdom by John Beattie The Canela: Bonding Through Kinship, Ritual, and Sex by William H. Crocker Challenging Gender Norms: Five Genders Among Bugis in Indonesia by Sharyn Graham Davies The Cheyennes : Indians of the Great Plains by E. Adamson Hoebel Chicano Prisoners: The Key to San Quentin by R. Theodore Davidson China's Urban Villagers: Changing Life in a Beijing Suburb by Norman A. Chance Chinatown, Economic Adaptation and Ethnic Identity of the Chinese by Bernard P. Wong Collaborations and Conflicts: A Leader Through Time by Andrew Strathern Colonial Cakchiquels: Highland Maya Adaptations to Spanish Rule, 1600-1700 by Robert M. Hill Cultures around the World by George Dearborn Spindler The Dobe !Kung by Richard B. Lee Elota's Story: The Life and Times of a Soloman Islands Big Man by Roger M. Kessing The Eskimo of North Alaska by Norman A. Chance Ethnic Identity in China: The Making of a Muslim Minority Nationality by DruC.Gladney by 8 copies by 16 copies by 21 copies by 42 copies by 12 copies by 33 copies by 74 copies by 9 copies by 23 copies by 279 copies, 1 review by 9 copies by 26 copies by 17 copies by 5 copies by 13 copies by 11 copies by 295 copies, 2 reviews by 31 copies by 46 copies by 13 copies by 13 copies by 60 copies by 70 copies by 28 copies, 1 review by 90 copies by 42 copies, 1 review by 11 copies by 16 copies by 81 copies by 17 copies by 6 copies by 142 copies, 1 review by 10 copies by 89 copies by 25 copies by 54 copies, 1 review by 40 copies by 18 copies by 40 copies, 1 review by 33 copies by 7 copies by 44 copies by 9 copies by 6 copies by 8 copies by 68 copies by 48 copies, 1 review by 24 copies by 15 copies by 22 copies by 35 copies by 55 copies by 18 copies by 12 copies by 19 copies by 9 copies by 73 copies, 1 review by 31 copies by 60 copies by 86 copies by 131 copies by 173 copies, 1 review by 76 copies by 29 copies by 19 copies by 50 copies, 1 review by 19 copies by 685 copies, 4 reviews by 19 copies Descriptions Edit Descriptions Tags numbers, related publisher series, overlaps with, related places, awards and honors, common knowledge series. ‘American Sports Story’: The Breakdown of the Aaron Hernandez Case Ahead of FX’s new Ryan Murphy series, here’s what to know about the New England Patriots player and Odin Lloyd There was a period of time when the name Aaron Hernandez was synonymous with football. That changed during the New England Patriots’ 2013 offseason when the tight end was arrested and charged for the murder of Odin Lloyd. As “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” tells it, this case isn’t a simple one. No single moment or feud led to the football star’s arrest. Instead, a lifetime of abuse and hiding his sexuality paired with endless access to drugs, an environment that encouraged violence and a sport that often leads to severe brain injuries led to these entirely preventable crimes. Ahead of Ryan Murphy and Stu Zicherman’s deep dive, consider this your guide to the major details of the Hernandez case. The Odin Lloyd murder, explained On June 26, 2013, Aaron Hernandez’s life and legacy was forever changed. That was when the New England Patriots tight end was arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, whose body was found in an industrial park after being shot seven times. Roughly 90 minutes after Hernandez’s arrest, the Patriots released him from the team. In the summer of 2013, Hernandez was dating his high school sweetheart, Shayanna Jenkins. Her sister Shaneah Jenkins was dating Lloyd, a landscaper and semi-professional football player. Hernandez and Lloyd met through the sisters and formed a fast friendship. It still remains unclear about what exactly led to Lloyd’s murder. On June 14, 2013, the two men were seen together at Rumor Nightclub in Boston, a night that allegedly ended with Hernandez storming out. It’s also been reported that there was an incident between the two men after Hernandez showed Lloyd his gun collection. Whatever the reason for their falling out, many believe it happened due to an ultimately inconsequential reason — a lifelong trend for the football star. Lloyd was seen in the early hours of June 17 getting into a car with Hernandez and his friends Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. Around 3:25 a.m., surveillance footage showed that car driving into the industrial park where Lloyd’s body was eventually found. After roughly 40 minutes, the same car departed. Adding to the large pile of evidence, a piece of gum with Hernandez’s DNA was found stuck to a gun shell casing, and the same rental car that appeared in the industrial park was rented under Hernandez’s name. Hernandez was eventually convicted of first-degree murder as well as all weapons charges in 2015, resulting in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, his suicide in 2017 complicated his case. Citing abatement ab initio, Hernandez’s lawyers argued that his convictions should be vacated because he died before his appeals were exhausted. That was then overruled in 2019 following an appeal from the prosecution and Lloyd’s family. After his death, Boston University researchers studied Hernandez’s brain and diagnosed him with chronic traumatic encephalopathy , which is caused by repeated head trauma. The neurological disease has been linked to behavioral and mood problems as well as problems with thinking. Ortiz and Wallace also face legal action for their role in Lloyd’s murder. Wallace was convicted of being an accessory after the fact, and Ortiz pled guilty to accessory after the fact, which led to the murder charge against him being dropped. Both were sentenced to four and a half to seven years in prison. The abuse of the Hernandez brothers The Odin Lloyd case is an odd one because — as was the case with all of Hernandez’s crimes — it said more about Hernandez than his relationship to his victims. From childhood, Hernandez was surrounded by violence. Both of his parents were arrested during their lives, and both Hernandez and his brother, Dennis Jonathan Jr. were physically abused by their father, who pushed them toward excellence, especially in sports. Jonathan also claimed Hernandez was sexually molested as a child. Another source of pressure in Hernandez’s life was his sexuality. Dennis SanSoucie , a friend of Hernandez’s who experimented with the future football star when they were in high school, said that Hernandez was “terrified” his father would learn he was gay. Despite this rocky relationship, many believe that Hernandez never recovered from the death of his father in 2006. Did Aaron Heranandez kill two other people? This internal turbulence paired with a short temper and an environment that encouraged violence was a dangerous combination. Though Hernandez was only convicted of one murder, he had several run-ins with the law throughout this career. While at the University of Florida in 2007, he punched the manager of a bar, rupturing his eardrum. Hernandez’s run-ins escalated in 2012 when two men, Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado, were killed by gunshot in their vehicle. Hernandez and his friend, Alexander Bradley, were in the same club as the two men the night of their murders. The prosecution argued that Hernandez was angered by the two men after a drink was spilled on him . In April of 2017 — two years after being convicted of Lloyd’s death — Hernandez was acquitted of the murders, though the Boston Globe later stated there was “powerful evidence” connecting him to the crimes. Less than a year after the de Abreu and Furtado deaths, Hernandez visited a Florida strip club with his friend, Alexander Bradley. Bradley was later found lying in a parking lot bleeding after being shot in the head. Though the injury cost him his right eye, Bradley didn’t work with police, instead resorting to death threats and extortion attempts that were uncovered through the pair’s texts. Bradley eventually filed a civil lawsuit for damages against the football player. A settlement was reached in 2016, the details of which are unknown. At the height of the Bradley drama, Hernandez travelled to California with his fiancé and daughter to have a shoulder surgery. During this time, Jenkins called the police twice in less than a week, alleging that Hernandez was drunk and violent. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed . 271 IMAGES Anthropology Case Study by Mentors4IAS chapter 14 Anthropology case studies by raiven anderson on Prezi The “Self” According To Anthropology PPT Case Study Methods Case Study VIDEO Cultural Anthropology (सांस्कृतिक मानवशास्त्र) What's more effective in Anthropology Optional: Case Studies or Examples? #anthropology #shorts Introduction to Anthropology Paper-I, Topic-4 Power, authority & legitimacy; Social Control, Law and Justice in Simple Societies The New Batch of Anthropology Optional is going to commence from "24th of June," Why you study Anthropology for UPSC 😱😱 COMMENTS Case study method in anthropology The Case Study Method in Anthropology is used in many different research projects from ethnography of urban poverty, through studies of charismatic Christian movements, Cultural Property and in visual methods. Professor Caroline Moser - Caroline Moser, Professor of Urban Development and Director of GURC uses variations of the case study in her ... Identification of a decedent in a 103-year-old homicide case using Pooling resources, as well as collaborating with professionals outside of forensic anthropology, is a useful strategy to pursue when anthropological methods are exhausted.The case study presented here demonstrates a collaborative approach between forensic anthropologists, forensic genetic genealogists, and law enforcement in a century-old homicide. Case Study Method in Anthropological Research Case Study Method. A case study is an in-depth examination of a specific phenomenon, individual, or context, usually from a qualitative perspective. The case study method is typically used in social sciences, such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology, to explore real-life, complex, multifaceted phenomena within their context [1]. Case Study Methodology of Qualitative Research: Key Attributes and A case study is one of the most commonly used methodologies of social research. This article attempts to look into the various dimensions of a case study research strategy, the different epistemological strands which determine the particular case study type and approach adopted in the field, discusses the factors which can enhance the effectiveness of a case study research, and the debate ... PDF What is a Case Study… The concept of 'reasonable person' embodies a form of moral reason that embraces conflict and does not seek to resolve contradictions. A Shared Social System. People inhabit a conflicted but shared social system rather than 'different worlds'. That conflicted social system is the proper subject of anthropological analysis. Case Study Research For example, Hamel, Dufour, and Fortin trace the origins of modern social science case studies through anthropology and sociology, and cite Malinowski's study of the Trobriand Islands native population. Robert Stake (1927-) is credited with systematically establishing processes for case study research. More ... The Biological Anthropology of Living Human Populations: World Physical Anthropology and National Identity. We start with four case studies of the development and role of physical/biological anthropology in Brazil, Portugal, Norway, and Japan, each of which demonstrates how the scientific practices of the field intersected with issues of national identity and colonial power. Case Study Research in Anthropology Sage Research Methods - Encyclopedia of Case Study Research - Case Study Research in Anthropology. This visualization demonstrates how methods are related and connects users to relevant content. Find step-by-step guidance to complete your research project. Answer a handful of multiple-choice questions to see which statistical method is best for ... Theory and Practice by Anthropologists: A Case Study Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe; Medical Anthropology Quarterly; Museum Anthropology; Nutritional Anthropology; PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review ... A Case Study. Professor James L. Peacock, Professor James L. Peacock. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Search for more papers by this author. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology , 6th Edition Ideal for any cultural anthropology course, this brief collection of ethnographic case studies exposes students to 15 different cultures. The groups selected are peoples whose traditional cultures are uniquely their own. Each has distinctive patterns and practices; each has faced the challenge of an encroaching world, with differing results. PDF Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology The Dobe Ju/'hoansi The Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology Series was founded in 1960 under the joint editorship of George and Louise Spindler, both anthropologists at Stanford University. Since that time, more than 200 case studies have been published, and the series has enjoyed wide readership in college and university classrooms around the country and abroad. Case Studies Anthropology Case Studies. Our Case Studies Read our latest case studies from the Department of Anthropology. Learn more Mother-infant proximity in the postnatal period Our findings led to changes in recommended best practice in postnatal care, affecting 630,000 mothers and babies annually in the UK. ... ASA Apply Ethics: Case Studies This page discusses a case study set in England. It highlights how ethical issues are often imbedded in personal relationships and yet are heavily influenced by a wide range of powers that are quite diffuse. Whenever we talk about ethical dilemmas as anthropologists the textual/oral mode subtly changes. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology, 6/e Ideal for any Cultural Anthropology course, this brief and inexpensive collection of ethnographic case studies exposes students to fifteen different cultures. Culture Sketches introduces students to ethnography without overwhelming them with excessive reading material. Each sketch, or chapter, was selected for its relevance to students and for ... PDF UNIT 4 CASE STUDY 4.3 Historical Account of Case Study Method. 4.4 Designing Case Study. 4.4.1 Determine and Define the Research Questions. 4.4.2 Select the Cases and Determine Data Gathering and Analysis Techniques. 4.4.3 Prepare to Collect Data. 4.4.4 Collect Data in the Field. 4.4.5 Evaluate and Analyse the Data. 4.4.6 Prepare the Report. Culture sketches : case studies in anthropology Culture sketches : case studies in anthropology Bookreader Item Preview ... Ethnology -- Case studies Publisher Dubuque, Iowa : The McGraw-Hill Collection internetarchivebooks; printdisabled Contributor Internet Archive Language English Item Size 958.1M . xi, 306 p. : 24 cm Case Study #1 -- Cultural Anthropology by George Bush, Jr. Anthropology 1604. Case Study #1. Professor Roufs. 09 September 2024. Bush 2. [more information on an Introduction] Put your paragraph (s) summarizing the Texas A & M WebSite (Anthropology in the News) here. Put a transitional statement about finding a item of interest here that's a good example of some current trend or new ... Discovering a double murder through skeletal remains: A case report Here we present a complex forensic case regarding a double murder whose victims were found almost completely skeletonized. Post-mortem investigations allowed us to define the biological profile of the two bodies (ancestry, sex, age and stature), to discover their identity through forensic DNA analysis, and to detect peri-mortem injuries caused ... Archaeology As Anthropology: A Case Study on JSTOR The region discussed in this study occupies a portion of the Colorado Plateau in east-central Arizona. It includes part of the upper drainage of the Little Colorado River and portions of several of its tributaries. It is roughly outlined by parallels 34° 30ʹ on the north, 34° 20ʹ on the south, with meridians 109° 20ʹ and 110° the rough ... Case Studies in Anthropology 1st Edition. By Mac Marshall. March 12, 2004. This case study examines emigrants from Namoluk Atoll in the Eastern caroline islands of Micronesia, in the Western pacific. Most members of the Namoluk Community (cbon Namoluk) do not currently live there. some 60 percent of them have moved to chuuk, Guam, Hawai'i, or the mainland United states ... Archeology as Anthropology: A Case Study Abstract. Anthropological inferences, made possible by advances in techniques for collecting data in archeological field work and the processing of data with a computer, permit a comparison to be made between the modern western Pueblos and their prehistoric background. One point in the development of Pueblo social organization (approximately A ... Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology Publisher Series. Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology. The peasants of central Russia by Stephen Porter Dunn 8 copies. Abkhasians: The Long Living People of the Caucasus by Sula Benet 16 copies. The Ainu of the Northwest Coast of Southern Sakhalin by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney 21 copies. Aleuts, Survivors of the Bering Land Bridge by William S ... American Sports Story: Breaking Down the Aaron Hernandez Case Ahead of Ryan Murphy and Stu Zicherman's deep dive, consider this your guide to the major details of the Hernandez case. The Odin Lloyd murder, explained On June 26, 2013, Aaron Hernandez's ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis