I'm going back again, but this time to case studies. As I work on my research proposal and look ahead to another assignment for another class, I realise that they are both well suited to case study comparisons. In my SSHRC proposal I didn't mention case studies because they weren't really on my radar even though I referenced a number of other case studies within the field of development as well as community informatics. I had also read a lot of case studies in my research for my SSHRC proposal, this final research proposal and my other assignment (which is a report on the evaluation and sustainability of CI driven projects in three Pacific Island Countries). Looking back through my readings, probably 90% were case studies. In one of the main texts I am using: Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communications Technologies edited by Michael Gurstein has a whole section about CI case studies. There are no shortages of case studies in the CI field. Is this a bad thing? At first I thought perhaps, but then I checked myself and thought absolutely not (in my humble opinion). Yin (1981) states that the "distinguishing characteristic of the case study is that it attempts to examine: (a) a contemporary phenomenon in its real-life context , especially when (b) the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident" (p. 59). In a field emphasises the importance of context, it is no wonder that CI researchers tend to create case studies.
Yin, R.K. (1981). The case study crisis: Some answers. Administrative Science Quarterly 26(1), 58-65.
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