Shigeo Matsubara
Department of Social Informatics
Kyoto University
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What are cases?
An example of a case
Subjects of case studies and the
case method
Case study/case method design
Composing cases
Case usage
Cases in field informatics
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
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Field: difficult to an analytical/engineering approach, not
able to control, brings about a unpredictable and contingent
event, required to commit at any time

Methodology’s view

Target:
people’s daily life
Describe
Convey
education
Predict
Design
office
meeting
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Researcher to researcher
Researcher to
practitioner
Significa “Standing on the shoulders
of giants”
nce
In business cases,
• Business scholars
provide theories in
marketing and
accounting, etc.
• Business people make a
decision on human
resources and financing,
etc.
Methods
Lectures
success is always based on
the research and works of
thinkers of the past
Research papers
challenge Often difficult to show why Acquiring the skills of
the lessons are significant applying the learned
if they are obtained from
theories to the real fields
the practice in the field
is needed
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A description about a real-life event really happened
in a specific circumstance
Conveys some knowledge for a research question where
the phenomenon and the context are difficult to
separate from each other
Q:Can an article in blogs or SNSs be viewed as a case?
 A:Usually No. Cases are meant to involve the
author's clear objective whether it is for research
or teaching purposes
Classification of cases
 conveying academic knowledge (research purpose):
case study
 conveying practical knowledge (teaching purpose):
case method
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Case studies
• Standing alongside various research methods such as
logical proof based on mathematics, simulation,
participant experiment, and survey (questionnaire)
• Examining and analyzing particular cases, and
verifying hypotheses, and deriving a general truth
from the results
Case methods
• Developed during the 1930s at Harvard Business
School
• Also applied to the legal field and the medical
fields
• Can develop the ability to tie theory to a
practical situation by presenting a case as an
apparatus for inducing a debate about the "why" and
"how" of a specific case
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Research purpose: outcome of the case
study
• it is used to verify the hypothesis
• the complete and accurate descriptions of the
real event are required
• the conclusions by the author are needed
Teaching purpose: cases used in the
case method
• apparatus for inducing a debate
• whether it brings an active debate is important
than the completeness and the accurateness of
the descriptions
• the conclusions by the author are not needed
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Accounting System Upgrade
Kojima is a general advisor for the hardware development
department at A Telecommunications. He received an email from
the main accounting department asking him to attend an
informational meeting about the launch of an operations
management system.
The Financial Services Agency's Business Accounting Council
released a written opinion (1998) and practical guidelines
(2000) on software. With the new guidelines, previously unclear
software accounting procedures were defined, and tax laws were
revised.
(snip)
To comply with these standards, the company's accounting
department decided to develop and implement a system to
calculate the number of software developer work hours.
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 Case studies
The form of the research questions
Surveys
Who
What
Where
How
many,
How
much
P
P
P
P
How
Why
control
of
behavior
al event
No need
Experiments
P
P
Need
Simulations
P
P
Need
Case studies
P
P
No need
 Case methods
 Lectures: conveying specialized knowledge
 Case methods: conveying practical knowledge, i.e.,
insight and integration which is difficult to
systematize and verbalize
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
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Behavioural event
 Case studies: not control
 Subject experiments: control (comparing the
experiment group with the control group)
 Simulations: control (changing parameters)
To realize the control of behavioural events, phenomenon
and context have to be separated from each other
If the relations among factors are complicated and
separating phenomenon from context is difficult, case
studies are a dominant research strategy
Case studies have an advantage over other methods if the
boundaries between phenomenon and context are not obvious
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
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How to write a good paper?
 not limited to how to organize sections or how to
select the style of writing but can eventually be
reduced to how to select a good research theme
How to compose a good case?
 you need to select a good research theme
If you collect the data before clarifying the issues,
it results in
 failing to organize and utilize the huge amount of
collected data
 failing to collect the data necessary to construct a
discussion.
Therefore, you should clarify the research issues in
advance and look over the whole procedure of case
studies.
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Clarifying
the research
question
Clarifying a
unit of
analysis
Examining the
logic linking
the data to
the
hypothesis
Gathering
the evidence
Analyzing
the evidence
Composing a
draft
Reviewing by
persons
involved
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12/21
theoretical sampling
(analytical
generalization)
probabilistic sampling
(statistical
generalization)
• Case study
• Extreme or atypical
cases reveal more
information and help to
clarify the deeper
causes
• So, select cases that is
likely to support the
same theory and verify
it.
• Surveys and experiments
• Select samples randomly
• Making prediction based
on statistical inference
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Get rid of any preconceived ideas and not to bias your
thought toward pre-supposed results
If you happen to obtain information from an interview
that goes against your hypothesis, you should not think
of it as a failure, but rather welcome it as a possible
clue to a new discovery.
Methods to prevent your thought from begin biased
 to develop a case study protocol
 Provides the specification of procedures and
general rules as well as the methods such as
investigating literatures or conducting interviews
 to build a case database
 enables us to easily maintain and access the
collected data
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Evidence sources
• documentation: letters, memos, minutes of the meeting,
etc.
• archival records: organization charts, maps, census data,
etc.
• interview
• direct observation
• participant observation: the observer is not a person that
plays a passive role but is intensively involved.
• physical artifacts: apparatus, tools, etc.
Principles of data collection
• utilizing multiple sources of evidence: As triangulation
in geometry, combining multiple sources of evidence such
as documentation, archival records, interview, direct
observation, participant observation, and physical
artifacts.
• maintaining the chain of evidence
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Anonymity
• Giving out identifying information in cases is
most desirable
• Makes it easier for the reader to recall
related cases,
• Makes it easier to present appropriate evidence
against a claim
• Keeping anonymous about persons in cases should
be considered if persons involved may suffer
loss by offering their identity
Review by persons involved
• Although a detailed review makes it easier to
detect errors and improves accuracy, the process
can delay publication of the case.
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Does the case have an educational theme appropriate to
its purpose?
Is the case well-written (easy to read and interesting)?
Does the case present a problem to learners, and are learners
able to recognize it?
Can the case be analyzed and discussed by learners?
Does the case allow learners to become decision-makers?
Does the case foster discussion?
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
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I. lead sentence of a
several lines giving a
feeling of the whole
story
II. time line to reach the
decision making and key
factors
III.decision-making issues
IV. The body of the case
V. Appendix
Accounting System Upgrade
Kojima is a general advisor for
the hardware development
department at A Telecommunications.
He received an email from the main
accounting department asking him
to attend an informational meeting
about the launch of an operations
management system.
The Financial Services Agency's
Business Accounting Council
released a written opinion (1998)
and practical guidelines (2000) on
software. With the new guidelines,
previously unclear software
accounting procedures were defined,
and tax laws were revised.
(snip)
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
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Pros
• The readers can obtain new knowledge.
• Cases can mediate between researchers and persons
in the field.
• Students can obtain the ability of practical
decision-making.
• Students can know each other by sharing experiences
and discussing cases
Cons
• It is difficult to find cases that relate to one's
problem.
• Understanding one case does not mean that one can
easily understand another.
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
19/21
Enlarging the domain to apply
the case study and case methods
• Bridging a gap between theory and practice in
information system design
• Education of the management of technology (MOT)
Paying more attention to
information asymmetry
• Incentive problems in the networked society
Using distance learning systems
and other information equipment
• Mitigating the limit on the number of students
in case methods
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
20/21
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Significance of conveying knowledge
Classification of cases: Research purpose and teaching
purpose
Subjects of case studies and case methods
 Case studies have an advantage if the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not obvious
Case studies design: should clarify the research issues
Composing cases: protocol and database should be developed
Case usage: can mediate between researchers and persons in
the field
Cases in field informatics
 Cases to informatics: applying case studies to information
system design
 Informatics to cases: utilizing IT for gathering the
evidences or carrying out the case methods
Copyright (C) 2010 Field Informatics Research Group. Kyoto University. All Rights Reserved.
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