BSSn4495:
Qualitative
research in
security
studies
Case selection and
generalization
April 12, 2022
Miriam Matejova, PhD
Agenda
• Cases and case study
• Generalization
Case
• “A spatially and temporally delimited
phenomenon of theoretical significance”
(Gerring 2017)
• States or state-like entities, organizations,
social groups, events, individuals
• Cases = units, with the added implication that
a case has a temporal boundary
Case study
• “the intensive (qualitative or quantitative)
analysis of a single unit or a small number of
units (the cases), where the researcher’s goal is
to understand a larger class of similar units (a
population of cases)” (Seawright and Gerring
2008)
• “the detailed examination of an aspect of a
historical episode to develop or test historical
explanations that may be generalizable to other
events” (George and Bennett 2005)
How do we pick
cases?
• We want:
–A representative sample
–A variation on the
dimensions of
theoretical interest
Types of
case study
–Atheoretical,
–interpretive,
–hypothesis generating,
–theory testing
(confirming or
infirming),
– deviant case studies,
–most-likely and leastlikely
case studies
Types of generalization
• Broader category of space
• Broader category of time
• Broader category of persons
• Broader category of substantive
phenomena
Specific vs. general knowledge
• SPECIFIC
– What caused the Rwandan civil war?
• Hutu-Tutsi hatred
• Belgian race policies
– Explains a case
• GENERAL
– What causes civil war?
• Ethnic diversity/hatred
• Colonial race policies
– Explains a phenomenon
SPECIFIC
EXPLANATION
GENERAL
EXPLANATION
→ A THEORY OF
CIVIL WAR
Specific to general
– MORE SPECIFIC: A cause of “increased welfare
spending”(E) in the US from 1960 to 2000 is
“whether the government is headed by a Left
Party”(C)
– MORE GENERAL: A cause of “increased welfare
spending”(E) in the advanced industrialized
countries in the post-war period is “whether the
government is headed by a Left Party”(C)
From specific to general, and back again
• Specific cases inspire hunches about general
phenomena
• General hunches tested against specific cases
– A few, or
– Lots
→ BUILDING AND TESTING THEORIES
• Understanding of general phenomenon can help
explain specific cases
Basis for generalization
• Two factors that limit our ability to generalize:
– Conditional effects: Whether C has an effect on E
may depend on a set of “background conditions”
that exist in certain contexts and not others (i.e.,
conjunctural causation)
– Conceptual stretching: Causes and effects may
mean different things in different contexts