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178 CHAPTER 7 Case studies

number, frequency, and length of visits to social places, the researchers were able
to conduct a quantitative analysis that provided a much richer description of the
interaction dynamic than would have been possible with the qualitative data on
its own.

7.10 WRITING UP THE STUDY

Documenting a case study can be challenging. More so than many other presenta-
tions of research results, case studies often read like descriptive discussions. Instead
of presenting quantitative data or statistical results, you may find yourself trying to
construct a narrative argument that uses the strength of the organization and writing
to construct a convincing argument. In other words, your case study may live or die
on the strength of your writing.
Starting your write-up early helps. Documenting your theory and your design in
detail as soon as possible aids in clarifying your thinking; you have these artifacts
to go back to. You do not want to be in the position of having to reconstruct these
important details from memory or incomplete notes long after the fact.
You should make your theories, data, methodologies, analytic steps, and mod-
els as explicit as possible. Clear presentation of these important components help
readers to understand where you have come from and how you got to any particular
conclusions that you may have derived.
Presentation of data and analysis may take many forms. You might present sum-
maries of your data followed by detailed analysis or you might intersperse data with
interpretation. Case study reports often use analyses of individual observations or
incidents to draw attention to noteworthy details. These analyses set the stage for dis-
cussions of broader themes that arise from the analysis. Case study data are usually
presented in one of two forms—either thematically (Shinohara and Tenenberg, 2007)
or chronologically (Farooq et al., 2007a). Chronological presentation is particularly
useful for case studies that describe a project or process.
Story-telling is often an important component of a case study report. Carefully
chosen anecdotes bring concrete details to your discussion, supporting your analytic
results. These stories are particularly useful—and often required—in cases of direct
interpretation (Stake, 1995). If you have chosen a specific incident as warranting de-
tailed interpretation, you should relate all of the relevant details. Stories can also be
used to introduce discussions of various components of your analysis. Short vignettes
(Stake, 1995; Yin, 2011) that illustrate factors that you discuss in your analysis can
make your subsequent analysis more concrete. These stories need not be narrative
descriptions of specific incidents: direct quotes from interviews describing behaviors
(Shinohara and Tenenberg, 2007) or individual perceptions (Troshynski et al., 2008)
work very well in this regard.
A case study of the use of participatory design in support of a community orga-
nization developing a website (Farooq et al., 2007a) provides an example of a com-
pelling and readable case study report. After introducing the problem and reviewing