1. Using case studies to enhance the quality of explanation and implementation: integrating scholarship and development practice Jennifer Widner, Michael Woolcock, and Daniel Ortega Nieto; Part I. Internal and External Validity Issues in Case Study Research: 2. How to learn about causes in the single case Nancy Cartwright; 3. RCTs versus observational research: assessing the trade-offs Christopher Achen; 4. Drawing contingent generalizations from case studies Andrew Bennett; 5. Will it work here? Using case studies to generate 'key facts' about complex development programs Michael Woolcock; Part II. Ensuring High-Quality Case Studies: 6. Descriptive accuracy in interview-based case studies Jennifer Widner; 7. Selecting cases for comparative sequential analysis: novel uses for old methods Tommaso Pavone; 8. The transparency revolution in qualitative social science: implications for policy analysis Andrew Moravcsik; Part III. Putting Case Studies to Work: Applications to Development Practice: 9. Process Tracing for Program Evaluation Andrew Bennett; 10. Positive Deviance Cases: Their Value for Development Research, Policy, and Practice Melani Cammett; 11. Analytic Narratives and Case Studies; 12. Using Case Studies for Organizational Learning in Development Agencies Sarah Glavey, Oliver Haas, Claudio Santibanez, and Michael Woolcock; 13. Connecting Case Studies to Policy and Practice: Practical Lessons from Operational Experience Maria Gonzalez de Asis and Jennifer Widner.
This volume demonstrates how to conduct case study research that is both methodologically rigourous and useful to development policy.
Jennifer Widner is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and Director of Innovations for Successful Societies. Her research focuses on government performance, democratization, and constitutional design. Much of her work uses qualitative process-tracing case studies focused on institutional change, implementation, and service delivery. Michael Woolcock is Lead Social Scientist with the World Bank's Development Research Group, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He is the coauthor of Contesting Development: Participatory Projects and Local Conflict Dynamics in Indonesia (2011) and Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action (2017). Daniel Ortega Nieto is a Senior Public Sector Specialist at The World Bank. He assisted the Global Delivery Initiative and led a team developing DeCODE, an evidence-based system that helps anticipate delivery challenges. He was an advisor to the Mexican Government and holds degrees from the LSE and Georgetown University.
'This exceptional volume brings together a set of renowned experts
from the worlds of social science methods and policy evaluation to
assess the state-of-the-art for case studies in international
development practice. Case studies methods have for too long been
viewed as being second-best by many methodologists and
practitioners. This volume rectifies this, with several chapters
convincingly arguing that case study methods have relative
strengths in figuring out how development interventions work and
under what complex, real-world conditions they can succeed. Other
chapters provide practical guidance for how to use different case
study methods for studying development interventions, providing
many useful suggestions for researchers and evaluators.' Derek
Beach, Professor, Aarhus University, and Author of Process Tracing
Methods: Foundations and Guidelines
'At last evaluators and practitioners are offered methodologies
that match international development realities – where contexts
differ, policy mixes vary and nothing remains static. The
translation of new-generation, 'case-based' approaches into
development settings, can only strengthen the evaluation
enterprise. We might even look forward to credible generalisations
and lessons worth learning!' Elliot Stern, Emeritus Professor of
Evaluation Research, Lancaster University, and Editor, Evaluation:
International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice
'In the face of rapid, unpredictable change and diverse
implementation contexts, we need more and better case studies to
understand complex phenomena and to use that understanding for
better policies, programs and initiatives in other places and
times. Evidence about 'what works' on average in randomised
controlled trials cannot be simply generalised to other contexts.
But too often case studies are not done systematically or
carefully. This important volume provides practical, well-informed
guidance from leading writers and researchers on how to plan,
implement and communicate case studies which can effectively answer
questions about those cases and what these mean for planning
initiatives in other places in the future. This book should become
an essential guide and reference for everyone serious about quality
evidence to inform public policy and practice.' Patricia Rogers,
founder of BetterEvaluation
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
