Processes of a case study methodology for postgraduate research in marketing
Chad Perry

Processes of a case study methodology 7 85

U n ive rsi ty of Sou the r n Q ueensl a nd, Toowoomba , A ust r a l i a
Introduction
C a s e s t u d i e s a re f a m i l i a r t o m a rke t i n g e d u c a t o r s a n d t h e i r s t u d e n t s a s a teaching device. For example, the Harvard Business School’s cases are widely used to allow students to be emotionally involved and le ar n action-related analysis of real, complex situations (Christensen and Hansen, 1987). However, a l t h o u g h c a s e s t u d i e s c a n a l s o b e u s e d a s a re s e a r c h m e t h o d o l o g y ( E a s t o n ,
1994a; Parkhe, 1993; Tsoukas, 1989;
24). More precisely, the phenomological p ar adigm can be divided into thre e: critical theo r y, constr uctivism and realism (Guba and Lincoln, 1994). Table I is a conceptual schema of these four paradigms, using three columns which allow the evaluation of each paradigm

Paradigm
Table I.
A three dimensional framework for categorizing four scientific paradigms

Deduction/ induction Dimension
Objective/subjective

Commensurable/ incommensurable Positivism
Critical theory
Constr uctivism
Realism

Deduction
Induction
Induction
Induction

Objective
Subjective
Subjective
Objective

Commensurable
Commensurable
Incommensurable
Commensurable

f o r c a s e s t u dy r e s e a r c h ( b a s e d o n G u b a a n d L i n c o l n , 1 9 9 4 ; H u n t 1 9 9 1 ;
Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991; Parkhe, 1993; Tsoukas, 1989). The columns in
Table I refer to the dimensions of deduction/induction, objective/subjective and commensurable/incommensurable. Each of those dimensions is discussed next.
Realism is the preferred paradigm for case study research for several reasons.
First, case study research areas are usually contemporary and pre-paradigmatic, such as inter-organizational relationships and relationship marketing (Boing,
1994). That is, the research areas usually require inductive theory building for deduction from already existing principles of a “paradigm” is likely to be difficult where accepted principles and constructs