Case-centered research utilizes multiple qualitative methods to investigate multifaceted subject matter. Case-centered research “consists of two fundamental and unique components: (a) a focus on the investigation of ‘complex’ social units or entities (also known as ‘case[s]’) in their entirety (i.e., not just one aspect captured at one moment in time), and (b) an emphasis on maintaining the cohesiveness of this entity throughout the research process” (Roller & Lavrakas, 2015, p. 350). Two notable case-centered approaches are case study and narrative research.

Both case study and narrative research focus on complex phenomena and a holistic strategy to retain and give meaning to the many integrated components of the topic area under investigation. In so doing, these case-centered approaches tackle issues that go beyond the scope of any one qualitative research method such as in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions to consider a case in the depth of its entirety.

For example, if the case concerns the use of technology at the university library, a case study research approach may surround the issue by going beyond onsite observations, IDIs, or group discussions with library users and staff, and incorporate a broader and more in-depth investigation, including (a) a complete review of the library’s electronic databases; (b) the extent of users’ access to Internet content (remotely and onsite); (c) the usability of its website across all digital devices, content, and amount of visitation; and (d) the use of and commitment to ongoing technological innovation. Similarly, narrative research to study the stigma of alcoholism would not be limited to IDIs with several alcoholics but would also embrace a full range of methods that attempt to look at the experience of living with alcoholism from different modes of communication, including orally via an unstructured IDI, in writing by way of a journal or diary exercise, and graphically in the form of a “self-identity drawing,” asking the participant, “Could you try to draw who you think you are right now?” (Esteban-Guitart, 2012, p. 179). Narrative research provides the researcher with a complex dimensionality to participants’ stories while also bestowing on participants the freedom to express their stories in varying ways and allowing their stories to be heard.

There is also a “naturalness” associated with case studies and narrative research. For case studies, this comes chiefly from the context or, more specifically, the researcher’s access to data taken from the subject’s environment as it exists (e.g., the corporate environment to study the implementation of new employee training practices, a hospital’s intensive care unit facility to study organizational structure, a two-block urban neighborhood to study social contact). Narrative research derives its naturalness from the unstructured, open-ended questioning—by which the interviewer’s interjections in the interview are mostly words of encouragement (e.g., “Please, go on,” or “Tell me what made that event so memorable”) or questions for clarification (e.g., “Was this the first time you encountered this situation?” “How far is it from your home to where you go for treatment?”)—as well as the idea that “humans are storytelling organisms” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, p. 2) and that telling stories is a natural aspect of what it means to be a human being. This natural basis from which to gather data enables the researcher to witness, among other things, the sequence of situational or life events as well as the changes that have taken place within the life cycle bounded by the case.

Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2–14.

Esteban-Guitart, M. (2012). Towards a multimethodological approach to identification of funds of identity, small stories and master narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 22(1), 173–180. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22.1.12est

Roller, M. R., & Lavrakas, P. J. (2015). Applied qualitative research design: A total quality framework approach. New York: Guilford Press.

* A portion of this article is a modified excerpt from Applied Qualitative Research Design: A Total Quality Framework Approach (Roller & Lavrakas, 2015, pp. 306-307).