A case study provides an analysis of a holistic representation of the context-dependent social actions, interactions, and activity in a site, setting, or instance. The case could be location dependent, such as in a classroom, social organization, or at a cultural site; phenomenon dependent, such as investigations of specific legal or medical cases or cultural practices; or person dependent as in the case of a specific illness, the activity of an individual, or psychological circumstance.

Whatever the scope of a case study, it is methodologically important to understand both its value and limitation as a context-dependent representation of a bounded system. In this entry, case study is discussed in relation to its role in research in lifespan human development, covering what case study is, its key ...