Analytic Generalization

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

All research takes place in the form of single studies. The significance of any given study depends not only on the study's findings but also on the broader implications of the findings—the extent to which the findings can be “generalized” to other studies and other situations. The more that research of any kind is generalizable in this fashion, the more the research may be valued.

Generalizing the results from a single case study poses a unique problem. Case studies are typically about a specific case. Even if a case study is about multiple cases, each case is likely to consist of a specific set of persons or a specific set of events in a specific place and at a specific period of time. Indeed, each case's specificity is likely to make it a unique situation. Given these circumstances, how to generalize a case study's findings to other situations, thereby enhancing the importance of the findings, would at first appear to be problematic. Note, however, that the same challenge pertains to laboratory experiments, not just case studies. How to generalize the results from a single experiment, taking place with a specific group of experimental subjects in a given place and time (and subjected to specific experimental interventions and procedures), also might seem problematic.

Application

Using analytic generalization requires carefully constructed argument. The argument is not likely to achieve the status of a proof in geometry, but the argument must be presented soundly and be resistant to logical challenge. The relevant theory may be no more than a series of hypotheses or even a single hypothesis.

The pertinent argument or theory should be stated at the outset of the case study, not unlike the posing of propositions or hypotheses at the outset of any research. The argument needs to be cast in relation to existing research literature, not the specific conditions to be found in the case to be studied. In other words, the goal is to pose the propositions and hypotheses at a conceptual level higher than that of the specific case. Typically, this higher level is needed to justify the research importance for studying the chosen case in the first place.

The findings from the case study should then show how the empirical results supported or challenged the theory. If supported, the investigators then need to show how the theoretical advances can pertain (be generalized) to situations other than those examined as part of the single case study.

The procedure does not differ from that used in reporting the findings from single laboratory experiments. However, the procedure does differ strongly from an alternative strategy—statistical generalization—which is not relevant to case studies and should be avoided if possible.

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