Holistic Designs

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Case study research per se is holistic in that it must portray the broad context of the case in order for it to be meaningful. Context, however, is a definable term that, depending on the terms of reference for the case study, may take on markedly different parameters. Context can include the physical, social, cultural, symbolic, and psychological environments of the case study.

Holism is a theoretical construct that can be traced to William James's Principles of Psychology in the notion that an object of consciousness gains its meaning from its embeddedness in the context from which it emerges. This means that we come to understand things from their surroundings. Approximately a decade later, Edmund Husserl also articulated the idea that a phenomenon is meaningful only by understanding the web of interconnections from which it arises. The relation of figure to ground would later find its way into the Gestalt philosophers' lexicon, thus popularizing the holistic approach. Holism, then, is about understanding something as part of a larger or broader whole.

The principle of holism is to see the entire context for our understanding. Holism moves beyond an elementalistic notion of component parts that combine in a piecemeal way to create an entity. Rather, holism asserts that a broader approach is required to understand phenomena in their totality or situ where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Martin Heidegger, a student of Husserl's, advances the importance of our interpretations. Heidegger's point is that we make things meaningful by trying to understand their contexts. In the realm of case study approaches, holism is an interpretive standpoint of the researcher. Holism will be a function of what the case study's purpose is in the terms of reference. Therefore holism is about the interpreter's design for what the big picture is and what that entails.

Robert Stake defines three relevant variations on case studies: intrinsic, instrumental, and multiple case studies. Intrinsic case studies are studied for their own particular idiosyncrasy and ordinariness. They are studied for their own sake. Instrumental case studies are examined for their potential to enhance understanding of an issue or phenomenon. The case per se is less emphasized than the theoretical insight it might offer for a construct or concept. When several cases are selected to accomplish this instrumental goal, then the study falls into the genre of the multiple case study. The construct of holism takes on nuanced interpretation for each of these typologies.

Holism in case studies with an intrinsic frame of reference needs to consider the various environments that the case crosses. For example, if the case study is of an individual, then it might take a social ecological approach wherein the person is the focus but also the person's relationships with family, with other organizations, and with other institutions of culture. If it is of an organization, then it might look at all the other organizations with which the organization's staff interacts on a regular basis. Of course all of this is a judgment call that is based on a balance between holism and feasibility, which always includes resource constraints. In designing an intrinsic case study, the researcher or team of researchers may wish to start with an ideal holistic approach and then prioritize their work in terms of feasibility. If the case is meant to be intrinsically self-contained, then holism contributes to the overall coherence of the understanding that emerges from the triangulation of diverse perspectives on the particular case.

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