Methoden vergleichen

	Kritische Fallstudie	Vergleichende Fallstudie
Fachgebiet	Qualitativ	Qualitativ
Familie	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Entstehungsjahr	1980s–2006 (formalized)	1984 (Yin); 1995 (Stake)
Urheber	Bent Flyvbjerg (formalized); Robert K. Yin (case study typology)	Robert K. Yin; Robert E. Stake
Typ	Qualitative research design	Qualitative / mixed research design
Wegweisende Quelle	Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245.	Yin, R. K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods (6th ed.). Sage. ISBN: 978-1506336169
Aliasnamen	critical case, strategic case study, critical-instance case study, paradigmatic case study	cross-case study, multi-site case study, multiple case study design, comparative case analysis
Verwandt	6	4
Zusammenfassung	A critical case study is a case study design in which the researcher deliberately selects a case that is strategically important for testing, confirming, challenging, or extending an existing proposition, theory, or policy claim. Rather than choosing a typical or representative case, the researcher argues that if the finding holds here — in this most-likely, least-likely, or paradigmatic instance — it can reasonably be expected to hold more broadly. This purposive logic transforms a single case into a powerful analytical tool.	Comparative case study is a qualitative research design in which two or more bounded cases are studied in depth and then systematically compared to identify similarities, differences, and patterns across contexts. Rooted in Yin's replication logic and Stake's multiple case framework, it is particularly suited to questions that ask how or why a phenomenon unfolds differently — or similarly — across distinct settings, populations, or time periods.