Interpretive Case Study — In-Depth Qualitative Case Research

Interpretive case study is a qualitative research design in which the researcher selects a bounded real-world case — a person, program, event, organization, or community — and seeks to understand it from the inside, through the meanings participants themselves construct. Unlike explanatory or descriptive case study, the interpretive variant foregrounds the researcher's active role in making sense of complex, context-laden data rather than testing hypotheses or cataloguing facts.