Longitudinal Case Study — Tracking Change Over Time in Depth

A longitudinal case study is a qualitative research design that combines the in-depth, contextually rich focus of case study methodology with repeated data collection across multiple time points. Rather than capturing a single snapshot, it follows one or a small number of cases — an individual, group, organisation, or programme — over months or years to trace how processes, relationships, and meanings evolve. This design is well suited to questions about how and why things change, not merely what the state of affairs is at one moment.