Book Review

Yin, Rober. K. 1994. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Third Edition. Beverly Hills, Calif: Sage Publication.

This book discusses about case study method for doing a research. It completely explains the use of case study method to investigate unique phenomenon but still depend on multiple sources of evidence for the validity. Yin clarifies the characteristics of case study which only select limited number of participant as the subject study and analyse the context in detail to explore the phenomenon. “How” and “why” questions are the questions that want to be answered by using case study because case study will give the baseline measurement for it. This book emphasize the component of research design. Those are study’s question, its proposition, its unit of analysis, the logic linking the data to the proposition, and the criteria for interpreting the finding. There are some sources of data that can be used in case study. They are, documentation, archival record, interview, direct observation, participant observation, and physical artifacs. Each of data sorce is explored and be explained about the advantages and the weaknesses in using it. For the example documentation which can take many forms such as letter, memoranda, agenda, annoucement, etc. It is a stable data because can be reviewed repeatedly. Besides, it is unobstrusive and exact becuase contain exact names, references, and detailed of events. On the other hand, the retrievability of the document can be low and if the cllection is incomplete there will be bias. That is why there should be triangulation in which there is support from other data to maintain the validity of the research.

The writer, Rober K. Yin is one of prominent authors in research field. He is the president of Cosmos Corporation, an applied research and social science firm. He also has assissted numerous research groups in Cosmos Corporation and outside of it. Besides, he has authored nearly 100 journal articles and books. Eventhough Case Study Research: Design and Method is his first book on case study method, It becomes bestselling text because of its clear definition of case study method as well as discussion and analysis technique. This book is even updated in its fifth edition.

This book will support your research if you use case study as your research method. It gives you insight on how to prepare your research design and what data sources should I use. In addition it also gives clear explanaton on how to analyze the collection of data. It is very helpful to know the step by step of doing the research from identifying questions until reporting the result of the research.