Case Research in IS: State of Affairs

Case studies are an important research method in areas where innovations are studied such as in the field of IS. This method enables us to study contemporary phenomena in their natural context. Ten years ago, Benbasat, Goldstein & Mead presented an instrument for the evaluation of case studies, and applied this to case studies in IS. They came to the conclusion that many researchers seem to ignore important methodological issues. We questioned the current state of affairs and investigated 55 case studies that were published in the last two years. We did the same evaluation as Benbasat, et al., although we took into consideration the difference between positivistic and interpretive studies in our review. We conclude that although progress has been made, there is still a need for improvement. Therefore, we propose that case investigators make the chain of evidence explicit, so that the audience is able to follow the relations between theory, units of analysis, site selection, sources of evidence, data analysis techniques, data and conclusions. We ask for more attention for the publication of case study designs to further professionalize the application of this research method in our field of research. Case research in IS: State of affairs