Experience of Industry Case Studies: A Comparison of Multi-Case and Embedded Case Study Methods

Julian M. Bass, Sarah Beecham Lero, John Noll

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Context: Case studies are a useful approach for conducting empirical studies of software engineering, in part because they allow a phenomenon to be studied in its real-world context. However, given that there are several kinds of case studies, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, researchers need to know how to choose which kind to employ for a specific research study. Aim: The objective of this research is to compare two case study approaches: Embedded, longitudinal case studies, and multi-case studies. Approach: We compared two actual software engineering case studies: A multi-case study involving interviews with 46 practitioners at 9 international companies engaged in offshoring and outsourcing, and a single case, participant observation embedded case study lasting 13 months in a mid-sized Irish software company. Both case studies were exploring similar problems of understanding the activities performed by members of scrum development teams. Results: We found that both multi-case and embedded case studies are suitable for exploratory research (hypothesis development) but that embedded research may also be more suitable for explanatory research (hypothesis testing).We also found that longitudinal case studies offer better confirmability, while multi-case studies offer better transferability. Conclusion: We propose a set of illustrative research questions to assist with the selection of the appropriate case study method.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings 2018 ACM/IEEE 6th International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2018
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages13-20
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781450357364
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 May 2018
Event6th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2018, held at the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2018 - Gothenburg, Sweden
Duration: 28 May 2018 → …

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering
ISSN (Print)0270-5257

Conference

Conference6th ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry, CESI 2018, held at the 40th International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2018
Country/TerritorySweden
CityGothenburg
Period28/05/18 → …

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