What Can You Do With a Single Case? How to Think About Ethnographic Case Selection Like a Historical Sociologist

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2331007
AutoresJosh Pacewicz (0000-0002-1438-1786, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume51
Fascículo3
Páginas931-962
Data de publicação2022-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociological Methods & Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0049-1241 • E-ISSN: 1552-8294
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0049124119901213
OpenAlexW3005887686
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas43
Referências citadas65

Most social scientists agree that case studies are useful for 'theory building,' but ethnographic methods papers often look to survey research for case selection strategies. This is due to a common but untenable distinction between theoretical and empirical generalization, which obscures how theoretically inclined ethnographers make implicit external validity claims. I analyze several exemplary ethnographies to show that (a) the distinction between theoretically and empirically oriented ethnography revolves around competing conventions for making claims that others accept as provisionally externally valid, (b) comparative-historical sociology provides a framework for evaluating how theoretically oriented ethnographies make such claims, and (c) each approach to making validity claims is optimized by different kinds of cases. Empirically oriented ethnographies make inductive claims via 'pointy' cases wherein a phenomenon is pronounced or bifurcated. Theoretically oriented ethnographers are like post-Millian historical sociologist who triangulate past studies with resolutive or negative cases to make constitutive arguments

Empirical research · Epistemology · Ethnography · Generalization · Phenomenon · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research