'Case Survey Method in Entrepreneurship Research'

The Case Method and the Survey Method are frequently being used in social science research, even though each of them is known to have its own limitations. While the case method can offer richness of data and generate insightful understanding of the phenomenon, it is often criticized about the non-venerability of its findings beyond the case(s). The survey method, on the other hand, claims to produce generalizable findings but is criticized for the high probability of inaccuracies due to inappropriate and non-representative sampling, inadequate sample sizes, hurried and careless responses, and non-uniform understanding of the questions by the respondents as well as for the abstract nature of its findings that may not provide in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. The Case-Survey Method is an attempt to combine the richness of the case data with the generalization of the survey data by generating quantitative data from published cases and statistically processing them for generalizable findings. Based on a pioneering effort in using this method in entrepreneurship research for a study of ‘Entrepreneurial Heuristics’, the author explains the process of generating and analyzing data through content analysis of cases in order to develop generalizable propositions, besides discussing the various related issues of ensuring homogeneity and sufficiency of data, sample adequacy, scaling adequacy, reliability and validity. The paper concludes by listing the research situations in which the case-survey method is more appropriate and convenient than other methods