Many people do not know what a case study is. A case study is basically a detailed collection of information which might be about something or someone particular. It could be able an individual or a group of people. A case study tends to include in it a lot of qualitative information on the topic under study.
The main purpose of case studies is that they reach a conclusion about the thing/person under consideration. The main thing on which researchers focus on is the certain aspect in a specific context rather than being concerned about something in general. Case studies are very common and are carried out by almost every firm. Even students are made to study cases in order to better understand a certain topic.
There are various types of case studies which exist. Some of them are mentioned below in short detail:
Illustrative: illustrative case studies are generally very descriptive. These tend to focus on only a few small instances about a certain situation or event.
Pilot: pilot or exploratory case studies as they are commonly known are a condensed form of case studies. A pilot study is what is carried out prior to a large investigation and research.
Critical instance: a critical instance case study is one which studies a certain situation with great detail. Various aspects of the situation are examined but nothing general is focused upon.
Cumulative: cumulative case studies are seen as being a collection of information which has been collected from various case studies at different time periods. A cumulative case study contains information on any case study which took place in the past and hence can be seen as a collection of them. This allows for researchers to be able to generalize and justify the generalization.