The case study as research heuristic: lessons from the R & D value mappingproject

How can case studies be used as a research heuristic?! If prototype case st udies are performed, what can researchers expect to learn from them and how can they be structured to enhance their learning value? This paper conside rs that question and the learning from two case studies intended to inform multiple case studies undertaken later in the project. Two prototype cases are presented, one Brookhaven National Laboratory, the other from Los Alamo s National Laboratory, each having as its objective providing information a bout how to design and execute the subsequent 30 case studies to be underta ken. This paper summarizes the cases, presents some of the lessons learned for the subsequent larger project and then considers more generally the use of prototype case studies and the preconditions for their successful deplo yment. Prototype case studies are particularly useful for helping set bound aries for later studies, identifying the ways in which the research setting affects research findings, making judgments about the accessibility and av ailability of data, and determining respondents' reactions to the research and the researchers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.