The Case Study Interview in Research
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The case study interview differs from a general survey in its depth rather than its breadth, focusing closely on a single situation or person in order to understand something that a wider, shallower approach would likely miss entirely.
Researchers using this method rely heavily on carefully sequenced questions, building trust gradually before approaching more sensitive territory, since a single deep interview depends far more on rapport than a brief survey question ever needs to.
The resulting insight trades breadth for richness, offering a detailed understanding of one case that, while not necessarily representative of every situation, often reveals patterns a broader study would have been too shallow to notice at all.
Critics of the method rightly point out its limits, since a single case cannot establish how common a pattern actually is, which is why the most careful researchers pair a case study's depth with other, broader methods rather than relying on it entirely on its own.