Case Study Method in Human Resource Development: Reviewing the Research Literature

Abstract

This paper is written with a novice social science (management, education, public administration, public policy, and human resource development etc.) researcher in mind at the graduate or doctoral level. A case study research design has been made in this paper for a human resource development (HRD) project after extensively reviewing the research literature. This paper is useful for researchers who are looking for a case study research design plan based on a real-world example that can be adapted to their specific research. The paper is based on a research titled, “Faculty Engagement in Professional Development: A Bangladesh Case Study”. It explains a rationale for the use of case study method in an HRD project, followed by the research questions, the research methods and procedures. The paper also debates on sampling issues, data types, research instruments, data organization and cleaning, data analysis using and issues of validity and reliability. The paper concludes with a discussion on limitations and delimitations.