The document summarizes a panel discussion on case-based evaluation approaches for exploring complexity in the health sector. The panel focused on why case studies are useful, what constitutes a case study, and the context and concepts of case-based research. Case studies are an empirical research method that investigates real-world phenomena in their natural context. They rely on multiple data sources to provide an in-depth understanding of an intervention and allow for comparative analysis between cases to increase learning about what works in different settings.

1. Exploring Complexity in the
Health Sector: A Panel on Case-
Based Evaluation Approaches
​John Snow Inc. (JSI), George Washington University School of Public Health,
in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine and the World Bank
​Washington DC
​November 2014

2. ​Overview
Why focus on case
studies?
What are case
studies?
Focus of the panel
Context,
Concepts,
and Purpose

3. 3
The Context
​Complexity: health systems
and health interventions
​The setting matters
​Greater depth of
understanding needed
Going beyond simple
solutions
Replicating success
Going to scale

4. 4
The Case study
• research method or an empirical inquiry
that investigates a contemporary
phenomenon within its real-life context;
• when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not clearly
evident; and
• in which multiple sources of evidence
are used.
​Robert K. Yin 1984, p 23
The case as an example for
learning about
interventions in context
Mixed methods
Comparative cases to
increase potential learning
and relevance

5. ​More variables than data
points.
​Relies on multiple sources
of evidence, requiring the
data to converge or
triangulate.
​Theoretical propositions
to guide data collection
and analysis.
Case study research comprises
an all-encompassing method –
covering the logic of design,
data collection techniques, and
specific approaches to data
analysis

6. 6
Not…..

7. 7
Case-based research is