Yin vs. Stake: Philosophical Worldviews in Case Study Research

Introduction: Choosing Between Two Worldviews

My perspective as a qualitative doctoral researcher more closely aligns with Yin's worldview than with Stake's. As Yazan (2015) notes, Yin's approach to case study research was systematic: he wanted to ensure that researchers could apply the case study design by following a standardized method that would allow the design to be used as a legitimate method of research in the social sciences. Yin's perspective was positivistic in the sense that he believed "objectivity, validity, and generalizability" could be achieved in case study research (Yazan, 2015, p. 136). As Yazan (2015) also points out, Yin believed that case study research should "maximize four conditions related to design quality: construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and reliability" (p. 137). Validity and reliability were yardsticks that Yin suggested every case study researcher keep in mind when conducting research — constant reminders of the usefulness and utility of the research and whether it would be viewed favorably by other researchers in the field. By focusing on validity and reliability, Yin wanted to demonstrate that case study research could meet the necessary conditions to show other researchers exactly how findings were obtained and why the study measured what it set out to measure.

Yin's Positivist Approach to Case Study Research

I believe Yin's philosophical worldview, which is rooted in positivism, is the one I most align with. Positivism is the philosophical belief that all rational and justifiable statements can be verified scientifically. I hold this same belief because science is essentially the act of verifying reality. If a statement or assertion is logical, rational, and true, it should be capable of scientific verification. Yin's position is that case study research can produce legitimate, rational, and logical findings that are true — and therefore also scientifically verifiable. That is why he places so much emphasis on maintaining awareness of validity and reliability throughout the research process.

Stake's Constructivist and Existentialist Worldview

Stake's philosophical worldview was grounded in the ideas of existentialism and constructivism (Yazan, 2015). In other words, Stake viewed each person as constructing their own meaning and their own sense of existence. This perspective places more emphasis on the subjective experience than on the objective. As a researcher, I believe that objective evidence should be the primary focus and that, even when examining the experience of a participant or case study subject, that personal experience — however subjective — can still be studied objectively. That is precisely the argument Yin makes. Stake, on the other hand, held the view that "knowledge is constructed rather than discovered" (Yazan, 2015, p. 137). For Stake, there is less emphasis on validity and reliability in qualitative research. The aim of case study research for Stake is to allow the researcher to put forward an interpretation of the subject's experience, which is then interpreted in turn by those who read the report. Knowledge is continuously constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. Every engagement with knowledge produces a construction/deconstruction dynamic in which the subjective experience is elevated above objective reality. Personally, I find such a worldview detrimental to the science of research, as it limits the usefulness and applicability of one's findings.