Building theoretical frameworks from an intrinsic single case and a diverse multi-case study: a comparison

Once data have been analysed, the next step is to make sense of the analysis. In two distinct but interrelated sections, different approaches to theory building from frameworks are described. Myres’ descriptive multi-case study and Spooner’s intrinsic exploratory single case are compared and contrasted in order to describe general principles of how frameworks are developed. Data generation and analytic methods are described and the overall theory building process is elucidated. The chapter shows how theoretical development starts from the research questions and proceeds through sampling and data collection as well as analysis. Despite the different logics employed to generate the frameworks, in both instances principles of starting from the data and the various steps of increasing abstraction are explained to show how frameworks were constructed. This chapter serves to bring clarity to framework construction by employing inductive and deductive approaches.