Even when there are no specific quantitative techniques or validity issues to address when implementing a case study, objectivity is extremely important. It is recommended that organizations use outside consultants or research organizations to conduct case studies. Not only does this allow the case study to be conducted by experts in interviewing, conducting focus groups, and analyzing qualitative data, but it also protects the results of the study from a perceived bias of the organization. For example, while a company with a product that aims at improving literacy in children with learning disabilities might conduct an objective, enlightening case study that shows why their product worked successfully in a specific school, school districts might not trust this result unless it was conducted and analyzed by an unaffiliated organization.
The time and cost of conducting a case study largely depends on the unit of analysis. For example, conducting a case study on a single child’s experience using a tele-therapy approach may only take a short period of time and minor costs to gain all relevant information. However, examining how and why an intervention worked within a whole school or within a large district would take much longer and would be far more expensive to gather all relevant interviews, focus groups, and other data. Before initiating a case study, you should be sure that you have the required amount of time and resources to complete it.