如何走出个案——从个案研究到扩展个案研究

How Can We Go Beyond the Case? From the Case Study to the Extended Case Study

个案研究始终面临着如何处理特殊性与普遍性、微观与宏观之间的关系问题。随着现代社会日趋复杂,对独特个案的描述与分析越来越无法体现整个社会的性质;定量方法的冲击更使个案研究处于风雨飘摇之中。针对个案研究面临的上述问题,本文考察了四种主要处理方式:超越个案的概括、个案中的概括、分析性概括以及扩展个案方法。扩展个案方法旨在建立微观社会学的宏观立场,它试图立足宏观分析微观,通过微观反观宏观,并在实践中处处凸现理论的功能。此外,经由理论重构产生的一般性法则使其较好地处理了特殊性与普遍性的关系问题。

Case studies are always confronted with the problem of the relationship between the particular and the general and macro-and micro-aspects.Displaying the features of a whole society through the description and analysis of unique cases becomes increasingly difficult as modern society becomes increasingly complex.The impact of quantitative methods makes the situation of case studies even more precarious.The present article examines four main methods of handling the problem,i.e.,generalization tiat goes beyond the case study,generalization within the case study,analytical generalization and extended case study methodology.The last of these aims to establish a macroscopic standpoint for micro-sociology and attempts to analyze the micro-aspects from this standpoint,reflecting on the macro-aspect through the micro-aspect and emphasizing the function of theory throughout practice.Moreover,the general rules generated in theoretical reconstruction perform better in handling the relationship between the particular and the general.