Interpret in context: Generalizing from the single case in evaluation

Abstract

This article presents an argument for how to generalize from a single case study evaluation of a social programme or policy, focusing on two essential elements of case study – context and particularity. Taking an interpretivist perspective and drawing on artistic and humanistic ways of understanding, it examines both different ways of generalizing from the case that retain a connection with the context in which they first arose and how we generalize by direct encounter with the particular. This argument is not new. It has its origins in earlier centuries and, in contemporary evaluation, dating back to the 1970s. However, in a political climate that privileges evaluation approaches stemming from large sample studies and experimental designs, it seems timely to restate the value of generalizing from the single case. Grounded in the reality of programme experience and retaining that connection with context and particulars in the case facilitates the use of evaluation knowledge.

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