Case Study Research: The View From Complexity Science

TLDR

Despite substantial quality improvement efforts, care quality has changed little, prompting a focus on organizational factors and complexity theory’s emphasis on interrelationships among system agents. The study aims to integrate case study methodology with complexity science to develop new approaches for mapping and understanding health care organizations as integrated systems. They employ case study methodology, guided by complexity theory, to examine system-level relationships and produce integrated maps of health care organizations.

Abstract

Many wonder why there has been so little change in care quality despite substantial quality improvement efforts. Questioning why current approaches are not making true changes draws attention to the organization as a source of answers. The authors bring together the case study method and complexity science to suggest new ways to study health care organizations. The case study provides a method for studying systems. Complexity theory suggests that keys to understanding the system are contained in patterns of relationships and interactions among the system’s agents. They propose some of the “objects” of study that are implicated by complexity theory and discuss how studying these using case methods might provide useful maps of the system. They offer complexity theory, partnered with case study method, as a place to begin the daunting task of studying a system as an integrated whole.