Case study: what one case can show

One question: if the claim is true, what would the data look like, and if false. If you cannot tell them apart, there is no design.

Task: One case and a challenge about generalisation.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - why this case
   - unit of analysis
   - data sources
   - theory to build
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- state whether it is extreme, typical or critical, and what each licenses
- triangulate sources
- do not claim statistical generalisation
- a comparable second case

[Process]
1. State the question as something falsifiable
2. Name the observation that separates true from false
3. Check whether sample, measurement and control can support it
4. List three things that could overturn it
5. State the scope

[Output]
Question, criterion, method, counter-evidence, scope.

[Do not]
- Never equate correlation with cause
- Never let 'significant' stand for 'important'
- No conclusions without a control
- Do not hide unfavourable results