Building in Degrees of Freedom Analysis in Case Study Research: Empirical Positivistic Testing of Data to Alternative Theories

Abstract

Synopsis

A valuable, although little-used, case data analysis technique, degrees-of-freedom analysis (DFA), is the subject of Chapter 12. Given the richness of case data and its prevalence in business marketing research, DFA has the potential to become an important addition to one's “research workbench.” Donald Campbell (1975) first proposed this theory testing.

This chapter presents three business-to-business marketing applications; the first two involve use of the technique to compare the extent to which four theories of group decision making are manifested in organizations. The third application illustrates how the technique is useful for theory development in the context of manufacturer–distributor relationships. The contribution is in demonstrating how researchers can link “traditional” (i.e., logical positivistic) hypothesis testing procedures to examine theoretical propositions in case study research. This approach is one way of achieving a critical test (Carlsmith, Ellsworth, & Aronson, 1976), that is, testing the relative empirical strengths of competing theories. The chapter highlights the value of generalizing case data to theory versus the inappropriate attempt to generalize such data to a population (Yin, 1994). The explication and demonstration of this technique is not available elsewhere to the degree that Chapter 12 provides.

Citation

Woodside, A.G. (2016), "Building in Degrees of Freedom Analysis in Case Study Research: Empirical Positivistic Testing of Data to Alternative Theories", Case Study Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 251-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78560-461-420152025