@article{37007ec4fdb6454eb709ffba3da97a70,
title = "The case study as research heuristic: Lessons from the R&D value mapping project",
abstract = "How can case studies be used as a research heuristic? If prototype case studies are performed, what can researchers expect to learn from them and how can they be structured to enhance their learning value? This paper considers that question and the learning from two case studies intended to inform multiple case studies undertaken later in the project. Two prototype cases are presented, one Brookhaven National Laboratory, the other from Los Alamos National Laboratory, each having as its objective providing information about how to design and execute the subsequent 30 case studies to be undertaken. This paper summarizes the cases, presents some of the lessons learned for the subsequent larger project and then considers more generally the use of prototype case studies and the preconditions for their successful deployment. Prototype case studies are particularly useful for helping set boundaries for later studies, identifying the ways in which the research setting affects research findings, making judgments about the accessibility and availability of data, and determining respondents' reactions to the research and the researchers.",
keywords = "Case study, Methodology, National laboratories, R&D value mapping, Research evaluation",
author = "Barry Bozeman and Klein, {Hans K.}",
note = "Funding Information: This paper is part of the R&D Value Mapping Project funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, contract no. 04371-23. The views presented here are solely the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Energy or Georgia Institute of Technology. The authors are grateful to Dave Roessner, Juan Rogers, Francisco Donez and Gordon Kingsley for their contributions to the larger project and to this paper. Lynn Austin provided assistance with organizing the case study literature. Requests for full case studies and other research products from the R&D Value Mapping Project should be sent to: RVM Project, State Data and Research Center, Georgia Tech, gcatt Building, 250 14th Street, Atlanta, ga 30318-0490, U.S.A. Funding Information: From the 1960–70s, a series of massive case study projects was sponsored by government agencies in an effort to understand the linkages between R&D and economic growth. Studies such as Project Hindsight sponsored by the Department of Defense, and the Technology in Retrospect and Critical Events in Science project (TRACES) sponsored by the National Science Foundation, further developed the analytic techniques used in retrospective analysis by identifying research events in the development of specific technologies. Research events are defined as the occurrence of a novel idea and subsequent period where the idea is explored. Thus, the technique was to take specific research technologies and divide them into the research events that led to the successful development of the technology. Another development in retrospective analysis was to compare innovations that had been determined a priori to be of different types. For example, Project SAPPHO conducted pairwise comparisons of innovations that were successes and failures in terms of commercial diffusion. Funding Information: The technology of heat engines underlies many practical devices, including automobile motors and air conditioners. Although efficient in their use of energy, todays heat engines use of moving parts renders them expensive and maintenance-intensive. Research at Los Alamos National Laboratory that is funded by the Department of Energys Office of Basic Engineering Sciences (BES) could change all that. Funding Information: As concerns with international competitiveness grew, funding for commercial research increased. A new opportunity to continue refrigerator development soon arose. In 1992 the Tektronix Corporation expressed an interest in developing the LANL technology for application as a compact and reliable cooler for cryogenic electronics. Tektronix and LANL joined in a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) and received funding from the DOEs Technology Transfer Initiative (TTI) as well as from Tektronix. During the next two years they made further improvements in the technology to reduce its size and raise its efficiency. However, in 1995 Tektronix changed its strategy and de-funded the project. ",
year = "1999",
doi = "10.1016/S0149-7189(98)00045-7",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "22",
pages = "91--103",
journal = "Evaluation and Program Planning",
issn = "0149-7189",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
number = "1",
}