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epistemological assumptions and claims regarding methodology. Despite the existence of fine distinctions, the terms anti-positivism , interpretivism , qualitative inquiry and naturalistic inquiry have similar meanings, and are used interchangeably by most researchers; these approaches are probably best characterised as a set of ‘family resemblances’ (Wittgenstein, 1973). Each rejects the assumptions made by positivists regarding the nature of human beings and the ways of knowing about social phenomena (Haralambos, 1985). These varied means of framing interpretivism highlight a loose coalition of inquirers seemingly unified only in their general opposition to the earlier ‘foundationalist-empiricist-representationalist nexus of beliefs’ (Schwandt, 2000, p. 198). Within qualitative research, there exist two popular approaches to case studies. One approach is situated in a social constructivist paradigm, as proposed by Stake (1995) and Merriam (2009), and the second is situated in post-positivism, as advocated by Yin (2012), Flyvbjerg (2011) and Eisenhardt (1989). The researcher used elements of both Yin’s and Stake’s approaches, which is acceptable, as neither are positivists (see Table 4.1). Both Yin’s and Stake’s positions have changed in their recent writings, and both have become far less rigid in their approaches (Stake, 2005, 2008; Yin, 2005): ‘Yin’s appreciation of the interpretive aspects of case study methodology is now more apparent, while Stake has acknowledged the value of case study in quantitative research’ (Brown, 2008, p. 7). This is consistent with the three types of case studies that Hyett, Kenny and Dickson-Swift (2014) identified from the 34 reviewed in their literature review of case study methodologies: ‘Case study research can be situated within different paradigms or designed with an array of methods … in order to maintain … creativity and flexibility’ (Hyett, Kenny & Dickson Swift, 2014, p. 9).