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(Latour & Woolgar, 1986), urban planning (Flyvbjerg, 1998), education (Merriam, 1988; Stake, 1995) and public administration (Yin, 2003). Stewart (2013) wrote: In each of these contexts a wide range of methods has been applied to investigating a ‘unit’ of interest, expanding the application of case study research to a much broader sphere than that of traditional sociology. As such, the definition of a case study retains a focus on the unit of investigation, rather than on the methodological execution of a particular set of methods. (p. 147) 4.4.1 Definitions of case study The terms ‘case’, ‘case study’ and ‘case methods’ have been used by a variety of authors (Bromley, 1986; Creswell, 2007; Merriam, 1991; Stake, 1995, 2000; Travers, 2001; Yin, 2003) and have been attributed different meanings by different disciplines and commentators (Gomm, Hammersley & Foster 2004; Merriam, 1988; Stake, 1995). Case study methodology is not the same as case method (as a teaching device), case history (as an observational device) and case work (as a social work or medical service delivery device) (Merriam, 1988). Gerring (2004) stated that multiple attempts at clarification have mired the definitional arena, and any further attempts can only add to the confusion. Stake’s ( 1 995) defin ition of ‘case study’ is ‘the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand its activity within important circumstances’ (p. xi). Merriam (1988) emphasised the qualitative aspect, stating that a ‘case study can be defined as an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single entity, phenomenon or social unit … [case studies] are particularistic, descriptive, and heuristic and rely heavily on inductive reasoning in handling multiple data sources’ (p. 16). Yin’s (2003a, 2009) definition described case study as ‘an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary