The Concept of The Extended Case Method - Essay Example

He undertook each of these experiences with a scientific and unbiased spirit to yield authentic material for his research on socialism. Burawoy’s theory of the extended case method necessitates sensitive and reflexive interaction between the researcher and his subjects. He believed that research scholars must try to extend their own experiences into the lives of their subjects. They should refrain from thrusting their principles on them as it makes their analyses shallow and biased. To yield successful in-depth analysis, researchers must volunteer to spend prolonged durations at mines, factories, offices and other study sites. They must adopt a bottom-to-top approach to gain and convey a more genuine and reliable analysis of the processes of globalization. This extended case method of research and theorising has gained immense popularity worldwide in the sphere of social sciences.

In its search for the unforeseen aspects of social truth, the extended case method attempts to use social occurrences to refute traditional theories. It lists the elements one can usually anticipate at a study site. It aims to extend the same law as an explanation to as many phenomena as possible while admitting the impact of external forces in creating social situations. It seeks to reveal the effects of the macro environment on the microenvironment. The social problems are not used to explain or elaborate the existing theories but are preconceived as anomalies to the accepted truth. The existing social ideas are then looked up to for seeking an explanation of the strange situation. The areas where the current theories are rendered inadequate are used as a scope for revision, rectification and innovation. This process gives rise to unexpected conclusions and reveals unseen aspects of otherwise known facts, which makes this approach all the more exciting and novel.

This method rules out the tendency of abandoning a new theory in case its validity cannot be proved using the existing ideas or if it does not match the current standards. It instead tries to point out the flaws of traditional theories by capturing their inherent contradictions and theoretical gaps. It looks forward to creating new and improved versions of existing ideas by turning the anomalies into new standards. Events and occurrences that do not conform to conventions are golden opportunities to revisit conventional approaches and revise them using the current observations and analysis. Hence, in the extended case method, the assumptions and inferences of past studies are challenged and negated, thus yielding the path for future research and analysis based on present data and observations.