Question

The Columbine school shootings were one of the first and most widely known attacks of violence in history. As a discrete event in time with a fairly clear beginning and end, it might be studied using the case study method. Would a case study remain the best approach to a search for any long-lasting consequences of that violent episode? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Since a case study is defined as the best intensive study of a single unit with an aim of generalizing across a larger set of units. Case studies rely on the same sort of covariational evidence utilized in non-case study research. Thus, the case study method can be used for defining cases, but not for analyzing the cases or for modeling the causal relationships. For finding any long-lasting consequences of that violent episode we have to do a cross-sectional analysis of the population and for that, we need data from the survey and not simply an analysis of the case study because the impact is far-reaching affecting the entire community.