Report R5.6 Assessing Contributions of Case-Study Research Seminar Leader: Tirthankar Nag, PricewaterhouseCoopers tirthankar.nag[at]gmail.com Nag’s doctoral study looked into the electrical power industry, in the context of the recent regulatory reforms of the industry in India. The study focused on issues such as generating efficiency, technology choice, and environmental impact. The characteristics of this industry call for some form of government regulation: the processes of power generation can degrade the natural environment, transmission lines can pose a safety threat, consumers cannot switch to a different supplier easily, and the price of electricity can go beyond the reach of many consumers. The form and extent of government regulation may have a bearing on the type of plant, technology, and fuel chosen. Nag’s study involved a detailed comparison among some power plants in two Indian states and some power plants in China. Although the forms of government in China and India have been so different at the national level, both the countries have devolved some autonomy to the sub-national level (i.e., states in India and provinces in China) to govern the power industry within their territories. This feature made the Indian and the Chinese cases comparable. The research process followed a multiple-case design (Yin, 1994). This study provides a backdrop for deliberating on assessing theoretical contributions of case-study research. Whetten’s (1989) suggestions provide a lens to examine the theoretical contributions of any research project. To appreciate Whetten’s suggestions, one would need to appreciate the basic ingredients of theory, which, according to Whetten, are variables, constructs, concepts, and their interrelationship. This led to some discussion on the key distinction between construct and concept, namely measurability. Different examples were considered. In the domain of financial management, profitability is an important concept. One way to measure profitability would be return-on-investment (RoI). So, RoI would be a construct, related to the concept, profitability. However, there can be different measures of RoI, with different combinations of numerators and denominators. These different measures could be considered as different constructs of RoI. This leads to an ambiguity regarding the status of RoI: Is it a construct or a concept? It appears the notions of construct and concept may be relative in nature--relative to the specific context of research and the level of abstraction relevant to the specific research project. Some theoretical terms, for example, group behaviour, are clearly not meant to be measurable; these are concepts, which may have other concepts and constructs associated with them. In order to assess the contribution of a specific research project, we also need to consider the objective of the project. There can be different types of objective: to identify or formulate a problem, to solve a known problem using a new method, to interpret a known result, and so forth. Therefore, no common yardstick can be used to assess research projects in general. In case of Nag’s doctoral research, the objective was to explore the interconnections among generating efficiency, technology choice, and environmental impact of power plants. What the cases revealed necessitated additional quantitative analysis to establish specific patterns in specific power plants. The research shows that generation efficiency is influenced by ownership, technology, and unit sizes. Also, that fuel choices are driven by fuel linkages and, with constrained primary energy markets, the least-cost fuel choices are not always feasible. Overall, reforms appear to have had a positive impact on generation efficiencies. One feature of the doctoral work was the comparison between the emission-intensity-baselines of two Indian states, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, and those of three Chinese provinces where access to primary data was obtained from studies using identical methodology. Results suggest that reforms influence energy efficiency and emissions in an identical manner across both the countries. The contributions from Nag’s study include preparation of detailed generation-unit-level data and analysis, setting up a model for benchmarking generation efficiency, setting emissions-baselines at the state level, linking reforms and environment, application of modelling and spatial analysis for identifying emission sources which require attention, and making subnational cross-country comparisons which are of relevance to policy-makers. This seminar highlighted the difficulties in assessing contributions of any research. There are different considerations and the conclusions can be different depending upon the perspective adopted. The objective of one’s research work needs to be defined: whether it is primarily to identify a particular problem in a difficult subject-area and find a solution, or to solve a known problem using a new methodology, or to give a unique interpretation to a known result. The methodology followed in research and the methods deployed have a bearing on the type and quality of results attained. Whetten (1989) lists seven specific questions to determine legitimate, value-adding contributions research can make. A researcher may use these to assess one’s contribution to new knowledge or theory. References Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532-550. Whetten, D. A. (1989). What constitutes a theoretical contribution. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 490-495. Yin, R. (1994). Case-study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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