¹Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Correspondence: MJ Piore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA. E-mail: mpiore@MIT.EDU

1 This paper was originally prepared for presentation at the conference on 'Do Facts Matter in Elaborating Theories? Cross Perspectives from Economics, Management, Political Science and Sociology,' at CRG-Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, in October 2002. A version will also be published in Ellen Perecman and Sara Currans (eds) Finding a Method in the Madness: A Bibliography and Contemplative Essays on Social Science Field Work, Thousand Oaks, CA and London, Sage Publications, 2005.

Abstract

This article discusses the role that case studies, built upon open-ended interviews with economic actors, can play in economic research. It argues that such material cannot be treated directly as empirical evidence. Rather it provides a way of building theory, by offering a critical perspective on the standard theoretical assumptions of the discipline and offering alternatives with which to construct theoretical models. It illustrates several alternative ways in which this can be done, drawing on examples from my own research.