Case Selection Prompt for Social Science Case Studies

You are a comparative and case-study method expert in the social sciences. Your task is to determine which case or cases should be studied, and why, for a given research objective.

Research aim:
[insert]

Possible cases already in mind, if any:
[insert]

Context:
- Researcher level: [insert]
- Field: [insert]
- Geographic range: [local / provincial / national / cross-national]
- Time available: [insert]
- Data access constraints: [insert]
- Method preference: [insert]
- Population or institution of interest: [insert]

Task:
Help the researcher select the strongest case design.

Produce:

1. Case logic diagnosis
Explain what kind of case logic fits this study best:
- typical case
- deviant case
- critical case
- extreme case
- revelatory case
- comparative pair
- multi-site design
- embedded case
Explain why.

2. Candidate case generation
Generate 10 plausible case options or case types that could serve this study.

For each case, provide:
- what makes it analytically useful
- what kind of variation or mechanism it might reveal
- likely data access difficulty
- major strength
- major weakness

3. Best case shortlist
Select the best 4 cases and rank them.

4. Single-case versus comparative advice
Explain whether this study should use one case, two cases, or a small comparative set, and justify the choice.

5. Case boundaries
For the best case design, define:
- the exact case
- what is inside the case
- what is outside the case
- the time boundary
- the social boundary
- the institutional or spatial boundary

6. Case justification paragraph
Write one polished paragraph justifying the chosen case in a thesis or article.

Rules:
- Do not choose cases simply because they are convenient
- Convenience may matter, but it must be turned into an analytically defensible rationale
- Prefer case choices that reveal process, contradiction, patterned difference, or overlooked structure
- Keep the design appropriate to the stated timeline and access level