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Case Study Boundaries Why are boundaries important? Well, we set boundaries all the time - we have to. If you are the individual who can learn all the world's knowledge while standing on one foot, then it would be true that you wouldn't need case studies or boundaries. All the rest of us do. You have already set a boundary by being a student of emergency management. That most likely means you are not a student of Samoan foreign policy. You've established a boundary between the case of emergency management and the case of everything that is not emergency management. That implies that you will sort all data that you now encounter into categories that support your learning about emergency management and categories that do not. Those that do will become part of your course of study. Those that do not - well, you still may have use for them - just not use within this program.

So, it's important to define a good boundary around any case study you wish to accomplish. You have to decide what you will study and what you will not. Normally, time and cost will prevent you from studying a large case. Hurricane Katrina is a good example of a case study that's simply too large and complex to accomplish, unless the case is broken into manageable pieces. Those pieces will each have their own boundaries. As an example, a study of levee breaches will require different data than a study of the impact of poverty on relocation. These considerations factor into the design of any case study and give the case study some of its boundaries.

The boundary-setting process, then, begins with design. When the researcher looks out at the broad spectrum of topics available for study, most of the important boundaries are set immediately. 'I want to study the Haitian earthquake.' Good. That means you're not going to study anything that's not the Haitian earthquake. Ok - next: what about the Haitian earthquake? Possible topics that are perhaps right-sized for a case study might include: building codes; risk communication; initial response; logistics; the international framework; the US contribution; roles of celebrities in creating effective response; the long-term prognosis for recovery. Each of these makes a fine case study; each requires largely different data. So now you make the selection: 'I will study mitigation achieved through the modernization of building codes.' Excellent. Now you have set additional boundaries - the boundary between what influences building codes and what does not. That further defines your data collection requirement. You now have no need to gather data on the contribution of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. You do, in contrast, need to gather data on the legislative process in Haiti and data from building contractors working to rebuild. In this fashion, you work through the design of the study until all the boundaries are defined and it's time to get to work.

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