Abstract
The ethnographic case study method in the social study of entrepreneurship This article discusses the merits of the ethnographic case study method with special reference to the social study of entrepreneurial behaviour. It does that by scrutinizing three important methodological problems that usually crop up in case study research concerning entrepreneurship: (a) how the case refers to broader, more abstract frames of reference (or: its generalizability); (b) the role of observation in constructing the social facts that are represented in the case; and (c) how to generate social theory based on the detailed descriptions that are typical of case study reporting. The article concludes with a short discussion of the place of ethnographic case study research in the broader, social science landscape, thereby subscribing to an image of professional collaboration that resembles a symphony orchestra.
