Extreme or deviant cases
Definition
The process of selecting or searching for highly unusual cases of the phenomenon of interest or cases that are considered outliers, or those cases that, on the surface, appear to be the 'exception to the rule' that is emerging from the analysis.
See also negative of deviant case analysis
Why use this method?
Identifying extreme or deviant cases is a sampling strategy that occurs within the context of and in conjunction with other sampling strategies.
The process of identifying extreme or deviant cases occurs after some portion of data collection and analysis has been completed.
Researchers seek out extreme or deviant cases in order to develop a richer, more in-depth understanding of a phenonmenon and to lend credibility to one's research account.
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