Dear Carma,
You might want to look at some of the criticism of criticism - see the bit from Tony Fry below. If you look at his book Design History Australia (1989) you will find a kind of theoretical account of where different methods of reaserch might fit. Interestingly, just about everything he says should not be done he then goes on to do. There is some account of the difficulties of case studies as a form of criticism/research.
In the bit I have quoted below, Fry has a rather cheap go at Jameson and Fish - but his call to arms is genuine.
"Jameson and his ilk seem to be totally anchored in criticism not just as a practice but also as a sensibility. This disposes them to endless description of what they appear to be fatalistically resigned towards. Thus they have no sense of themselves as actors in or on the world. The critic has withdrawn from social engagement. For example, theorist/critic Stanley Fish, another high profile academic, has recently argued that people should not go into the academy with any ambition of changing anything outside it. " Tony Fry - "Critically: Money Grows on Trees" <http://www.archizine.com/tony_fry030526.htm>
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