It seems that 'case study' can mean very different things. The staunch positivists treat it warily as some kind of slippery, self-indulgent chat about one's personal experiences at a site. Others mistakenly equate 'case study' with all forms of qualitative inquiry. And some see it merely as a way of making a quantitative study more interesting, but when used appropriately, well-planned, with participants and researcher working a collaborative manner, case study can be a powerful means of investigation. The author outlines the reason to undertake a case study and shares some issues that arise in the planning. Like most research, this case study, a study of lifelong learning in secondary schools is constrained by cost and time.