This article argues that a tailored version of the qualitative embedded case study method can be used to build strong conceptual and inclusive insights from qualitative research with older people, and, in doing so, advance theoretical scholarship in social and critical gerontology. Gerontology has often been described as “data-rich and theory-poor” (Birren & Bengtson, 1988). It is a field which draws heavily on post-positivist traditions of quantitative research and notions of prediction, generalization, and statistical significance. While critical qualitative approaches have gained ground through interdisciplinary scholarship in the social sciences and humanities, few attempts have been made to articulate the relationship between research questions designed to understand older people's experiences and concept- or theory-building in gerontology. This piece makes a case for engaging with the theoretical/methodological interface by drawing on an evolving approach entitled the qualitative embedded case study, as it was used in three qualitative studies on the concepts of frailty, (im)mobility, and precarity. It suggests this is an evolving approach with the potential to develop conceptually sound, meaningful research from older people's experiences, including diverse, underrepresented, and marginalized groups, and to draw on these insights to direct change.

本文认为，定性嵌入案例研究方法的定制版本可用于从老年人定性研究中建立强大的概念和包容性见解，并在此过程中推进社会和批判老年学的理论学术研究。老年学经常被描述为“数据丰富而理论贫乏”（Birren 和 Bengtson，1988 年）). 这是一个很大程度上借鉴定量研究的后实证主义传统和预测、概括和统计显着性概念的领域。虽然批判性定性方法通过社会科学和人文学科的跨学科学术研究取得了进展，但很少有人试图阐明旨在理解老年人经历的研究问题与老年学中的概念或理论构建之间的关系。本文通过借鉴名为定性嵌入式案例研究的不断发展的方法，为参与理论/方法界面提供了一个案例，因为它被用于关于虚弱、（不）流动性和不稳定性概念的三项定性研究。它表明，这是一种不断发展的方法，有可能根据老年人的经历（包括多样化、代表性不足和边缘化的群体）开展概念上合理、有意义的研究，并利用这些见解来指导变革。