case study

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A detailed analysis of a person or group, especially as a model of medical, psychiatric, psychological, or social phenomena.
• noun A detailed intensive study of a unit, such as a corporation or a corporate division, that stresses factors contributing to its success or failure.
• noun An exemplary or cautionary model; an instructive example.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Research performed in detail on a single individual, group, incident or community, as opposed to, for instance, a sample of the whole population.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a detailed analysis of a person or group from a social or psychological or medical point of view
• noun a careful study of some social unit (as a corporation or division within a corporation) that attempts to determine what factors led to its success or failure