Beyond Numbers: Using Case Study Insights to Support Interpretation

Chapter 7 takes up the formal results from chapter 6 on the contextual settings behind the three response-patterns and discusses them in light of case-knowledge. Here, more in-depth insights on the contextual conditions illustrate on the basis of the empirical material how the different conjunctions of conditions unearthed in chapter 6 work in practice. For instance, it is shown how local actors in some cases perceive the ESF as a burden due to high co-financing and administrative overload, how in other local cases actors are attracted by the conceptual freedom of the funding, or how usage of the ESF becomes normalised in the context of public interventions in some cases. Chapter 7 uses the insights from the case studies to unravel the broader empirical pictures behind the contextual settings of the three response-patterns.