The project Factors Affecting Job Placement in Vocational Education used case study methodology to determine factors that can be used in determining policy and in making decisions to improve vocational education at federal, state, and local levels. Case studies were chosen as the research methodology because there was a need for a detailed description of the job placement process, because case studies would allow for determining major themes or issues surrounding job placement, and because case studies allowed for the accumulation of a collage of information unimportant in itself but adding to understanding of job placement. Strategies involved in the study of twelve local education sites and eleven state agency sites included setting boundaries, site selection, establishing initial contacts, data collection procedures, organizing data, staff training, field work logistics, and analyzing data. Staff experiences resulted in the observations that case studies (1) yield enormous amounts of detailed information about the natural environment, (2) are expensive, (3) are time consuming, (4) require trained staff, (5) are attacked by proponents of qualitative data, (6) have very limited generalizability, and (7) result in long reports. (YLB)