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Introduction

Case studies are used by a variety of different academic disciplines ranging from education to nursing to business. They may be presented in the classroom as a way of offering students a chance to deal with issues involved in:

Product / Treatment efficacy
Customer satisfaction
Emergency / Disaster response
Patient care
Transition learning
Political transitions
Human resource management (employee motivation, satisfaction, stress, retention)
Change management
Physical environment
Time - motion

There is no one "perfect" way to develop and present a case study; different disciplines, faculty, organizations and publishers have different approaches. However, the links and other information presented below may help you develop an approach appropriate to your assignment. Remember, your first and best resource is your professor; make sure to check with him or her.

For more information on case study research, and on constructing and presenting a case, you may want to explore:

Case Study as Reseach Methodology

• Writing Guide: Case Studies, Colorado State University
• Case Based Learning, Queen's University
• SWIF Learning: A Guide to Student-Written, Instructor-Facilitated Case Writing, Paul Michael Swiercz, George Washington University
• Case Study Evaluations, GAO/PEMD-10.1.9, November 1990
• Writing Case Studies: A Manual, abridged and adapted from the original version published by the International Records Management Trust
• Creating Case Studies in NASA Project Management: A Methodology for Case Writing and Implementation, Goddard, NASA
• A Systematic Approach to Using Case Studies in Health Informatics Education, Yuri Kagolovsky, and Kathryn Brillinger, AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2009; 2009: 301–305
• The Value of Case Study Research on Rural Entrepreneurship: Useful Method?, David L. Barkley, Presented at the joint ERS-RUPRI conference, Exploring Rural Entrepreneurship: Imperatives and Opportunities for Research, Washington, DC, October 26-27, 2006
• Five misunderstandings about case-study research, Bent Flyvbjerg in Clive Seale et al., eds. Qualitative Research Practice, Sage, 2004
• "On a clear day you can see the EU": Case Study Methodology in EU Research, Svein S. Andersen, ARENA Working Papers, WP 16/03
• Case Study Evaluations, Linda G. Morra, Amy C. Friedlander, World Bank
• Using Case Study Methodology in Nursing Research, Donna M. Zucker, The Qualitative Report, Volume 6, Number 2 June, 2001
• Enhancing the quality of case studies in health services research, R K Yin, Health Serv Res., 34(5 Pt 2), December 1999
• References on Case Study Research, MISQ Discovery, May 20, 1997

Case Study Collections

• Green Business Case Studies, Small Business Administration
• Epidemiologic Case Studies, CDC
• Case Studies in Environmental Medicine, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC
• Impact Case Studies, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services
• Interactive Case Studies, OSHA
• RBAC Case Studies, Computer Security Division, Computer Security Resource Center, NIST
• Adaptation Case Studies, Natural Resources Canada
• Restoration Case Studies, Ecological Restoration, Parks Canada
• Case Studies, Alternative Fuels Data Center, US Department of Energy
• CalRecycle Publications Catalog Search, try a keyword search on case studies
• Case Studies, City of Seattle
• Case Studies, FEMA

Examples of Case Studies

• E-Commerce in the Asian Context: Selected Case Studies, Renald Lafond and Chaitali Sinha, IDRC, 2005
• Building Businesses with Small Producers: Successful Business Development Services in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Sunita Kapila and Donald C. Mead, IDRC, 2002
• Business Improvement Districts Case Studies, Smart Growth / Smart Energy Toolkit, Massachusetts
• Business-led Regeneration: Case Studies in Four Urban Areas, Peter Tyler, Trends Business Research (TBR), URBED, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, UK
• The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the US, Federal Reserve
• Stormwater Case Studies, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, EPA
• Assessing and Managing Cruise Ship Tourism in Historic Port Cities: Case Study Charleston, South Carolina, Lauren Perez Hoogkamer, Master of Science in Historic Preservation / Master of Science in Urban Planning, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, May 2013
• Case Studies of E-Commerce in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: a review of the literature, David L. Barkley, R. David Lamie, and Deborah M. Markley, UCED Working Paper 10-2007-01, Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development
• Reviving Main Street; Two New England Case Studies, Mamie Marcuss, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Communities & Banking, Winter 2005
• Case Study: B2B E-Commerce System Specification and Implementation Employing Use-Case Diagrams, Digital Signatures and XML, Frederick T. Sheldon, et al., Comprehensive Publications and Presentations Registry, ORNL, 2001
• An Industry Case Study of the Impacts of Electronic Commerce on Car Dealerships in Western Australia, Peter Marshall, Roger Sor, and Judy McKay, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol 1, no. 1, 2000
• How does community context influence coalitions in the formation stage? a multiple case study based on the Community Coalition Action Theory, Michelle C Kegler, Jessica Rigler, and Sally Honeycutt, BMC Public Health. 2010; 10: 90
• Impact: a case study examining the closure of a large urban fixed site needle exchange in Canada, Joan MacNeil and Bernadette Pauly, Harm Reduct J. 2010; 7: 11
• Visioning for secondary palliative care service hubs in rural communities: a qualitative case study from British Columbia's interior, Valorie A Crooks, Heather Castleden, Nadine Schuurman, and Neil Hanlon, BMC Palliat Care. 2009; 8: 15
• Best practices in intercultural health: five case studies in Latin America, Javier Mignone, Judith Bartlett, John O'Neil, and Treena Orchard, J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2007; 3: 31

From Story to Parable to Case Study

The notes which follow offer a brief outline of some of the issues surrounding case study research. They are designed to be used in conjunction with the resources above, class discussion and a parallel bibliographic instructional session.

Purpose

• To discover applicable "truths"
• though they may not be effectively applicable to any entity other than that studied
• To learn through observation, reflection
• two of Diderot's three principal means of knowledge acquisition
• To apply theory to practice

Characteristics

• In depth study of a discrete entity
• an individual, a small group of individuals, a specific ecosystem
• Multiple measures and information collection devices
• interviews, journal entries, direct observation, written surveys
• The intention to focus on, or study, a specific phenomenon may alter, or be altered, during the course of the study
• because of the impact of the fact of the study (Hawthorne effect)
• because the initial issue may have masked a larger or more specific issue
• May substitute for a rigorous academic study because ethics, contracts, or other obligations make such a study impracticable
• Illustrative of varying and various approaches
• driven by participant decision rules and universes

Decision Rules

• Assign attributes (values)
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Choice behaviour (interpretations)
• Reasoned action (reactions to interpretations)
• Duration (time)

Universes

• Govern decision rules
• Created by:
• experience
• knowledge
• skills
• intuition

Value of Solution

• True
• False
• Meaningless
• Combination

Disadvantages

• May not have adequate controls
• Methodology may have little credibility or internal validity
• May have little external validity (external validity refers to the extent to which results may be generalized)
• Limited life-cycle

Choosing a Case

• Controversial
• capable of producing an argument
• Specific / Controllable
• capable of producing enough data but not so much that it overwhelms the point of the case
• Compare and contrast
• issues, entities, and outcomes involved are capable of being compared and contrasted with other (known) issues, entities, and outcomes

Formal Presentation

• Introduction
• Overview
• Context
• details which inform the case: organizational structure; role of participants; policy, budget, and other documents
• Arising issues
• Strategies
• organizational or individual options for a resolution of the issue(s) from several perspectives (the manager, the primary players)
• Evaluate the proposed strategies
• engage the reader / listener: what would you advise / do? why? how would you accomplish that?

Concept of Teaching Notes

• Designed to accompany the case
• Might include:
• summary or synopsis
• pedagogical objectives
• "things to think about" (discussion questions)
• learning guides with: relevant materials to explore (bibliographies, similar cases); issues to be addressed relating to the approaches / solutions; exercises

Traps for the Unwary

• Reporter / Observer bias
• who benefits?
• whose ox gets gored?
• Skewed collection methods
• in the nature of the method
• in the questions asked to elicit the information
• in the choice of individuals to provide the information

Traps ... Invalid Causal Inferences

• Drawing conclusions about the cause and effect based on inadequate or inaccurate observations
• remember, it is supposed to go in that order -- the cause must CAUSE the effect -- effects do NOT produce a cause -- heart attacks do not cause smoking
• One thing following another does not mean that the second is caused by the first
• I slept in this morning and I got a good mark on my exam in the afternoon.
• Two effects but one cause
• I have a stuffed up nose and that caused my headache -- no, I have a cold and that caused my headache and my stuffy nose

Traps ... Inappropriate Analysis

• Observer does not know x AND is unaware of that lack of knowledge
• Combining, comparing and/or contrasting two unrelated ideas
• telling a truth or even a series of truths is not the same as the truth
• Strong opinion does not equal strong argument
• you should not make unproven or unprovable statements in support of your arguments -- nor should you allow others to do so without question (ask yourself about: agendas)

Traps ... Skewed Presentation Methodology

• Inadequate explanation of the:
• situation or scenario under discussion
• (potential) available resolutions
• Verbally presenting complex information
• such as reporting relationships, contractual obligation, data
• Abstruse or misleading information
• Unacknowledged, unreported or underreported ethical issues

Ethical Issues

• Choice, design and conduct of study
• Sponsoring entity
• control / authority over participants, researcher(s), presentation of findings
• unrevealed / unstated objectives
• unrevealed or deliberately concealed data / information
• Choice of researcher(s)
• qualifications, experience, affiliations appropriate to tasks undertaken
• Mental and economic harm
• Technology
• ability to record and collect data without knowledge or consent of participants
• ability to record, collect and analyze data for secondary and tertiary purposes

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Comments and suggestions to: lhansen16@gmail.com
Created: 2005/01/15 Last updated: 2014/10/02
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