example of case study research paper in education

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Case Study in Education Research

Introduction, general overview and foundational texts of the late 20th century.

Conceptualisations and Definitions of Case Study
Case Study and Theoretical Grounding
Choosing Cases
Methodology, Method, Genre, or Approach
Case Study: Quality and Generalizability
Multiple Case Studies
Exemplary Case Studies and Example Case Studies
Criticism, Defense, and Debate around Case Study

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Forthcoming articles expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section.

Gender, Power, and Politics in the Academy
Girls' Education in the Developing World
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Case Study in Education Research by Lorna Hamilton LAST REVIEWED: 21 April 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 27 June 2018 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0201

It is important to distinguish between case study as a teaching methodology and case study as an approach, genre, or method in educational research. The use of case study as teaching method highlights the ways in which the essential qualities of the case—richness of real-world data and lived experiences—can help learners gain insights into a different world and can bring learning to life. The use of case study in this way has been around for about a hundred years or more. Case study use in educational research, meanwhile, emerged particularly strongly in the 1970s and 1980s in the United Kingdom and the United States as a means of harnessing the richness and depth of understanding of individuals, groups, and institutions; their beliefs and perceptions; their interactions; and their challenges and issues. Writers, such as Lawrence Stenhouse, advocated the use of case study as a form that teacher-researchers could use as they focused on the richness and intensity of their own practices. In addition, academic writers and postgraduate students embraced case study as a means of providing structure and depth to educational projects. However, as educational research has developed, so has debate on the quality and usefulness of case study as well as the problems surrounding the lack of generalizability when dealing with single or even multiple cases. The question of how to define and support case study work has formed the basis for innumerable books and discursive articles, starting with Robert Yin’s original book on case study ( Yin 1984 , cited under General Overview and Foundational Texts of the Late 20th Century ) to the myriad authors who attempt to bring something new to the realm of case study in educational research in the 21st century.

This section briefly considers the ways in which case study research has developed over the last forty to fifty years in educational research usage and reflects on whether the field has finally come of age, respected by creators and consumers of research. Case study has its roots in anthropological studies in which a strong ethnographic approach to the study of peoples and culture encouraged researchers to identify and investigate key individuals and groups by trying to understand the lived world of such people from their points of view. Although ethnography has emphasized the role of researcher as immersive and engaged with the lived world of participants via participant observation, evolving approaches to case study in education has been about the richness and depth of understanding that can be gained through involvement in the case by drawing on diverse perspectives and diverse forms of data collection. Embracing case study as a means of entering these lived worlds in educational research projects, was encouraged in the 1970s and 1980s by researchers, such as Lawrence Stenhouse, who provided a helpful impetus for case study work in education ( Stenhouse 1980 ). Stenhouse wrestled with the use of case study as ethnography because ethnographers traditionally had been unfamiliar with the peoples they were investigating, whereas educational researchers often worked in situations that were inherently familiar. Stenhouse also emphasized the need for evidence of rigorous processes and decisions in order to encourage robust practice and accountability to the wider field by allowing others to judge the quality of work through transparency of processes. Yin 1984 , the first book focused wholly on case study in research, gave a brief and basic outline of case study and associated practices. Various authors followed this approach, striving to engage more deeply in the significance of case study in the social sciences. Key among these are Merriam 1988 and Stake 1995 , along with Yin 1984 , who established powerful groundings for case study work. Additionally, evidence of the increasing popularity of case study can be found in a broad range of generic research methods texts, but these often do not have much scope for the extensive discussion of case study found in case study–specific books. Yin’s books and numerous editions provide a developing or evolving notion of case study with more detailed accounts of the possible purposes of case study, followed by Merriam 1988 and Stake 1995 who wrestled with alternative ways of looking at purposes and the positioning of case study within potential disciplinary modes. The authors referenced in this section are often characterized as the foundational authors on this subject and may have published various editions of their work, cited elsewhere in this article, based on their shifting ideas or emphases.

Merriam, S. B. 1988. Case study research in education: A qualitative approach . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

This is Merriam’s initial text on case study and is eminently accessible. The author establishes and reinforces various key features of case study; demonstrates support for positioning the case within a subject domain, e.g., psychology, sociology, etc.; and further shapes the case according to its purpose or intent.

Stake, R. E. 1995. The art of case study research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Stake is a very readable author, accessible and yet engaging with complex topics. The author establishes his key forms of case study: intrinsic, instrumental, and collective. Stake brings the reader through the process of conceptualizing the case, carrying it out, and analyzing the data. The author uses authentic examples to help readers understand and appreciate the nuances of an interpretive approach to case study.

Stenhouse, L. 1980. The study of samples and the study of cases. British Educational Research Journal 6:1–6.

DOI: 10.1080/0141192800060101

A key article in which Stenhouse sets out his stand on case study work. Those interested in the evolution of case study use in educational research should consider this article and the insights given.

Yin, R. K. 1984. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . Beverley Hills, CA: SAGE.

This preliminary text from Yin was very basic. However, it may be of interest in comparison with later books because Yin shows the ways in which case study as an approach or method in research has evolved in relation to detailed discussions of purpose, as well as the practicalities of working through the research process.

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Original research article, affective learning in digital education—case studies of social networking systems, games for learning, and digital fabrication.

Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

Technological innovations, such as social networking systems, games for learning, and digital fabrication, are extending learning and interaction opportunities of people in educational and professional contexts. These technological transformations have the ability to deepen, enrich, and adaptively guide learning and interaction, but they also hold potential risks for neglecting people's affective learning processes—that is, learners' emotional experiences and expressions in learning. We argue that technologies and their usage in particular should be designed with the goal of enhancing learning and interaction that acknowledges both fundamental aspects of learning: cognitive and affective. In our empirical research, we have explored the possibility of using various types of emerging digital tools as individual and group support for cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning. We present four case studies of experiments dealing with social networking systems, programming with computer games, and “makers culture” and digital fabrication as examples of digital education. All these experiments investigate novel ways of technological integration in learning by focusing on their affective potential. In the first study, a social networking system was used in a higher education context for providing a forum for online learning. The second study demonstrates a Minecraft experiment as game-based learning in primary school education. Finally, the third and the fourth case study showcases examples of “maker” contexts and digital fabrication in early education and in secondary school. It is concluded that digital systems and tools can provide multiple opportunities for affective learning in different contexts within different age groups. As a pedagogical implication, scaffolding in both cognitive and affective learning processes is necessary in order to make the learning experience with emerging digital tools meaningful and engaging.

Introduction

Current technological transformations in society bring new abilities for sensing, adapting, and providing information to users within their environments ( Laru et al., 2015 ; Chang et al., 2018 ; Huang et al., 2019 ). This can, for example, deepen, enrich, and guide educational and professional interactions ( Rummel, 2018 ; Stracke and Tan, 2018 ). Technologies have already been used to improve participants' cognitive learning experiences, to create efficient and constructive communication, and to effectively use shared resources, as well as to find and build groups and communities ( Jeong and Hmelo-Silver, 2016 ).

However, research has also shown that technology can alter social interactions. For instance, technology can affect the self-disclosure and identity management of individuals ( Yee and Bailenson, 2007 ) as well as provide an arena for bullying (Santiago and Siklander, in review), thus running the risk of inhibiting productive social interactions or providing less than optimal support for them. In terms of group interactions and technologically enhanced collaborations in particular, challenges may relate to a cognitive load too excessive to efficiently handle content and task related activities simultaneously with social and technological factors ( Bruyckere et al., 2015 ; May and Elder, 2018 ; Pedro et al., 2018 ) or the lack of available important social cues for social information processing, particularly in text-based communications ( Kreijns et al., 2003 ; Walther, 2011 ; Terry and Cain, 2016 ). This discussion of technology's challenges is particularly relevant in bigger online learning communities and social networking systems, but also in small group collaboration ( Bodemer and Dehler, 2011 ; Davis, 2016 ), such as in the context of games for learning, digital fabrication, and “maker” education.

Social networking systems, games for learning, and digital fabrication (making) will be further examined in this paper with case study examples. These case examples are chosen with regard to their likely impact on learning and instruction in current and future educational designs ( Woolf, 2010 ; Chang et al., 2018 ; Huang et al., 2019 ). One of the main challenges that teachers face in the context of adopting contemporary technologies to support learning activities is the fact that professional knowledge and competencies are needed in both technology and pedagogy ( Valtonen et al., 2019 ). This means that in addition to technical aspects, it is important that teachers understand and consider the basic processes of how people learn as an individual and as part of collaborative group ( Häkkinen et al., 2017 ). Therefore, it is essential to explore and characterize learning and interaction processes, including cognitive and affective components, when digital tools and learning environments are implemented in educational contexts.

This paper is grounded in the premise that technologies should enhance the cognitive and affective learning processes in collaboration. Emotional experiences and expressions are recognized as an especially central part of successful collaborative learning ( Baker et al., 2013 ). The use of potential technological enhancements in collaboration necessitates an interdisciplinary understanding of the social factors and emotional dynamics influencing the learning and interaction processes. We argue that when the affective interactions are more thoroughly accounted for and enhanced through technology, they can have positive implications for cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful collaborations, thus contributing to better competence building, social equity, and participation in group workings ( Järvenoja and Järvelä, 2013 ; Isohätälä et al., 2017 ; Järvenoja et al., 2018 ).

Collaborative Learning as a Cognitive and Affective Learning Process

Collaborative learning is a specific type of learning and interaction process in which learners in a group share their overall learning process by negotiating their goals for learning and coordinating their mutual learning processes together ( Roschelle and Teasley, 1995 ). Since the process of collaborative learning consists of discussions, negotiations, and reflections on the task at hand, it has the potential to lead to deeper information processing than individuals would achieve alone ( Dillenbourg, 1999 ; Baker, 2015 ). The premise for successful collaborative learning is that group members are actively engaged in building, monitoring, and maintaining their shared learning processes on cognitive and affective levels ( Barron, 2003 ; Näykki et al., 2017b ; Isohätälä et al., 2019a ). This means that interpreting and understanding who you are working with, what is being worked on, and how your actions and emotions affect others is essential to obtain successful collaborative learning ( Linnenbrink-Garcia et al., 2011 ; Miyake and Kirschner, 2014 ). We follow the conceptualization that views successful collaborative learning as a combination of an outcome (deeper understanding and developed individual and group learning skills), and an experience (a student's own evaluation and interpretation of how [s]he succeeded) ( Baker, 2015 ).

In general, affective processes play an important role in individuals' learning as well as in groups' learning and interaction processes ( Linnenbrink-Garcia et al., 2011 ; Järvenoja et al., 2015 ; Polo et al., 2016 ; Isohätälä et al., 2019b ). Students' emotions, such as enjoyment, boredom, pride, and anxiety, are seen to affect achievement by influencing their involvement and attitude toward learning and learning environments (e.g., Pekrun et al., 2002 ; Boekaerts, 2003 , 2011 ; Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012 ). These emotional experiences naturally have a great effect on how students and/or groups work on their task assignments. In our research, we have been particularly interested in the role of emotions as a part of groups' coordinated learning processes—how group members experience emotions and how they express their emotions in order to maintain and restore (when needed) a socio-emotionally secure atmosphere for learning and collaboration ( Näykki et al., 2014 ). This has been done by observing student groups' interaction processes to understand how emotions are expressed, reflected, and shaped by social interaction ( Baker et al., 2013 ; Isohätälä et al., 2017 ; Näykki et al., 2017a ).

We ground this study in the increasing empirical understanding of the multifaceted interaction processes involved in collaborative learning, integrating cognitive, and affective components as the core of collaboration ( Volet et al., 2009 ; Järvel et al., 2010 , 2013 ; Näykki et al., 2014 ; Ucan and Webb, 2015 ; Sobocinski et al., 2016 ; Isohätälä et al., 2019a ; Vuopala et al., 2019 ). In theory, collaborative learning requires group members to be aware of and to coordinate with their cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and emotional resources and efforts ( Hadwin et al., 2018 ). In practice, this involves students sharing their thinking and understanding, as well as showing verbally and behaviorally their commitment to the task and to the group ( Järvelä et al., 2016 ; Isohätälä et al., 2017 ).

How to Enhance Opportunities for Cognitive and Affective Learning Processes With Pedagogical Designs and Digital Tools

Prior research has suggested that students need a scaffolding to engage with and progress in active and effective collaborative learning ( Kirschner et al., 2006 ; Belland et al., 2013 ). In order to favor the emergence of productive interactions and thus to improve the quality of collaborative learning, different pedagogical models, and design approaches have been developed in collaborative learning research ( Hämäläinen and Häkkinen, 2010 ). One example of a strategy to enhance the process of collaboration is to structure learners' actions with the aid of scripted cooperation ( Fischer et al., 2013 ). Scripting is defined as “a set of instructions prescribing how students should perform in groups, how they should interact and collaborate and how they should solve the problem” ( Dillenbourg, 2002 , p. 63). In other words, scripts support collaborative processes by specifying, sequencing, and distributing the activities that learners are expected to engage in during collaboration ( Dillenbourg, 2002 ; Kollar et al., 2006 ). Scripts typically aim to smooth coordination and communication, but there are also scripts that aim to promote high-level socio-cognitive activities—e.g., explaining, arguing, and question asking ( Weinberger et al., 2005 ; Fischer et al., 2013 ; Tsovaltzi et al., 2017 )—or acknowledge and promote socio-emotional activities ( Näykki et al., 2017a ).

In addition to designing certain learning activities with the scripting approach, previous research in the field of technologically enhanced learning has demonstrated how technology can function as a tool for individuals' and groups' learning, allowing meaningful learning interactions to occur ( Jeong and Hmelo-Silver, 2016 ; Rosé et al., 2019 ). Recently, more generic digital tools such as social networking tools, games, or mobile phones have been increasingly popular among educators and instructional designers ( Ludvigsen and Mørch, 2010 ; Laru et al., 2015 ). Such tools are being progressively more used in educational contexts but are not usually specifically designed to help students to engage in cognitively effortful interaction such as problem solving, collaborative knowledge construction, or inquiry learning ( Gerjets and Hesse, 2004 ). Nor are these tools often designed for affectively meaningful interactions such as expression and reflection of emotional experiences ( Jones and Issroff, 2005 ; Jeong and Hmelo-Silver, 2016 ).

Altogether, these tools rarely offer specific instructional guidance concerning collaborative learning ( Kirschner et al., 2006 ). Instead, both generic and specific cognitive tools ( Kim and Reeves, 2007 ) typically provide an open problem space, where learners are left to their own devices. In such spaces, learners are free to choose (a) what activities to engage in with respect to the problem at hand and (b) how they want to perform those activities ( Kollar et al., 2007 ). Modern social networking systems, games for learning, and contexts for digital fabrication and making can be categorized into open problem spaces where learning is often supported without tightly structured socio-technological instructional design ( Laru et al., 2015 ; Hira and Hynes, 2018 ).

Case Examples in Digital Education

We present and explore four cases ( Table 1 ) involving social networking systems, games for learning, and digital fabrication where emergent and contemporary technologies are used to support collaborative learning in open problem spaces, especially focusing on cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning in groups. These emergent digital tools, with their respective socio-technical designs, were selected because they each represent different ways to provide opportunities for affective learning—for experiencing and expressing emotions as well as for supporting equal participation and a safe group atmosphere (cf. Baker et al., 2013 ). Traditionally all these technologies and activities have mainly been present in informal contexts as associated with social lives of the users, and thus, it can be assumed that this is one reason why they are able to access emotions in powerful ways. These technologies also hold the potential for learning in formal education as well, as a part of learning activities organized by educational institutions ( Pedro et al., 2018 ).

Table 1 . Summary of the case examples: social networking systems, games for learning, maker education, and digital fabrication.

CASE 1: Social Networking Systems for Supporting Equal Participation and Collaborative Argumentation

Social Networking Sites (SNS), such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are widely used communication platforms worldwide because of easy access and unrestricted interactivity ( Bowman and Akcaoglu, 2014 ). They are mostly used for informal, everyday communication, but these platforms also offer possibilities to education by allowing idea sharing and a knowledge co-construction process ( Laru et al., 2012 ; Vuopala et al., 2016 ; Tsovaltzi et al., 2017 ) where learners are interacting and building new frameworks to extend the knowledge and understanding of each individual student ( Janssen et al., 2012 ). These productive interactional processes include sharing ideas, negotiating, asking thought-provoking questions, and providing justified arguments ( Vuopala et al., 2016 ). Studies have also shown that the use of SNS can be beneficial for learning purposes by, for example, fostering affective interactions in academic life, allowing students to share emotional experiences, and providing support for socio-emotional presence ( Pempek et al., 2009 ; Bennett, 2010 ; Ryan et al., 2011 ; Wodzicki et al., 2012 ; Bowman and Akcaoglu, 2014 ).

However, previous studies have proven that in SNS the level of knowledge co-construction and argumentation is often superficial, lacking solid arguments as well as affective interaction ( Bull et al., 2008 ; Dabbagh and Reo, 2011 ). Engaging in these cognitive and affective processes is not necessarily spontaneous, therefore, it is essential to support students' learning processes. One way to promote productive collaborative learning is through the use of pedagogical scripts that have been used for guiding learners to engage both in knowledge co-construction and in affective processes ( Dillenbourg, 2002 ; King, 2007 ; Fischer et al., 2013 ; Näykki et al., 2017a ; Wang et al., 2017 ).

This case study presents research in which Facebook was used as a platform for argumentation. Higher education students ( N = 88) from one German and two Finnish universities participated in a seven week long online course named “CSCL, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning” ( Puhl et al., 2017 ). The course included the following learning topics: scripting, motivation and emotions, and metacognition. Students worked in ten groups with four participants in each. The first phase of the course was orientation and introduction (1 week). The main aim of the orientation week was to allow group members to meet each other (online) and to create a safe group atmosphere. After the orientation phase, each small group had a 2 week period to discuss each presented topic (overall, 6 weeks) in their own closed Facebook group.

Small group collaboration was supported with a micro-script ( Weinberger et al., 2007 ; Noroozi et al., 2012 ), which guided learners into knowledge co-construction and argumentation. The study was particularly focused on exploring how different preassigned roles and sentence openers supported argumentation ( Weinberger et al., 2010 ) and contributed to the groups' affective interactions especially by encouraging students to participate equally and motivating the group atmosphere. The roles given to each student were especially designed to prompt not only productive argumentation but also socio-emotional processes. The roles assigned to the students were: captain (motivated the group members' participation), contributor (identified and elaborated pro-arguments), critic (identified and elaborated counter-arguments), and composer (constructed a synthesis of the pro- and counter-arguments). To support their enactment of the named role, the students were given specific sentence openers, such as: “Have you all understood what is meant by…” (captain), “My claim is…” (contributor), “Here is a different claim I think needs to be taken into account …” (critic) and “To combine previously mentioned perspectives it can be concluded…” (composer). The script was faded out as the course proceeded. During the first 2 weeks, both the roles as well as the sentence openers were used to guide productive collaboration. Next, only the roles were given as a script, without sentence openers. However, students got a different role compared to the first week. And after that, the whole script was faded out; it was expected that, by that time, the learners had internalized the script and were thus able to interact purposefully without external support ( Wecker and Fischer, 2011 ; Noroozi et al., 2017 ).

To reach an understanding of how the students interacted during the course, all discussion notes on Facebook were analyzed ( Puhl et al., 2017 ). This was done by categorizing the discussion notes according to their transactivity to the following categories: quick consensus building, integration-oriented consensus building and conflict-oriented consensus building and in terms of their epistemic dimension: coordination, own explanation, misconception, learning content ( Weinberger and Fischer, 2006 ). In general, students participated equally in the joint discussions according to the roles given to them, but the actual use of the sentence openers was more random. The main results indicated that, with this design, students engaged actively in argumentative knowledge co-construction, and that there were no significant differences in terms of the amount of activity between the differently scripted studying phases. All the assigned roles were treated as equally important in terms of both cognitive and affective aspects of learning even though they promoted different aspects of socio-emotional processes. However, during the course it came clear that the role of captain was especially crucial in promoting a good group atmosphere and keeping the motivation level high. The following examples from group discussions illustrate the captain's contributions:

“Thanks for your comments. These are all interesting thoughts. I agree with you that there is not a ‘one fits for all' solution. While regarding thought on ‘obligation’, well I agree that there is that component as well in any learning situation.”

“If you have some questions while you are reading, if something is unclear or something is just interesting, I'd like to encourage you to post something into the group that we can talk about it. So, enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a nice week.”

These examples illustrate how the captain encouraged group members to participate in joint discussions by giving positive feedback, and by making suggestions how to proceed. The results showed that the roles functioned also for affective level learning by, for example, managing the discourse, inducing conflicts through pro- and counter-arguments, and resolving the conflicts by bringing the different perspectives together. To conclude, in this case example, the roles assisted equal participation, feelings of belonging, and good working relationships between learners. The students' interaction was supportive, and arguments were well-structured. Furthermore, roles kept the discussion on task and there was no confusion about the responsibilities ( Bruyckere et al., 2015 ; May and Elder, 2018 ; Pedro et al., 2018 ).

This example of Facebook as a SNS shows how an actively used “everyday digital tool” provided easy access to and a familiar platform for productive collaborative learning. While students used Facebook regularly for informal communication, they actively followed study-related discussions at the same time. It was obvious that in this case informal and formal communication and collaboration supported each other. The students in this study were asked to follow a specific micro-script, and thus their opportunities for designing their own learning activities were rather limited. Another way to integrate informal and formal education and to provide more open opportunities for creative thinking and problem solving is the use of games for learning, as will be described in the following example.

CASE 2: Games for Learning as Supporting Students' Creativity, Problem Solving, and Programming Skills

Currently, there is an increasing interest in implementing games in an educational context ( Nebel et al., 2016 ; Qian and Clark, 2016 ). Connolly et al. (2012) found in their systematic literature review that playing computer games is linked to a range of perceptual, cognitive, behavioral, affective, and motivational impacts and outcomes. However, previous studies have shown that the game environment itself does not guarantee deep learning and meaningful learning experiences ( Lye and Koh, 2014 ; Mayer, 2015 ). The challenge is that many educational games follow simple designs that are only narrowly focused on academic content and provide drill and practice methods similar to worksheets or stress memorization of facts ( Qian and Clark, 2016 ).

Careful pedagogical design is needed in order to implement an educational game environment as a holistic problem-solving environment. For example, game design elements can provide opportunities for learners' self-expression, discovery, and control. These types of playing activities can create a learning environment that supports students' cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning, for example in terms of programming skills, creativity, problem solving ( Kazimoglu et al., 2012 ; Qian and Clark, 2016 ), and motivational engagement ( Bayliss, 2012 ; Zorn et al., 2013 ; Pellas, 2014 ).

This study was designed to integrate informal and formal learning activities for students in the context of an after-school Minecraft club. Minecraft is a multiplayer sandbox game designed around breaking and placing blocks. Unlike many other games, when played in its traditional settings, Minecraft does allow players the freedom to immerse themselves into their own narrative: to build, create, and explore. Minecraft, along with modification software (“mods”), has the tools for teaching and learning programming ( Zorn et al., 2013 ; Risberg, 2015 ; Nebel et al., 2016 ).

The participants in this case study were primary school students ( N = 16, 11 boys, 5 girls, 11 years old) who participated in the after-school Minecraft club ( Ruotsalainen et al., 2020 ). The club included eight 90-min sessions of face-to-face meetings as well as unlimited collaboration time in the virtual space between the meetings. Minecraft gameplay was based on a storyline wherein pirates tried to survive after a shipwreck, escape, and expand their territories to other islands. To be able to escape from the island, several main quests (tasks) had to be solved: tutorial (weeks 1–2), electrical power (week 3), area and volume calculations (week 4), survival of zombie apocalypse (week 5), European flags (week 6), programming (week 7), and a final meeting (week 8). The majority of these quests were ill-structured and challenging problems. Therefore, the designed structure included repetitive pedagogical phases with teacher scaffolding (described below), but also full access to all content at any time (but not guided and explained).

Each week followed a similar structure:

a) Introduction (club meeting), a basic introduction to the session's theme.

b) Guided in-game tour (club meeting) where the respective main quest was presented, trained, and materials were distributed. The Captain (teacher) provided scaffolding for pirate students.

c) Main Quest (club meeting; between meetings, students performed task(s), e.g., building structures or coding).

d) Reflection (club meeting), a group discussion at the end of each session to reflect on task design and game experiences.

e) Free to Play (gameplay between meetings), the phase where students were able to continue their existing activities or explore the game on their own.

f) Captain's Quest (gameplay between meetings), which was similar to the main quest, but tasks were voluntary for students.

g) Presentation(s) for Rewards (next club meeting), an activity where students presented what they had done in the main quest and the Captain's quest. After successfully completing quests, student pirates received rewards in the form of Minecraft objects. Without rewards, student pirates were not able to survive, form society on the island, build better houses, or complete (“win”) the game.

The tools that were designed for the club were the Minecraft game, island map, and three Minecraft modifications ( Figure 1 ). The game map was designed to include problem-based puzzles (quests) and a narrative about escaping from the deserted island after a shipwreck. Modifications enabled teachers to change Minecraft's 18 game rules, alter game content, redesign textures, and give players new abilities within the game ( Kuhn and Dikkers, 2015 ). While the island map provided context for game narrative and gameplay itself, modifications worked as an engine, which enabled real electrical power simulation (ElectricalAge), programming (ComputerCraft), and easy redesign of the learning experiences (WorldEdit) during the game. The three major structures were: a deserted island with a sunken ship (home for the students' characters), the hall of quests, which was a building on the island (main quests were presented here), and the science center located outside of the island (a place with free access to formal lessons and informal training). Collaborative learning was regarded as a fundamental element of the activity in Minecraft gameplay. Therefore, many structural elements were designed to support collaborative game experience; for example, border blocks forced students' avatars to live in a small area next to each other. However, there were no detailed structures or scaffolds designed as a support for collaboration. Students were inhabitants of the Minecraft world, where collaboration is necessary to survive. The following example explains how one student described his/her experienced reasons for collaboration in an interview that were conducted right after the each face to face meeting. In this example one student describes his actions in the main quest “survival of zombie apocalypse.”

“We all came together at the ‘hall of quests’, it was safe and we had time to make up a plan together since there were no zombies. All players were here and we discussed what to do to survive. Most of my friends helped me and I helped them to survive. We had to trust each other, to survive you do teamwork.”

Figure 1. (A) Island at the start of the game when students' ship has wrecked. (B) Island after students have created their society (game activity between club meetings, Captain's quests). (C) Hall of quests, which was the place for information sharing, reflection, and teleportation to the science center. (D) Science center (main quests were played here) with a view into the coding quest.

Overall, the Minecraft game in this study was designed so that knowledge acquisition was prompted (e.g., about electricity), skill acquisition was supported (e.g., programming and collaboration), and affective and motivational outcomes were rewarded (e.g., strategies to accomplish quests and reflections during the meetings). Degrees of freedom guaranteed that the original constructionist gameplay was available for more advanced players, which was needed to avoid frustration or domination during the game ( Connolly et al., 2012 ; Nebel et al., 2016 ). The students underlined in an interview how emotional the game playing experience was for them: “I usually do not really like these guys, but I am kind of sad that this experiment is over. I'm going to miss our village and society a lot. I am pretty sure I won't speak to half of the players anymore.”

To conclude, Minecraft is an example of a constructivist gaming experience in which players can play, modify the game, or even create their own games for learning ( Kafai and Burke, 2015 ). In this case study, the students modified the game. This type of gaming approach has a strong pedagogical connection with another contemporary digital education phenomena: “maker's culture,” making and digital fabrication. While Minecraft is about a block-based world of “digital making,” digital fabrication and making enables learners to design their own artifacts in the situated (unstructured and open-ended) problem solving contexts.

CASE 3: Digital Fabrication and Makers Education for Supporting Collaborative Learning

Making is a central concept in the maker education approach. In practice, making is “a class of activities focused on designing, building, modifying, and/or repurposing material objects, for playing or useful ends, oriented toward making a ‘product' that can be used, interact with, or demonstrated” ( Martin, 2015 , p. 31). Digital fabrication is a concept in parallel with making that is commonly used to describe a process of making physical objects by utilizing digital tools for designing. Digital fabrication activities can be conducted in the context of Fab Lab, that is, a technical prototyping platform “comprised of off-the-shelf, industrial-grade fabrication and electronics tools, wrapped in open source software” ( Fab Foundation, n.d. ).

The basic idea of maker culture and digital fabrication places the learner firmly at the center of the learning process with a focus on a connection to real-world issues and meaningful problems. In the context of digital fabrication and Fab Labs, complex, undefined, open-ended, and unstructured problem-solving activities are typical ( Halverson and Sheridan, 2014 ; Chan and Blikstein, 2018 ). Prior studies in educational contexts have found that maker culture activities hold great potential for developing a sense of personal agency, improving self-efficacy and self-esteem, and supporting learners in becoming an active member of a learning community ( Halverson and Sheridan, 2014 ; Chu et al., 2017 ; Hira and Hynes, 2018 ). Taylor (2016) has concluded that the activities in “makerspaces” can be transformed into classroom projects that match the goals of twenty-first-century education. In other words, the overall learning experience through making can be empowering and can nurture students' creativity and inventiveness among other twenty-first-century skills ( Blikstein, 2013 ; Iwata et al., 2019 ; Pitkänen et al., 2019 ).

This case study presents research that was conducted in an early education context ( Siklander et al., 2019 ). Four to 5 year-old children ( N = 16) took part in the making process in indoor and outdoor making environments: kindergarten, a forest, and Fab Lab facilities at the university ( https://www.oulu.fi/fablab/ ).

In this case study, a narrative was built about an owl, a hand puppet, who asked for the children's help. The topic for learning was healthy food, and the aim was that the children learn to identify healthy and unhealthy food and to create a healthy plate through making, playing, and discussions. The experiment followed the playful learning process ( Hyvönen, 2011 ; Hyvönen et al., 2016 ) and started with an orientation phase that aimed to support the children's activation of prior knowledge by creating a concept map about the topic of “good health.” In other words, the starting point for children's making activities was their own investigations of the concept and events closely connected with their living environments and personal experiences. After the orientation, the hand puppet owl asked for the children's assistance in creating a healthy plate. In the first making activity, children searched for and cut out figures representing healthy food and created a healthy plate by using the selected figures. Next, the owl asked the children to cook food in the nearby forest and to serve it to the forest animals. The children orienteered to the forest, collected items in accordance with the recipe, cooked the food, and laid the table on the ground. After feasting with the children, the owl asked children to feed all the forest animals. This challenging task requested children to prepare fabricated food.

The next phase of the experiment was conducted in the FabLab. The researchers' role ( Hyvönen, 2011 ) was to understand and support the children's cognitive, emotional, and social views on making activities, although the environment was technical, noisy, and adult sized. The aim was to provide an emotionally and physically safe atmosphere and to encourage children to interact, enjoy, and express themselves while working together. After using the different senses (e.g., the smell of burning wood diffusing from the laser cutter), and taking a look at the facilities, technological equipment, and displayed outcomes, the owl's request was discussed. First, a big plate out of plywood was laser cutted. Research assistants guided the activities, and they let each child test the steering device and press the buttons. The children watched the cutting process very intensely, and were delighted while the plate was done, wanting also to touch and smell it. Finally, each child chose his or her favorite Muumin character and laser cut it to take home.

The process ended with the elaboration phase, in which the photo-elicitation method was used ( Dockett et al., 2017 ) for reflecting on and discussing the entire process with the children. They chose photos which they felt were interesting and inspiring during the process; thus, these photos represent positive emotions. They chose photos taken from the forest trip and the FabLab activities. The most meaningful objects in the forest were the map, which facilitated orienteering, the recipe, which allowed them to find items and count them, and the fire, which they set for cooking. These elements combine affective and cognitive learning with physical actions. Children held the map each by each, and carefully looked at it and the path ahead ( Pictures 1 , 2 ).

Picture 1 . Children cooking according to the recipe. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of all depicted children for the publication of these images.

Picture 2 . Children at the FabLab presenting their ideas for the owl, other children, and adults around. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of all depicted children for the publication of these images.

The Fab Lab was regarded also as a meaningful makerspace. With its many technologies, it provided totally new experiences for the children. It was experienced as exciting and activated the children's collaboration, imagination, interest, and inspiration. During the experiment, the children's interaction was filled with humor and evolved in the process of thought bouncing.

In this case study, making activities and the playfulness of this process ( Hyvönen, 2011 ; Hyvönen et al., 2016 ) denoted affectivity in two ways: first, the process of making was designed to allow children to experience emotions such as curiosity, joy, agency, acceptance, and excitement, but also negative feelings such as impatience, frustration, and disappointment (see also Hyvönen and Kangas, 2007 ). Secondly, during the activities and interaction, children were able to learn to recognize, and regulate their emotions. This was evident particularly in collaborative situations when children had to wait their turns, or when they were together and excited to express their ideas. To conclude, it can be said that, for children, making is not a specific type of activity, but rather the natural way of playfully being and engaging in any activity, including their own emotions, other people, and playthings ( Duncan and Planes, 2015 ).

CASE 4. Supporting Fab Lab Facilitators to Develop Pedagogical Practices to Improve Learning in Digital Fabrication Activities

This case study was conducted also in the context of Fab Lab. The aim of this case study was to explore what technology experts should take into consideration in planning and facilitating students' learning processes in digital fabrication. This was done to provide research evidence about the design and implementation of digital fabrication activities. In practice, current undertakings in the local Fab Lab were explored from two perspectives: how current practices consider novice students' learning and how facilitators and teachers provide scaffolding in unstructured problem solving ( Pitkänen et al., 2019 ).

The local Fab Lab was established in 2015 (see https://www.oulu.fi/fablab/ ). Since then, Fab Lab has arranged different types of digital fabrication activities for school groups. The activities have typically included 2D and 3D design and manufacturing, prototyping with electronics, programming, and utilizing tools and machines to fabricate prototypes ( Georgiev et al., 2017 ; Iwata et al., 2019 ; Laru et al., 2019 ; Pitkänen et al., 2019 ).

In this case study (Iwata et al., in review), three schools participated in digital fabrication activities in Fab Lab ( Table 2 ). The school participants, in total 41 students (aged 12–15 years old) and five teachers, were from three secondary schools. The activities were facilitated by two technology experts (facilitators), who work in the Fab Lab. In order to understand the making and digital fabrication activities, the participants were observed during the practice, and interviews of 14 students, the five teachers, and the two facilitators were conducted both during and at the end of the activities. Furthermore, the perspectives of the two expert groups (school teachers and Fab Lab facilitators) were investigated with focus group interviews.

Table 2 . The three schools participating in digital fabrication activities.

The students worked on projects in teams with different design briefs and required conditions provided by facilitators and/or the teachers. All student projects were complex and required knowledge and skills in multiple subjects, such as mathematics, physics, and art (STEAM concept) ( Table 2 ). Yet, these projects were difficult for them to complete without collaborative problem solving. The following excerpt is from a teacher's interview:

“One girl said that in normal group activities in school, she would have taken like the whole control, but this one was so huge, and she realized that she couldn't do that. So, she had to delegate. That was precious that she had to trust the team and that she can't control everything.”

Based on the interviews six factors were identified which influenced students' learning in the Fab Lab:

1) The tasks were complex and multidisciplinary.

2) Computers and digital tools were used frequently.

3) Students' own roles and responsibilities were emphasized in the guidance given.

4) Opportunities for reflection were supported.

5) Trial and error was encouraged.

6) An appropriate range of flexibility was embraced with time frame.

The following example shows how the school teacher explained the digital fabrication activities:

“You go and just try and error and it doesn't even matter if you totally succeed or fail on the product.… the important thing is what kind of cognitive skills and how you reflect, what you learn in the process, and if you came back, what would you do better.”

However, not all students who participated in these digital fabrication activities had previous knowledge and experience in the field. Moreover, many of them were not used to applied work methods that require competencies such as self-regulation, self-efficacy, and persistence. Based on the results, there is a need for defining clear learning goals and instructions, which would help students to engage in unstructured, open-ended, problem-solving activities. Furthermore, the lack of structure in the activities made both the teachers and facilitators point out the need to scaffold learning. The following is an excerpt from the interview of a teacher which underlines this need:

“….I feel like that we should guide them more…. giving them more guidance in choosing appropriate tasks they want to learn, because sometimes the tasks they choose might be too demanding for them to learn in a limited period time.”

Based on the analysis of the observations and interviews, several suggestions can be provided for integrating instructional scaffolding in the activities, taking into consideration novice learning, and the nature of unstructured problem solving activities. The first two elements relate to developing pedagogical practices in the activities: we recommend that teachers consider cognitive and affective processes of learning as a base for activity design and provide instructional scaffolding to improve opportunities for cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning. The next two elements suggest designing the activities in collaboration to enhance the application of digital fabrication to formal education, recommending that we familiarize teachers with Fab Labs and digital fabrication activities and increase collaboration between Fab Lab facilitators and school teachers.

Discussion—How to Design Cognitively Effortful and Affectively Meaningful Learning

Case studies of SNS, games for learning, makers education, and digital fabrication showed different ways of organizing digital education and illustrated in particular how different types of pedagogical design and digital tools have been used to support cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning in groups. In other words, in addition to knowledge co-construction, argumentation, and problem solving, opportunities for positive affective learning processes were provided, such as experiencing and expressing emotions in learning.

The first example, SNS, presented a learning environment that is familiar for students as an everyday communication tool. It provided an interaction arena to discuss and debate the course topics with the support of a micro-script ( Noroozi et al., 2012 ). In terms of the cognitive and affective potential of SNS, it can be concluded that structured roles functioned as a support for affective interactions by managing the discourse, inducing and resolving conflicts, and assisting in creating equal participation and feelings of belonging between students ( Isohätälä et al., 2017 ). However, as this case study was tightly pre-structured with a specific micro-script, the following examples presented open-ended collaborative problem-solving spaces. The second case study, the Minecraft game environment, showed how a commercial game was further designed and implemented in a primary school after school club. This was an example of a constructivist game approach where learners played but also modified their own games ( Kafai and Burke, 2015 ). This study showed how game experience prompted students' knowledge acquisition as well as supported students' learning skills in terms of programming and collaboration. Furthermore, the study also indicated that the experience was highly emotionally engaging for the students, based on the students' descriptions of their emotional experiences of playing the game and the experiences they had when the game was over.

Minecraft is a block based world of “digital making”; digital fabrication and making enables a more thorough design experience to plan and fabricate students' own artifacts in the situated (unstructured and open-ended) problem solving contexts ( Halverson and Sheridan, 2014 ; Martin, 2015 ; Taylor, 2016 ). Two different examples that were selected to illustrate maker education and digital fabrication showed the making activities in practice. The example from an early education context showed young children making in several contexts, including outdoor, and indoor locations ( Siklander et al., 2019 ). These activities were observed to contribute to affectivity by allowing children to experience several different types of emotions while learning, such as curiosity, joy, and excitement, but also negative feelings such as impatience, frustration, and disappointment ( Hyvönen and Kangas, 2007 ). These emotional expressions were particularly visible in their collaborative situations. The last case example turned the focus toward the teachers' and facilitators' point of view, investigating how they see making activities and how they understand what kind of support students need from them during these activities. This study, through the design principles of the Fab Lab activities, characterized the important factors that help teachers and facilitators to engage and support students' learning, such as implementing complex tasks, using digital tools, highlighting students' own roles and responsibilities, providing opportunities for reflection, encouraging trial and error, and providing flexibility in the timeframe ( Blikstein, 2013 ; Georgiev et al., 2017 ; Hira and Hynes, 2018 ; Iwata et al., 2019 ). In addition to these principles, this study pointed out that adequate scaffolding is needed to improve opportunities for cognitively effortful and affectively meaningful learning. This is especially important in the situations where maker activities and digital fabrication procedures are introduced to novice makers, since they need to be familiarized with making culture as well as possibilities and tools for making ( Gerjets and Hesse, 2004 ; Blikstein, 2013 ; Chu et al., 2017 ). Fab Lab and maker education differ in the use of social networking tools and games for learning, because digital tools are part of the making process and the learning environment is situated in the physical fabrication laboratory instead of online context ( Kim and Reeves, 2007 ; Qian and Clark, 2016 ).

In general, SNS, digital gaming, and maker education have become increasingly interesting as a learning context in a modern education, mixing technological and creative skills, exploration and discovery, problem-solving and playfulness, as well as formal and informal education ( Connolly et al., 2012 ; Davies and West, 2014 ; Georgiev et al., 2017 ). These types of learning opportunities have the potential to impact current and future educational practices and pedagogy. However, when critically evaluating these learning contexts' opportunities for cognitive and affective learning, it can be noted that the implementation of digital tools and environments alone is not enough ( Gerjets and Hesse, 2004 ). Therefore, planning and facilitating learning activities in digital education requires knowledge of both technology and pedagogy ( Laru et al., 2015 ; Häkkinen et al., 2017 ; Valtonen et al., 2019 ). For example, when designing learning with digital tools, it is important that technologies are embedded into the environment and that their use is designed prior the activities but also facilitated during the learning activities ( Kirschner et al., 2006 ; Dillenbourg, 2013 ). This is the case especially in the maker education context where tools and devices for various kinds of fabrication need to be provided for the use of students with heterogeneous skills, knowledge, and aims ( Blikstein, 2013 ; Chan and Blikstein, 2018 ).

In addition to pre-structured and facilitated learning activities, more spontaneous collaborative activities are recommended. This means that students should be provided opportunities to engage in learning activities which places students' needs, interests, and experiences as the starting point for their explorations. This type of learner-centered approach creates a learning environment that is built around creativity and allows personal emotional experiences, such as fun and enjoyment ( Hyvönen and Kangas, 2007 ; Hyvönen, 2011 ; Hyvönen et al., 2014 ). A sound learning environment also guides and supports students' interest and promotes their active involvement in learning ( Baker, 2015 ; Järvelä et al., 2016 ; Hadwin et al., 2018 ). In order to support learning activities in the ways described above, pedagogically sound practices will need to be established, and teachers' professional development will need to focus more on using technology to improve learning—not just on changing teachers' attitudes and abilities in more general ways ( Davies and West, 2014 ). To conclude, we agree with Lowyck ( 2014 , p. 15), who argues that “both learning theories and technology are empty concepts, when not connected to actors such as instructional designers, teachers and learners.” He continues with the image of teachers and learners as co-designers, which is well-aligned with the case studies presented in this paper, by claiming that “…they are co-designer of learning processes, which affect knowledge-construction, and management as well as products that result from collaboration in distributed knowledge environments.” Finally, this paper reinforces the idea suggested by Roschelle (2003) that we should focus on rich pedagogical practices and simple digital tools. In the context of the four case studies described in this paper, we can summarize that applying digital tools for education is meaningful when the aim is to provide opportunities for interactions and sharing ideas and thus increase students' opportunities to turn an active mind to multiple contexts.

This paper introduced studies that implemented the exploratory case approach and thus it can be criticized due to the lack of generalizability of the results. As case descriptions afford details and context specific illustrations, the possibility to draw general conclusions is limited ( Stake, 1995 ; Yin, 2013 ). In these case studies a various different types of methods were used. For example, discussion notes from Facebook group discussions were analyzed, interviews after the each face to face meeting during the Minecraft experiment were conducted, and photo elicitation interviews as a method in a Fab Lab working was used as well as observations and teacher and student interviews were done during a second Fab lab experiment. All these case studies and related data collections illustrate participants' experiences during the digital learning. As research of affective learning in digital education emerges, a key direction for future studies is to explore how tools and technologies support affective learning and interaction, but also how different types of pedagogical designs can scaffold affective learning ( Näykki et al., 2017a ). Design studies could explore and develop tools and design principles to support the use of social media tools in learning, the design and use of games for learning, and the involvement of makers and digital fabrication activities in educational settings. The current study provides interesting research questions based on our observations of the case studies to be explored in the future studies. For example, it can be explored how to design tools to support affective learning in gaming or making contexts where learning designs are not usually the main focus of the activity. The contexts of the cases were unstructured or open problem spaces, although special pedagogical designs were implemented. However, much remains to be understood regarding the types and configurations of technological and pedagogical support that best promote cognitive and affective processes of collaborative learning.

The results obtained from these case studies are applicable to formal education, such as early childhood education, primary school education, teacher education, and in-service training, but also to informal learning contexts, such as game designing and Fab Lab facilitation. Engagement in creative making activities, productive group work, and seamless use of technology are essential twenty-first-century skills needed in all fields of work and in life in general. Teachers at all educational levels have an especially crucial role in developing these skills in their students, and therefore future teachers have to be offered opportunities to experience and learn within various collaborative environments.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study will not be made publicly available Studies involving human subjects.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.

Additional Requirements

Written informed consent was obtained from all adult participants and the parents of non-adult participants for the purposes of research participation. The raw data supporting the conclusions of this manuscript can be made available by the authors, from request, to any qualified researcher.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (316129) and Nordplus Horizontal (NPHZ-2018/10123).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: affective learning, collaborative learning, digital education, digital fabrication, maker education, social networking systems

Citation: Näykki P, Laru J, Vuopala E, Siklander P and Järvelä S (2019) Affective Learning in Digital Education—Case Studies of Social Networking Systems, Games for Learning, and Digital Fabrication. Front. Educ. 4:128. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00128

Received: 03 June 2019; Accepted: 16 October 2019; Published: 01 November 2019.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2019 Näykki, Laru, Vuopala, Siklander and Järvelä. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Piia Näykki, piia.naykki@oulu.fi

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Acknowledgments

Definition and Introduction

Case analysis is a problem-based teaching and learning method that involves critically analyzing complex scenarios within an organizational setting for the purpose of placing the student in a “real world” situation and applying reflection and critical thinking skills to contemplate appropriate solutions, decisions, or recommended courses of action. It is considered a more effective teaching technique than in-class role playing or simulation activities. The analytical process is often guided by questions provided by the instructor that ask students to contemplate relationships between the facts and critical incidents described in the case.

Cases generally include both descriptive and statistical elements and rely on students applying abductive reasoning to develop and argue for preferred or best outcomes [i.e., case scenarios rarely have a single correct or perfect answer based on the evidence provided]. Rather than emphasizing theories or concepts, case analysis assignments emphasize building a bridge of relevancy between abstract thinking and practical application and, by so doing, teaches the value of both within a specific area of professional practice.

Given this, the purpose of a case analysis paper is to present a structured and logically organized format for analyzing the case situation. It can be assigned to students individually or as a small group assignment and it may include an in-class presentation component. Case analysis is predominately taught in economics and business-related courses, but it is also a method of teaching and learning found in other applied social sciences disciplines, such as, social work, public relations, education, journalism, and public administration.

Ellet, William. The Case Study Handbook: A Student's Guide . Revised Edition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2018; Christoph Rasche and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Analysis . Writing Center, Baruch College; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

How to Approach Writing a Case Analysis Paper

The organization and structure of a case analysis paper can vary depending on the organizational setting, the situation, and how your professor wants you to approach the assignment. Nevertheless, preparing to write a case analysis paper involves several important steps. As Hawes notes, a case analysis assignment “...is useful in developing the ability to get to the heart of a problem, analyze it thoroughly, and to indicate the appropriate solution as well as how it should be implemented” [p.48]. This statement encapsulates how you should approach preparing to write a case analysis paper.

Before you begin to write your paper, consider the following analytical procedures:

Review the case to get an overview of the situation . A case can be only a few pages in length, however, it is most often very lengthy and contains a significant amount of detailed background information and statistics, with multilayered descriptions of the scenario, the roles and behaviors of various stakeholder groups, and situational events. Therefore, a quick reading of the case will help you gain an overall sense of the situation and illuminate the types of issues and problems that you will need to address in your paper. If your professor has provided questions intended to help frame your analysis, use them to guide your initial reading of the case.
Read the case thoroughly . After gaining a general overview of the case, carefully read the content again with the purpose of understanding key circumstances, events, and behaviors among stakeholder groups. Look for information or data that appears contradictory, extraneous, or misleading. At this point, you should be taking notes as you read because this will help you develop a general outline of your paper. The aim is to obtain a complete understanding of the situation so that you can begin contemplating tentative answers to any questions your professor has provided or, if they have not provided, developing answers to your own questions about the case scenario and its connection to the course readings,lectures, and class discussions.
Determine key stakeholder groups, issues, and events and the relationships they all have to each other . As you analyze the content, pay particular attention to identifying individuals, groups, or organizations described in the case and identify evidence of any problems or issues of concern that impact the situation in a negative way. Other things to look for include identifying any assumptions being made by or about each stakeholder, potential biased explanations or actions, explicit demands or ultimatums , and the underlying concerns that motivate these behaviors among stakeholders. The goal at this stage is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the situational and behavioral dynamics of the case and the explicit and implicit consequences of each of these actions.
Identify the core problems . The next step in most case analysis assignments is to discern what the core [i.e., most damaging, detrimental, injurious] problems are within the organizational setting and to determine their implications. The purpose at this stage of preparing to write your analysis paper is to distinguish between the symptoms of core problems and the core problems themselves and to decide which of these must be addressed immediately and which problems do not appear critical but may escalate over time. Identify evidence from the case to support your decisions by determining what information or data is essential to addressing the core problems and what information is not relevant or is misleading.
Explore alternative solutions . As noted, case analysis scenarios rarely have only one correct answer. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the process of analyzing the case and diagnosing core problems, while based on evidence, is a subjective process open to various avenues of interpretation. This means that you must consider alternative solutions or courses of action by critically examining strengths and weaknesses, risk factors, and the differences between short and long-term solutions. For each possible solution or course of action, consider the consequences they may have related to their implementation and how these recommendations might lead to new problems. Also, consider thinking about your recommended solutions or courses of action in relation to issues of fairness, equity, and inclusion.
Decide on a final set of recommendations . The last stage in preparing to write a case analysis paper is to assert an opinion or viewpoint about the recommendations needed to help resolve the core problems as you see them and to make a persuasive argument for supporting this point of view. Prepare a clear rationale for your recommendations based on examining each element of your analysis. Anticipate possible obstacles that could derail their implementation. Consider any counter-arguments that could be made concerning the validity of your recommended actions. Finally, describe a set of criteria and measurable indicators that could be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of your implementation plan.

Use these steps as the framework for writing your paper. Remember that the more detailed you are in taking notes as you critically examine each element of the case, the more information you will have to draw from when you begin to write. This will save you time.

NOTE : If the process of preparing to write a case analysis paper is assigned as a student group project, consider having each member of the group analyze a specific element of the case, including drafting answers to the corresponding questions used by your professor to frame the analysis. This will help make the analytical process more efficient and ensure that the distribution of work is equitable. This can also facilitate who is responsible for drafting each part of the final case analysis paper and, if applicable, the in-class presentation.

Framework for Case Analysis . College of Management. University of Massachusetts; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Rasche, Christoph and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Study Analysis . University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center; Van Ness, Raymond K. A Guide to Case Analysis . School of Business. State University of New York, Albany; Writing a Case Analysis . Business School, University of New South Wales.

Structure and Writing Style

A case analysis paper should be detailed, concise, persuasive, clearly written, and professional in tone and in the use of language . As with other forms of college-level academic writing, declarative statements that convey information, provide a fact, or offer an explanation or any recommended courses of action should be based on evidence. If allowed by your professor, any external sources used to support your analysis, such as course readings, should be properly cited under a list of references. The organization and structure of case analysis papers can vary depending on your professor’s preferred format, but its structure generally follows the steps used for analyzing the case.

Introduction

The introduction should provide a succinct but thorough descriptive overview of the main facts, issues, and core problems of the case . The introduction should also include a brief summary of the most relevant details about the situation and organizational setting. This includes defining the theoretical framework or conceptual model on which any questions were used to frame your analysis.

Following the rules of most college-level research papers, the introduction should then inform the reader how the paper will be organized. This includes describing the major sections of the paper and the order in which they will be presented. Unless you are told to do so by your professor, you do not need to preview your final recommendations in the introduction. U nlike most college-level research papers , the introduction does not include a statement about the significance of your findings because a case analysis assignment does not involve contributing new knowledge about a research problem.

Background Analysis

Background analysis can vary depending on any guiding questions provided by your professor and the underlying concept or theory that the case is based upon. In general, however, this section of your paper should focus on:

Providing an overarching analysis of problems identified from the case scenario, including identifying events that stakeholders find challenging or troublesome,
Identifying assumptions made by each stakeholder and any apparent biases they may exhibit,
Describing any demands or claims made by or forced upon key stakeholders, and
Highlighting any issues of concern or complaints expressed by stakeholders in response to those demands or claims.

These aspects of the case are often in the form of behavioral responses expressed by individuals or groups within the organizational setting. However, note that problems in a case situation can also be reflected in data [or the lack thereof] and in the decision-making, operational, cultural, or institutional structure of the organization. Additionally, demands or claims can be either internal and external to the organization [e.g., a case analysis involving a president considering arms sales to Saudi Arabia could include managing internal demands from White House advisors as well as demands from members of Congress].

Throughout this section, present all relevant evidence from the case that supports your analysis. Do not simply claim there is a problem, an assumption, a demand, or a concern; tell the reader what part of the case informed how you identified these background elements.

Identification of Problems

In most case analysis assignments, there are problems, and then there are problems . Each problem can reflect a multitude of underlying symptoms that are detrimental to the interests of the organization. The purpose of identifying problems is to teach students how to differentiate between problems that vary in severity, impact, and relative importance. Given this, problems can be described in three general forms: those that must be addressed immediately, those that should be addressed but the impact is not severe, and those that do not require immediate attention and can be set aside for the time being.

All of the problems you identify from the case should be identified in this section of your paper, with a description based on evidence explaining the problem variances. If the assignment asks you to conduct research to further support your assessment of the problems, include this in your explanation. Remember to cite those sources in a list of references. Use specific evidence from the case and apply appropriate concepts, theories, and models discussed in class or in relevant course readings to highlight and explain the key problems [or problem] that you believe must be solved immediately and describe the underlying symptoms and why they are so critical.

Alternative Solutions

This section is where you provide specific, realistic, and evidence-based solutions to the problems you have identified and make recommendations about how to alleviate the underlying symptomatic conditions impacting the organizational setting. For each solution, you must explain why it was chosen and provide clear evidence to support your reasoning. This can include, for example, course readings and class discussions as well as research resources, such as, books, journal articles, research reports, or government documents. In some cases, your professor may encourage you to include personal, anecdotal experiences as evidence to support why you chose a particular solution or set of solutions. Using anecdotal evidence helps promote reflective thinking about the process of determining what qualifies as a core problem and relevant solution .

Throughout this part of the paper, keep in mind the entire array of problems that must be addressed and describe in detail the solutions that might be implemented to resolve these problems.

Recommended Courses of Action

In some case analysis assignments, your professor may ask you to combine the alternative solutions section with your recommended courses of action. However, it is important to know the difference between the two. A solution refers to the answer to a problem. A course of action refers to a procedure or deliberate sequence of activities adopted to proactively confront a situation, often in the context of accomplishing a goal. In this context, proposed courses of action are based on your analysis of alternative solutions. Your description and justification for pursuing each course of action should represent the overall plan for implementing your recommendations.

For each course of action, you need to explain the rationale for your recommendation in a way that confronts challenges, explains risks, and anticipates any counter-arguments from stakeholders. Do this by considering the strengths and weaknesses of each course of action framed in relation to how the action is expected to resolve the core problems presented, the possible ways the action may affect remaining problems, and how the recommended action will be perceived by each stakeholder.

In addition, you should describe the criteria needed to measure how well the implementation of these actions is working and explain which individuals or groups are responsible for ensuring your recommendations are successful. In addition, always consider the law of unintended consequences. Outline difficulties that may arise in implementing each course of action and describe how implementing the proposed courses of action [either individually or collectively] may lead to new problems [both large and small].

Throughout this section, you must consider the costs and benefits of recommending your courses of action in relation to uncertainties or missing information and the negative consequences of success.

The conclusion should be brief and introspective. Unlike a research paper, the conclusion in a case analysis paper does not include a summary of key findings and their significance, a statement about how the study contributed to existing knowledge, or indicate opportunities for future research.

Begin by synthesizing the core problems presented in the case and the relevance of your recommended solutions. This can include an explanation of what you have learned about the case in the context of your answers to the questions provided by your professor. The conclusion is also where you link what you learned from analyzing the case with the course readings or class discussions. This can further demonstrate your understanding of the relationships between the practical case situation and the theoretical and abstract content of assigned readings and other course content.

Problems to Avoid

The literature on case analysis assignments often includes examples of difficulties students have with applying methods of critical analysis and effectively reporting the results of their assessment of the situation. A common reason cited by scholars is that the application of this type of teaching and learning method is limited to applied fields of social and behavioral sciences and, as a result, writing a case analysis paper can be unfamiliar to most students entering college.

After you have drafted your paper, proofread the narrative flow and revise any of these common errors:

Unnecessary detail in the background section . The background section should highlight the essential elements of the case based on your analysis. Focus on summarizing the facts and highlighting the key factors that become relevant in the other sections of the paper by eliminating any unnecessary information.
Analysis relies too much on opinion . Your analysis is interpretive, but the narrative must be connected clearly to evidence from the case and any models and theories discussed in class or in course readings. Any positions or arguments you make should be supported by evidence.
Analysis does not focus on the most important elements of the case . Your paper should provide a thorough overview of the case. However, the analysis should focus on providing evidence about what you identify are the key events, stakeholders, issues, and problems. Emphasize what you identify as the most critical aspects of the case to be developed throughout your analysis. Be thorough but succinct.
Writing is too descriptive . A paper with too much descriptive information detracts from your analysis of the complexities of the case situation. Questions about what happened, where, when, and by whom should only be included as essential information leading to your examination of questions related to why, how, and for what purpose.
Inadequate definition of a core problem and associated symptoms . A common error found in case analysis papers is recommending a solution or course of action without adequately defining or demonstrating that you understand the problem. Make sure you have clearly described the problem and its impact and scope within the organizational setting. Ensure that you have adequately described the root causes w hen describing the symptoms of the problem.
Recommendations lack specificity . Identify any use of vague statements and indeterminate terminology, such as, “A particular experience” or “a large increase to the budget.” These statements cannot be measured and, as a result, there is no way to evaluate their successful implementation. Provide specific data and use direct language in describing recommended actions.
Unrealistic, exaggerated, or unattainable recommendations . Review your recommendations to ensure that they are based on the situational facts of the case. Your recommended solutions and courses of action must be based on realistic assumptions and fit within the constraints of the situation. Also note that the case scenario has already happened, therefore, any speculation or arguments about what could have occurred if the circumstances were different should be revised or eliminated.

Bee, Lian Song et al. "Business Students' Perspectives on Case Method Coaching for Problem-Based Learning: Impacts on Student Engagement and Learning Performance in Higher Education." Education & Training 64 (2022): 416-432; The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Georgallis, Panikos and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching using Case-Based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Georgallis, Panikos, and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching Using Case-based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; .Dean, Kathy Lund and Charles J. Fornaciari. "How to Create and Use Experiential Case-Based Exercises in a Management Classroom." Journal of Management Education 26 (October 2002): 586-603; Klebba, Joanne M. and Janet G. Hamilton. "Structured Case Analysis: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in a Marketing Case Course." Journal of Marketing Education 29 (August 2007): 132-137, 139; Klein, Norman. "The Case Discussion Method Revisited: Some Questions about Student Skills." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 30-32; Mukherjee, Arup. "Effective Use of In-Class Mini Case Analysis for Discovery Learning in an Undergraduate MIS Course." The Journal of Computer Information Systems 40 (Spring 2000): 15-23; Pessoa, Silviaet al. "Scaffolding the Case Analysis in an Organizational Behavior Course: Making Analytical Language Explicit." Journal of Management Education 46 (2022): 226-251: Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Schweitzer, Karen. "How to Write and Format a Business Case Study." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-write-and-format-a-business-case-study-466324 (accessed December 5, 2022); Reddy, C. D. "Teaching Research Methodology: Everything's a Case." Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 18 (December 2020): 178-188; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

Writing Tip

Ca se Study and Case Analysis Are Not the Same!

Confusion often exists between what it means to write a paper that uses a case study research design and writing a paper that analyzes a case; they are two different types of approaches to learning in the social and behavioral sciences. Professors as well as educational researchers contribute to this confusion because they often use the term "case study" when describing the subject of analysis for a case analysis paper. But you are not studying a case for the purpose of generating a comprehensive, multi-faceted understanding of a research problem. R ather, you are critically analyzing a specific scenario to argue logically for recommended solutions and courses of action that lead to optimal outcomes applicable to professional practice.

To avoid any confusion, here are twelve characteristics that delineate the differences between writing a paper using the case study research method and writing a case analysis paper:

Case study is a method of in-depth research and rigorous inquiry ; case analysis is a reliable method of teaching and learning . A case study is a modality of research that investigates a phenomenon for the purpose of creating new knowledge, solving a problem, or testing a hypothesis using empirical evidence derived from the case being studied. Often, the results are used to generalize about a larger population or within a wider context. The writing adheres to the traditional standards of a scholarly research study. A case analysis is a pedagogical tool used to teach students how to reflect and think critically about a practical, real-life problem in an organizational setting.
The researcher is responsible for identifying the case to study; a case analysis is assigned by your professor . As the researcher, you choose the case study to investigate in support of obtaining new knowledge and understanding about the research problem. The case in a case analysis assignment is almost always provided, and sometimes written, by your professor and either given to every student in class to analyze individually or to a small group of students, or students select a case to analyze from a predetermined list.
A case study is indeterminate and boundless; a case analysis is predetermined and confined . A case study can be almost anything [see item 9 below] as long as it relates directly to examining the research problem. This relationship is the only limit to what a researcher can choose as the subject of their case study. The content of a case analysis is determined by your professor and its parameters are well-defined and limited to elucidating insights of practical value applied to practice.
Case study is fact-based and describes actual events or situations; case analysis can be entirely fictional or adapted from an actual situation . The entire content of a case study must be grounded in reality to be a valid subject of investigation in an empirical research study. A case analysis only needs to set the stage for critically examining a situation in practice and, therefore, can be entirely fictional or adapted, all or in-part, from an actual situation.
Research using a case study method must adhere to principles of intellectual honesty and academic integrity; a case analysis scenario can include misleading or false information . A case study paper must report research objectively and factually to ensure that any findings are understood to be logically correct and trustworthy. A case analysis scenario may include misleading or false information intended to deliberately distract from the central issues of the case. The purpose is to teach students how to sort through conflicting or useless information in order to come up with the preferred solution. Any use of misleading or false information in academic research is considered unethical.
Case study is linked to a research problem; case analysis is linked to a practical situation or scenario . In the social sciences, the subject of an investigation is most often framed as a problem that must be researched in order to generate new knowledge leading to a solution. Case analysis narratives are grounded in real life scenarios for the purpose of examining the realities of decision-making behavior and processes within organizational settings. A case analysis assignments include a problem or set of problems to be analyzed. However, the goal is centered around the act of identifying and evaluating courses of action leading to best possible outcomes.
The purpose of a case study is to create new knowledge through research; the purpose of a case analysis is to teach new understanding . Case studies are a choice of methodological design intended to create new knowledge about resolving a research problem. A case analysis is a mode of teaching and learning intended to create new understanding and an awareness of uncertainty applied to practice through acts of critical thinking and reflection.
A case study seeks to identify the best possible solution to a research problem; case analysis can have an indeterminate set of solutions or outcomes . Your role in studying a case is to discover the most logical, evidence-based ways to address a research problem. A case analysis assignment rarely has a single correct answer because one of the goals is to force students to confront the real life dynamics of uncertainly, ambiguity, and missing or conflicting information within professional practice. Under these conditions, a perfect outcome or solution almost never exists.
Case study is unbounded and relies on gathering external information; case analysis is a self-contained subject of analysis . The scope of a case study chosen as a method of research is bounded. However, the researcher is free to gather whatever information and data is necessary to investigate its relevance to understanding the research problem. For a case analysis assignment, your professor will often ask you to examine solutions or recommended courses of action based solely on facts and information from the case.
Case study can be a person, place, object, issue, event, condition, or phenomenon; a case analysis is a carefully constructed synopsis of events, situations, and behaviors . The research problem dictates the type of case being studied and, therefore, the design can encompass almost anything tangible as long as it fulfills the objective of generating new knowledge and understanding. A case analysis is in the form of a narrative containing descriptions of facts, situations, processes, rules, and behaviors within a particular setting and under a specific set of circumstances.
Case study can represent an open-ended subject of inquiry; a case analysis is a narrative about something that has happened in the past . A case study is not restricted by time and can encompass an event or issue with no temporal limit or end. For example, the current war in Ukraine can be used as a case study of how medical personnel help civilians during a large military conflict, even though circumstances around this event are still evolving. A case analysis can be used to elicit critical thinking about current or future situations in practice, but the case itself is a narrative about something finite and that has taken place in the past.
Multiple case studies can be used in a research study; case analysis involves examining a single scenario . Case study research can use two or more cases to examine a problem, often for the purpose of conducting a comparative investigation intended to discover hidden relationships, document emerging trends, or determine variations among different examples. A case analysis assignment typically describes a stand-alone, self-contained situation and any comparisons among cases are conducted during in-class discussions and/or student presentations.

The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017; Crowe, Sarah et al. “The Case Study Approach.” BMC Medical Research Methodology 11 (2011): doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-11-100; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing; 1994.

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Knowledge Base

Methodology

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

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In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Normal distribution
Degrees of freedom
Null hypothesis
Discourse analysis
Control groups
Mixed methods research
Non-probability sampling
Quantitative research
Ecological validity

Research bias

Rosenthal effect
Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Selection bias
Negativity bias
Status quo bias

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Research Guides

Multiple Case Studies

Nadia Alqahtani and Pengtong Qu

Description

The case study approach is popular across disciplines in education, anthropology, sociology, psychology, medicine, law, and political science (Creswell, 2013). It is both a research method and a strategy (Creswell, 2013; Yin, 2017). In this type of research design, a case can be an individual, an event, or an entity, as determined by the research questions. There are two variants of the case study: the single-case study and the multiple-case study. The former design can be used to study and understand an unusual case, a critical case, a longitudinal case, or a revelatory case. On the other hand, a multiple-case study includes two or more cases or replications across the cases to investigate the same phenomena (Lewis-Beck, Bryman & Liao, 2003; Yin, 2017). …a multiple-case study includes two or more cases or replications across the cases to investigate the same phenomena

The difference between the single- and multiple-case study is the research design; however, they are within the same methodological framework (Yin, 2017). Multiple cases are selected so that “individual case studies either (a) predict similar results (a literal replication) or (b) predict contrasting results but for anticipatable reasons (a theoretical replication)” (p. 55). When the purpose of the study is to compare and replicate the findings, the multiple-case study produces more compelling evidence so that the study is considered more robust than the single-case study (Yin, 2017).

To write a multiple-case study, a summary of individual cases should be reported, and researchers need to draw cross-case conclusions and form a cross-case report (Yin, 2017). With evidence from multiple cases, researchers may have generalizable findings and develop theories (Lewis-Beck, Bryman & Liao, 2003).

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Lewis-Beck, M., Bryman, A. E., & Liao, T. F. (2003). The Sage encyclopedia of social science research methods . Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods . Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Key Research Books and Articles on Multiple Case Study Methodology

Yin discusses how to decide if a case study should be used in research. Novice researchers can learn about research design, data collection, and data analysis of different types of case studies, as well as writing a case study report.

Chapter 2 introduces four major types of research design in case studies: holistic single-case design, embedded single-case design, holistic multiple-case design, and embedded multiple-case design. Novice researchers will learn about the definitions and characteristics of different designs. This chapter also teaches researchers how to examine and discuss the reliability and validity of the designs.

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches . Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

This book compares five different qualitative research designs: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. It compares the characteristics, data collection, data analysis and representation, validity, and writing-up procedures among five inquiry approaches using texts with tables. For each approach, the author introduced the definition, features, types, and procedures and contextualized these components in a study, which was conducted through the same method. Each chapter ends with a list of relevant readings of each inquiry approach.

This book invites readers to compare these five qualitative methods and see the value of each approach. Readers can consider which approach would serve for their research contexts and questions, as well as how to design their research and conduct the data analysis based on their choice of research method.

Günes, E., & Bahçivan, E. (2016). A multiple case study of preservice science teachers’ TPACK: Embedded in a comprehensive belief system. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11 (15), 8040-8054.

In this article, the researchers showed the importance of using technological opportunities in improving the education process and how they enhanced the students’ learning in science education. The study examined the connection between “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” (TPACK) and belief system in a science teaching context. The researchers used the multiple-case study to explore the effect of TPACK on the preservice science teachers’ (PST) beliefs on their TPACK level. The participants were three teachers with the low, medium, and high level of TPACK confidence. Content analysis was utilized to analyze the data, which were collected by individual semi-structured interviews with the participants about their lesson plans. The study first discussed each case, then compared features and relations across cases. The researchers found that there was a positive relationship between PST’s TPACK confidence and TPACK level; when PST had higher TPACK confidence, the participant had a higher competent TPACK level and vice versa.

Recent Dissertations Using Multiple Case Study Methodology

Milholland, E. S. (2015). A multiple case study of instructors utilizing Classroom Response Systems (CRS) to achieve pedagogical goals . Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order Number 3706380)

The researcher of this study critiques the use of Classroom Responses Systems by five instructors who employed this program five years ago in their classrooms. The researcher conducted the multiple-case study methodology and categorized themes. He interviewed each instructor with questions about their initial pedagogical goals, the changes in pedagogy during teaching, and the teaching techniques individuals used while practicing the CRS. The researcher used the multiple-case study with five instructors. He found that all instructors changed their goals during employing CRS; they decided to reduce the time of lecturing and to spend more time engaging students in interactive activities. This study also demonstrated that CRS was useful for the instructors to achieve multiple learning goals; all the instructors provided examples of the positive aspect of implementing CRS in their classrooms.

Li, C. L. (2010). The emergence of fairy tale literacy: A multiple case study on promoting critical literacy of children through a juxtaposed reading of classic fairy tales and their contemporary disruptive variants . Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order Number 3572104)

To explore how children’s development of critical literacy can be impacted by their reactions to fairy tales, the author conducted a multiple-case study with 4 cases, in which each child was a unit of analysis. Two Chinese immigrant children (a boy and a girl) and two American children (a boy and a girl) at the second or third grade were recruited in the study. The data were collected through interviews, discussions on fairy tales, and drawing pictures. The analysis was conducted within both individual cases and cross cases. Across four cases, the researcher found that the young children’s’ knowledge of traditional fairy tales was built upon mass-media based adaptations. The children believed that the representations on mass-media were the original stories, even though fairy tales are included in the elementary school curriculum. The author also found that introducing classic versions of fairy tales increased children’s knowledge in the genre’s origin, which would benefit their understanding of the genre. She argued that introducing fairy tales can be the first step to promote children’s development of critical literacy.

Asher, K. C. (2014). Mediating occupational socialization and occupational individuation in teacher education: A multiple case study of five elementary pre-service student teachers . Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order Number 3671989)

This study portrayed five pre-service teachers’ teaching experience in their student teaching phase and explored how pre-service teachers mediate their occupational socialization with occupational individuation. The study used the multiple-case study design and recruited five pre-service teachers from a Midwestern university as five cases. Qualitative data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and field notes. The author implemented the case study analysis and found five strategies that the participants used to mediate occupational socialization with occupational individuation. These strategies were: 1) hindering from practicing their beliefs, 2) mimicking the styles of supervising teachers, 3) teaching in the ways in alignment with school’s existing practice, 4) enacting their own ideas, and 5) integrating and balancing occupational socialization and occupational individuation. The study also provided recommendations and implications to policymakers and educators in teacher education so that pre-service teachers can be better supported.

Multiple Case Studies Copyright © 2019 by Nadia Alqahtani and Pengtong Qu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Educational Case Reports: Purpose, Style, and Format

Published: 03 March 2022
Volume 46 , pages 147–150, ( 2022 )

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Alan K. Louie ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6762-1835 1 ,
Richard Balon ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6598-2242 2 ,
Eugene V. Beresin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5627-7146 3 ,
Anthony P. S. Guerrero ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2496-4934 4 ,
Mary K. Morreale ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7921-0822 2 ,
Rashi Aggarwal ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9744-3638 5 ,
John Coverdale ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9301-4687 6 &
Adam M. Brenner ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7244-651X 7

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Case reports continue to play a time-honored role in academic medicine, by communicating clinical findings and advancing medicine [ 1 ]. Though a less rigorous level of evidence, because they describe one case that later may prove to be anomalous or “one-off,” some cases nevertheless have led to significant discoveries. Other fields, including law, business, and education, utilize their versions of case reports, often termed case studies. Law students read legal cases, proceedings, judgements, and verdicts. Business journals publish detailed accounts of the success or failure of corporations. The most germane to medical education is the use of case studies in graduate schools of education. Examples include reports of the implementation of a new teaching method, interventions, or programs at a particular school and, more broadly, the effects of a change in educational policy or regulations.

In this editorial, we discuss case reports about medical education and reflect on lessons we might learn from the tradition of case studies in the field of education at large. To be clear, we are focusing on reports in medicine about educational methodologies, interventions, initiatives, policies, application of adult learning theory, and the like. These reports are not to be confused with clinical case reports that are meant to be educational. Several journals specializing in medical education accept educational case reports, commonly about innovations in teaching medical students or residents. For instance, educational case reports have a specified manuscript type in some journals (e.g., Teaching and Learning in Medicine ) , while several other medical education journals have manuscript categories that will consider manuscripts that are essentially educational case reports (e.g., Innovation Reports ). To the extent that the nature of traditional case reports in clinical medicine differs from that of case studies in the discipline of education, one might suggest that medical education case reports could borrow the most useful guidelines from each field.

Academic Psychiatry includes among its types of manuscripts Educational Case Reports, which previously were subsumed under the educational resources’ column [ 2 ]. From 2014 to 2021, the percentage of this manuscript type has averaged 12% of the total published articles of all types in the journal. The acceptance rate is similar to the rate for all peer-reviewed articles in the journal. The exact nature of the articles in this manuscript type has evolved over time, as have the associated instructions to the authors. In recent years, the editors have encouraged, through the editorial process and suggested revisions, educational case reports to follow the description in this editorial. In what follows, we attempt to clarify further their current purpose, style, and format.

The following text is found in the instructions for authors of Academic Psychiatry [ 3 ]:

Educational case reports are practical in nature and might analyze, descriptively or ethnographically, how a particular teaching practice was applied in a specific setting. Examples include unexpected and subtle discoveries made while developing an innovative teaching method, reforming a curriculum, or launching a new course. A holistic review process considers that case reports in education tend to be naturalistic and relatively lacking in empirical data, but outcome data are still expected, such as qualitative or quantitative participant feedback. Quality of data, novelty of the case, and topic significance will be considered.

Comparison with the Journal’s In Brief Report category will be valuable. Both Educational Case Reports and In Brief Reports might be used to describe a novel teaching intervention implemented at a single site or institution. The In Brief Report would be most appropriate when the authors wish to focus on statistical analysis of the outcome measures. By contrast, an Educational Case Report would be chosen when the authors believe that the primary goal of publication is to share lessons learned from the process of defining the need, creating the intervention, overcoming the challenges in implementation, or interpreting ambiguous outcomes. It is important that the authors identify which of these (or other) kinds of lessons their case report is meant to illustrate.

A number of educational case report manuscripts are rejected by Academic Psychiatry , unfortunately, due to a frequent misunderstanding that the main objective of publishing an educational case report is to disseminate and share a course curriculum, created by the authors, absent outcomes other than student satisfaction. Sharing of curricula is a worthy objective, sparing others the task of creating the same curriculum on their own, but it is not the purpose of this manuscript type. Dissemination of one’s curriculum might be better accomplished by submission to websites that have a review process for curricula and regularly post them (e.g., MedEdPortal [ 4 ] and the website of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training [ 5 ]). The authors may list these peer-reviewed postings on their curriculum vitae.

Academic Psychiatry has been publishing fewer and fewer case reports that present new curricula, for several reasons. First, page and space limitations prevent the inclusion of particulars necessary for the dissemination of a curriculum in detail. Second, the journal’s reviewers evaluate submissions on the basis of their expertise in medical education and not in the content area of the curriculum being described in the manuscript. For example, if an author wants to share a model curriculum for teaching emergency psychiatry, a curriculum reviewer would be needed to assess whether the content about emergency psychiatry was accurate, appropriate, and acceptable for wide dissemination. Academic Psychiatry , however, does not provide reviews in subspecialty content areas, like emergency psychiatry; reviewers instead are asked to assess manuscripts on the basis of what they impart to the reader about medical education. Educational case reports about an emergency psychiatry curriculum should describe lessons learned about education, like difficulties in implementing the curriculum, how students reacted to the teaching methodology, the use of simulation, and educational outcomes. The fact that the curriculum, in this example, is about emergency psychiatry is somewhat incidental to these tasks. Of course, the content of the curriculum is of importance, but it only needs to be described to the extent necessary to explicate the educational lessons and observed outcomes.

By definition, an educational case report is usually about one “subject” (or at most a few in a multiple case report) whose case is described and studied with rich details. Educational case reports often use methods that are more qualitative and descriptive, in contrast to surveys or trials, which collect more superficial quantitative data from large samples that are amenable to statistical analysis and generalizable to populations. Thus, an educational case report may be idiographic, or even ethnographic, in style in order to tell the story of its singular subject. Akin to most qualitative research, educational case reports are more naturalistic in design, highly influenced by the specific context or single setting. They are generally narrative in style, since they tell the story of why the authors made the educational intervention and how the process played out.

Here, we may find some divergence in style between case reports in education from those in clinical medicine, in which clinician authors might frame the report as quasi-experimental and hypothesis-driven. For instance, the clinician may use the subject as his or her own control, involving periods on a medication, then off the medication, and finally back on the medication, and correlating symptom changes with these periods. Symptom severity might be given numerical ratings represented with descriptive statistics. Despite the disadvantage of having only one subject, many clinical case reports have been written in this manner and have been valuable, leading to larger quantitative studies.

Authors of educational case reports may want to continue in this clinical case report style but should also feel free to infuse elements of style from qualitative research traditions. This approach is appropriate for educational case reports due to their greater complexity. In particular, the subject is generally not a person, as in clinical cases, but rather, the unit of study is more often an educational intervention (e.g., course, curriculum, initiative). In telling the “story” of an intervention, the authors need to define clearly its boundaries [ 6 ]. Unlike a person who has easily understood physical boundaries, educational interventions need borders drawn between the subject of the report and the context in which it is embedded. For instance, in studying educational outcomes, is one looking at the effects of a single exercise embedded in a session, of a session embedded in a course, or of a course embedded in a curriculum, and how does one separate the effects of each? Which is the subject—the exercise, the course, or the curriculum? These important questions might use qualitative methods by including the learners in a focus group and understanding how the teaching intervention was understood and potentially assimilated into practice.

Additionally, the context surrounding the educational intervention is usually complex in the academic world, with multiple learners and many uncontrollable and unpredictable influences, perhaps more so than in clinical settings with one patient and pure pharmacological treatments. This context may include details that are not content-specific: whether attendance is required and consequences exist for not attending; whether advance readings for a flipped classroom model are reviewed by learners; if faculty are given protected time or paid for teaching and the course is given protected hours of instruction by the administration; how grades are determined; and other details often omitted in descriptions of model curricula. These factors influence the quality and effectiveness of education, such that the same curriculum delivered in two different contexts may have quite different degrees of success or failure, and may help readers to decide whether to adapt a described educational intervention in their institution (e.g., depending on resources).

The qualitative part of an educational case report should interrogate the “how” and “why” of the case [ 7 ]. Many authors overemphasize the “what,” the content of the curriculum, and focus on whether the “what” was effective, usually with learner satisfaction surveys. While this formula has resulted in some perfectly useful case reports, we do not think it leverages the strengths and potential of an educational case report. More valuable are the “how” (e.g., learning process) and “why” (e.g., mechanisms of learning) questions with regard to learning processes and speculation about mechanisms and causation. Readers may find transferability of some of these processes and mechanisms to their context. Of note, the “how” may include unanticipated and/or unpreventable changes or challenges relating to the educational intervention, occurring during the period of study, which may lead to modification of the intervention midstream. In clinical trials, this occurrence is undesirable, because conditions of the trials will then change, but in an educational case report, describing such changes gives a sense of the forces impinging on the intervention and its ability to adapt to them, which offers lessons learned along the away and the attempts to redirect efforts.

Many educational case reports describe a new course or curriculum designed in response to an educational need or gap in knowledge, skills, or attitudes. The report should start with evidence of this need and gap based on review of the literature (or lack of evidence in the literature), current existing solutions and how they have failed to date, and the authors’ innovative answer. Next, the educational intervention may be outlined; the content of the intervention (e.g., topics, assignments) need not be fully specified but can be shared in an abbreviated form. Particular attention should be drawn to defining the boundaries of the intervention, as alluded to earlier, and its context, along with how it is innovative. Assessment and qualitative measures, and possibly quantitative methods, used should be described that establish the educational outcomes. If quantitative methods are used, their validity needs to be addressed. Study data are then presented along with a narrative of what happened during the study, from start to finish. This text should include how the intervention ran, observation of learning processes, barriers, modifications, and changes that were required and the reaction to them, educational outcomes, and final impact and scalability. Additionally, inclusion of student perspectives, perhaps more than simple comments from evaluations, should be considered. Lessons learned along the way, propositions about how and why the outcomes came to be, and questions raised with novel perspectives should be proposed and critically argued in the conclusion. Mentioning limitations and the potential existence of multiple explanations, unsettled ambiguities, and researcher bias is also important.

The issue of informed consent and ethics review should be addressed. The manuscript should indicate the conclusions of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) review of the case report study and data to be published (e.g., exempt from further review status, approved). The IRB can advise about whether informed consent for being in the study is necessary, and the release of the case report should be considered from both the faculty members and learners.

As mentioned earlier, educational case reports may benefit from a hybrid of the styles from clinical case reports and qualitative reports. Various standardized formats for clinical case reports have been published. An international group developed the CARE ( CA se RE ports) guidelines for clinical case reports [ 8 ], and it is useful for authors to be aware of these. Several tools are provided with the CARE guidelines for authors, including a checklist for writing clinical case reports. Listed are traditional elements like clinical findings, diagnostic tools, treatments, and follow-up and outcomes. Of note, the guidelines include prompts to incorporate instruments measuring treatment adherence and side effects, explaining alteration of the treatment plan, and presenting a rationale for the clinical conclusions. Also requested is the treatment perspective of the patient and obtaining the patient’s informed consent for release of the case report. The CARE guidelines are best suited for clinical case reports, but authors may wish to adapt some elements to educational case reports, such as using tools to measure compliance with and acceptance of the educational intervention, explaining changes in the curriculum during the study, and describing a rationale for educational conclusions and lessons learned.

Authors may want to also consider formats designed for presentation of qualitative research. The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) enumerates 21 points that should be covered [ 9 ]. Educational case reports may illustrate outcomes with qualitative methods like focus groups, interviews with learners and faculty, observations of the learning process, and textual analysis [ 10 ], which would provide a higher level of evidence and iterative data analysis than afforded by the use of Likert-scale student satisfaction questionnaires. SRQR endorses increasing trustworthiness and credibility with conclusions based on triangulation from more than one data source and providing transparency about any author’s attributes that might have biased the data gathering, analysis, and transferability. The application of advanced design and methods in case study research, used in education at large, may be found elsewhere [ 7 ].

Educational case reports are an important manuscript type and have been wonderful contributions to Academic Psychiatry . Educational case reports have followed the tradition of clinical case reports in medicine, which have a long history and have sometimes become early progenitors of novel perspectives and discoveries about disease and treatment. We suggest that educational case reports may also benefit from borrowing from the tradition of case studies in the field of education at large, which are considered as a form of qualitative research. In other words, educational case reports in medicine can take advantage of a hybrid style, combining elements from both clinical case reports and qualitative research studies, in proportions determined by the author fitting for the case.

Qualitative approaches and methods are useful in dealing with the great complexity of educational interventions and the contexts in which they are implemented. Qualitative writing encourages telling the story of the intervention in rich and deep detail over the course of the study, developing propositions of how and why the intervention’s processes and outcomes unfolded as they did. Therefore, one consideration for education researchers and perhaps for psychiatry in general is greater attention to teaching qualitative methods, as these have a rich foundation and are particularly applicable to psychiatry as a field. As a foundation, the format might adapt the relevant elements of a clinical case report, as described in the CARE guidelines. Then, authors who want to elaborate on the qualitative research features of their report may add in more rigorous qualitative methodologies, paradigms, and reporting standards. We are delighted to continue the fine tradition of Academic Psychiatry publishing educational case reports, and we look forward to your submissions.

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Home » Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Table of Contents

A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth examination and analysis of a particular phenomenon or case, such as an individual, organization, community, event, or situation.

It is a qualitative research approach that aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the case being studied. Case studies typically involve multiple sources of data, including interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts, which are analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, and grounded theory. The findings of a case study are often used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Types of Case Study

Types and Methods of Case Study are as follows:

Single-Case Study

A single-case study is an in-depth analysis of a single case. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand a specific phenomenon in detail.

For Example , A researcher might conduct a single-case study on a particular individual to understand their experiences with a particular health condition or a specific organization to explore their management practices. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a single-case study are often used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Multiple-Case Study

A multiple-case study involves the analysis of several cases that are similar in nature. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to identify similarities and differences between the cases.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a multiple-case study on several companies to explore the factors that contribute to their success or failure. The researcher collects data from each case, compares and contrasts the findings, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as comparative analysis or pattern-matching. The findings of a multiple-case study can be used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Exploratory Case Study

An exploratory case study is used to explore a new or understudied phenomenon. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to generate hypotheses or theories about the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an exploratory case study on a new technology to understand its potential impact on society. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as grounded theory or content analysis. The findings of an exploratory case study can be used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Descriptive Case Study

A descriptive case study is used to describe a particular phenomenon in detail. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to provide a comprehensive account of the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a descriptive case study on a particular community to understand its social and economic characteristics. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a descriptive case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Instrumental Case Study

An instrumental case study is used to understand a particular phenomenon that is instrumental in achieving a particular goal. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand the role of the phenomenon in achieving the goal.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an instrumental case study on a particular policy to understand its impact on achieving a particular goal, such as reducing poverty. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of an instrumental case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Case Study Data Collection Methods

Here are some common data collection methods for case studies:

Interviews involve asking questions to individuals who have knowledge or experience relevant to the case study. Interviews can be structured (where the same questions are asked to all participants) or unstructured (where the interviewer follows up on the responses with further questions). Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing.

Observations

Observations involve watching and recording the behavior and activities of individuals or groups relevant to the case study. Observations can be participant (where the researcher actively participates in the activities) or non-participant (where the researcher observes from a distance). Observations can be recorded using notes, audio or video recordings, or photographs.

Documents can be used as a source of information for case studies. Documents can include reports, memos, emails, letters, and other written materials related to the case study. Documents can be collected from the case study participants or from public sources.

Surveys involve asking a set of questions to a sample of individuals relevant to the case study. Surveys can be administered in person, over the phone, through mail or email, or online. Surveys can be used to gather information on attitudes, opinions, or behaviors related to the case study.

Artifacts are physical objects relevant to the case study. Artifacts can include tools, equipment, products, or other objects that provide insights into the case study phenomenon.

How to conduct Case Study Research

Conducting a case study research involves several steps that need to be followed to ensure the quality and rigor of the study. Here are the steps to conduct case study research:

Define the research questions: The first step in conducting a case study research is to define the research questions. The research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the case study phenomenon under investigation.
Select the case: The next step is to select the case or cases to be studied. The case should be relevant to the research questions and should provide rich and diverse data that can be used to answer the research questions.
Collect data: Data can be collected using various methods, such as interviews, observations, documents, surveys, and artifacts. The data collection method should be selected based on the research questions and the nature of the case study phenomenon.
Analyze the data: The data collected from the case study should be analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, or grounded theory. The analysis should be guided by the research questions and should aim to provide insights and conclusions relevant to the research questions.
Draw conclusions: The conclusions drawn from the case study should be based on the data analysis and should be relevant to the research questions. The conclusions should be supported by evidence and should be clearly stated.
Validate the findings: The findings of the case study should be validated by reviewing the data and the analysis with participants or other experts in the field. This helps to ensure the validity and reliability of the findings.
Write the report: The final step is to write the report of the case study research. The report should provide a clear description of the case study phenomenon, the research questions, the data collection methods, the data analysis, the findings, and the conclusions. The report should be written in a clear and concise manner and should follow the guidelines for academic writing.

Examples of Case Study

Here are some examples of case study research:

The Hawthorne Studies : Conducted between 1924 and 1932, the Hawthorne Studies were a series of case studies conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues to examine the impact of work environment on employee productivity. The studies were conducted at the Hawthorne Works plant of the Western Electric Company in Chicago and included interviews, observations, and experiments.
The Stanford Prison Experiment: Conducted in 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment was a case study conducted by Philip Zimbardo to examine the psychological effects of power and authority. The study involved simulating a prison environment and assigning participants to the role of guards or prisoners. The study was controversial due to the ethical issues it raised.
The Challenger Disaster: The Challenger Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. The study included interviews, observations, and analysis of data to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.
The Enron Scandal: The Enron Scandal was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Enron Corporation’s bankruptcy in 2001. The study included interviews, analysis of financial data, and review of documents to identify the accounting practices, corporate culture, and ethical issues that led to the company’s downfall.
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster : The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the nuclear accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in 2011. The study included interviews, analysis of data, and review of documents to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.

Application of Case Study

Case studies have a wide range of applications across various fields and industries. Here are some examples:

Business and Management

Case studies are widely used in business and management to examine real-life situations and develop problem-solving skills. Case studies can help students and professionals to develop a deep understanding of business concepts, theories, and best practices.

Case studies are used in healthcare to examine patient care, treatment options, and outcomes. Case studies can help healthcare professionals to develop critical thinking skills, diagnose complex medical conditions, and develop effective treatment plans.

Case studies are used in education to examine teaching and learning practices. Case studies can help educators to develop effective teaching strategies, evaluate student progress, and identify areas for improvement.

Social Sciences

Case studies are widely used in social sciences to examine human behavior, social phenomena, and cultural practices. Case studies can help researchers to develop theories, test hypotheses, and gain insights into complex social issues.

Law and Ethics

Case studies are used in law and ethics to examine legal and ethical dilemmas. Case studies can help lawyers, policymakers, and ethical professionals to develop critical thinking skills, analyze complex cases, and make informed decisions.

Purpose of Case Study

The purpose of a case study is to provide a detailed analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. A case study is a qualitative research method that involves the in-depth exploration and analysis of a particular case, which can be an individual, group, organization, event, or community.

The primary purpose of a case study is to generate a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the case, including its history, context, and dynamics. Case studies can help researchers to identify and examine the underlying factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and detailed understanding of the case, which can inform future research, practice, or policy.

Case studies can also serve other purposes, including:

Illustrating a theory or concept: Case studies can be used to illustrate and explain theoretical concepts and frameworks, providing concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
Developing hypotheses: Case studies can help to generate hypotheses about the causal relationships between different factors and outcomes, which can be tested through further research.
Providing insight into complex issues: Case studies can provide insights into complex and multifaceted issues, which may be difficult to understand through other research methods.
Informing practice or policy: Case studies can be used to inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.

Advantages of Case Study Research

There are several advantages of case study research, including:

In-depth exploration: Case study research allows for a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. This can provide a comprehensive understanding of the case and its dynamics, which may not be possible through other research methods.
Rich data: Case study research can generate rich and detailed data, including qualitative data such as interviews, observations, and documents. This can provide a nuanced understanding of the case and its complexity.
Holistic perspective: Case study research allows for a holistic perspective of the case, taking into account the various factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the case.
Theory development: Case study research can help to develop and refine theories and concepts by providing empirical evidence and concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
Practical application: Case study research can inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.
Contextualization: Case study research takes into account the specific context in which the case is situated, which can help to understand how the case is influenced by the social, cultural, and historical factors of its environment.

Limitations of Case Study Research

There are several limitations of case study research, including:

Limited generalizability : Case studies are typically focused on a single case or a small number of cases, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The unique characteristics of the case may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, which may limit the external validity of the research.
Biased sampling: Case studies may rely on purposive or convenience sampling, which can introduce bias into the sample selection process. This may limit the representativeness of the sample and the generalizability of the findings.
Subjectivity: Case studies rely on the interpretation of the researcher, which can introduce subjectivity into the analysis. The researcher’s own biases, assumptions, and perspectives may influence the findings, which may limit the objectivity of the research.
Limited control: Case studies are typically conducted in naturalistic settings, which limits the control that the researcher has over the environment and the variables being studied. This may limit the ability to establish causal relationships between variables.
Time-consuming: Case studies can be time-consuming to conduct, as they typically involve a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific case. This may limit the feasibility of conducting multiple case studies or conducting case studies in a timely manner.
Resource-intensive: Case studies may require significant resources, including time, funding, and expertise. This may limit the ability of researchers to conduct case studies in resource-constrained settings.

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All You Wanted to Know About How to Write a Case Study

What do you study in your college? If you are a psychology, sociology, or anthropology student, we bet you might be familiar with what a case study is. This research method is used to study a certain person, group, or situation. In this guide from our dissertation writing service , you will learn how to write a case study professionally, from researching to citing sources properly. Also, we will explore different types of case studies and show you examples — so that you won’t have any other questions left.

What Is a Case Study?

A case study is a subcategory of research design which investigates problems and offers solutions. Case studies can range from academic research studies to corporate promotional tools trying to sell an idea—their scope is quite vast.

What Is the Difference Between a Research Paper and a Case Study?

While research papers turn the reader’s attention to a certain problem, case studies go even further. Case study guidelines require students to pay attention to details, examining issues closely and in-depth using different research methods. For example, case studies may be used to examine court cases if you study Law, or a patient's health history if you study Medicine. Case studies are also used in Marketing, which are thorough, empirically supported analysis of a good or service's performance. Well-designed case studies can be valuable for prospective customers as they can identify and solve the potential customers pain point.

Case studies involve a lot of storytelling – they usually examine particular cases for a person or a group of people. This method of research is very helpful, as it is very practical and can give a lot of hands-on information. Most commonly, the length of the case study is about 500-900 words, which is much less than the length of an average research paper.

The structure of a case study is very similar to storytelling. It has a protagonist or main character, which in your case is actually a problem you are trying to solve. You can use the system of 3 Acts to make it a compelling story. It should have an introduction, rising action, a climax where transformation occurs, falling action, and a solution.

Here is a rough formula for you to use in your case study:

Problem (Act I): > Solution (Act II) > Result (Act III) > Conclusion.

Types of Case Studies

The purpose of a case study is to provide detailed reports on an event, an institution, a place, future customers, or pretty much anything. There are a few common types of case study, but the type depends on the topic. The following are the most common domains where case studies are needed:

Historical case studies are great to learn from. Historical events have a multitude of source info offering different perspectives. There are always modern parallels where these perspectives can be applied, compared, and thoroughly analyzed.
Problem-oriented case studies are usually used for solving problems. These are often assigned as theoretical situations where you need to immerse yourself in the situation to examine it. Imagine you’re working for a startup and you’ve just noticed a significant flaw in your product’s design. Before taking it to the senior manager, you want to do a comprehensive study on the issue and provide solutions. On a greater scale, problem-oriented case studies are a vital part of relevant socio-economic discussions.
Cumulative case studies collect information and offer comparisons. In business, case studies are often used to tell people about the value of a product.
Critical case studies explore the causes and effects of a certain case.
Illustrative case studies describe certain events, investigating outcomes and lessons learned.

Need a compelling case study? EssayPro has got you covered. Our experts are ready to provide you with detailed, insightful case studies that capture the essence of real-world scenarios. Elevate your academic work with our professional assistance.

Case Study Format

The case study format is typically made up of eight parts:

Executive Summary. Explain what you will examine in the case study. Write an overview of the field you’re researching. Make a thesis statement and sum up the results of your observation in a maximum of 2 sentences.
Background. Provide background information and the most relevant facts. Isolate the issues.
Case Evaluation. Isolate the sections of the study you want to focus on. In it, explain why something is working or is not working.
Proposed Solutions. Offer realistic ways to solve what isn’t working or how to improve its current condition. Explain why these solutions work by offering testable evidence.
Conclusion. Summarize the main points from the case evaluations and proposed solutions. 6. Recommendations. Talk about the strategy that you should choose. Explain why this choice is the most appropriate.
Implementation. Explain how to put the specific strategies into action.
References. Provide all the citations.

How to Write a Case Study

Let's discover how to write a case study.

Setting Up the Research

When writing a case study, remember that research should always come first. Reading many different sources and analyzing other points of view will help you come up with more creative solutions. You can also conduct an actual interview to thoroughly investigate the customer story that you'll need for your case study. Including all of the necessary research, writing a case study may take some time. The research process involves doing the following:

Define your objective. Explain the reason why you’re presenting your subject. Figure out where you will feature your case study; whether it is written, on video, shown as an infographic, streamed as a podcast, etc.
Determine who will be the right candidate for your case study. Get permission, quotes, and other features that will make your case study effective. Get in touch with your candidate to see if they approve of being part of your work. Study that candidate’s situation and note down what caused it.
Identify which various consequences could result from the situation. Follow these guidelines on how to start a case study: surf the net to find some general information you might find useful.
Make a list of credible sources and examine them. Seek out important facts and highlight problems. Always write down your ideas and make sure to brainstorm.
Focus on several key issues – why they exist, and how they impact your research subject. Think of several unique solutions. Draw from class discussions, readings, and personal experience. When writing a case study, focus on the best solution and explore it in depth. After having all your research in place, writing a case study will be easy. You may first want to check the rubric and criteria of your assignment for the correct case study structure.

Read Also: 'CREDIBLE SOURCES: WHAT ARE THEY?'

Although your instructor might be looking at slightly different criteria, every case study rubric essentially has the same standards. Your professor will want you to exhibit 8 different outcomes:

Correctly identify the concepts, theories, and practices in the discipline.
Identify the relevant theories and principles associated with the particular study.
Evaluate legal and ethical principles and apply them to your decision-making.
Recognize the global importance and contribution of your case.
Construct a coherent summary and explanation of the study.
Demonstrate analytical and critical-thinking skills.
Explain the interrelationships between the environment and nature.
Integrate theory and practice of the discipline within the analysis.

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Case Study Outline

Let's look at the structure of an outline based on the issue of the alcoholic addiction of 30 people.

Introduction

Statement of the issue: Alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character.
Presentation of the problem: Alcoholism is affecting more than 14 million people in the USA, which makes it the third most common mental illness there.
Explanation of the terms: In the past, alcoholism was commonly referred to as alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction. Alcoholism is now the more severe stage of this addiction in the disorder spectrum.
Hypotheses: Drinking in excess can lead to the use of other drugs.
Importance of your story: How the information you present can help people with their addictions.
Background of the story: Include an explanation of why you chose this topic.
Presentation of analysis and data: Describe the criteria for choosing 30 candidates, the structure of the interview, and the outcomes.
Strong argument 1: ex. X% of candidates dealing with anxiety and depression...
Strong argument 2: ex. X amount of people started drinking by their mid-teens.
Strong argument 3: ex. X% of respondents’ parents had issues with alcohol.
Concluding statement: I have researched if alcoholism is a disease and found out that…
Recommendations: Ways and actions for preventing alcohol use.

Writing a Case Study Draft

After you’ve done your case study research and written the outline, it’s time to focus on the draft. In a draft, you have to develop and write your case study by using: the data which you collected throughout the research, interviews, and the analysis processes that were undertaken. Follow these rules for the draft:

Your draft should contain at least 4 sections: an introduction; a body where you should include background information, an explanation of why you decided to do this case study, and a presentation of your main findings; a conclusion where you present data; and references.
In the introduction, you should set the pace very clearly. You can even raise a question or quote someone you interviewed in the research phase. It must provide adequate background information on the topic. The background may include analyses of previous studies on your topic. Include the aim of your case here as well. Think of it as a thesis statement. The aim must describe the purpose of your work—presenting the issues that you want to tackle. Include background information, such as photos or videos you used when doing the research.
Describe your unique research process, whether it was through interviews, observations, academic journals, etc. The next point includes providing the results of your research. Tell the audience what you found out. Why is this important, and what could be learned from it? Discuss the real implications of the problem and its significance in the world.
Include quotes and data (such as findings, percentages, and awards). This will add a personal touch and better credibility to the case you present. Explain what results you find during your interviews in regards to the problem and how it developed. Also, write about solutions which have already been proposed by other people who have already written about this case.
At the end of your case study, you should offer possible solutions, but don’t worry about solving them yourself.

Use Data to Illustrate Key Points in Your Case Study

Even though your case study is a story, it should be based on evidence. Use as much data as possible to illustrate your point. Without the right data, your case study may appear weak and the readers may not be able to relate to your issue as much as they should. Let's see the examples from essay writing service :

‍ With data: Alcoholism is affecting more than 14 million people in the USA, which makes it the third most common mental illness there. Without data: A lot of people suffer from alcoholism in the United States.

Try to include as many credible sources as possible. You may have terms or sources that could be hard for other cultures to understand. If this is the case, you should include them in the appendix or Notes for the Instructor or Professor.

Finalizing the Draft: Checklist

After you finish drafting your case study, polish it up by answering these ‘ask yourself’ questions and think about how to end your case study:

Check that you follow the correct case study format, also in regards to text formatting.
Check that your work is consistent with its referencing and citation style.
Micro-editing — check for grammar and spelling issues.
Macro-editing — does ‘the big picture’ come across to the reader? Is there enough raw data, such as real-life examples or personal experiences? Have you made your data collection process completely transparent? Does your analysis provide a clear conclusion, allowing for further research and practice?

Problems to avoid:

Overgeneralization – Do not go into further research that deviates from the main problem.
Failure to Document Limitations – Just as you have to clearly state the limitations of a general research study, you must describe the specific limitations inherent in the subject of analysis.
Failure to Extrapolate All Possible Implications – Just as you don't want to over-generalize from your case study findings, you also have to be thorough in the consideration of all possible outcomes or recommendations derived from your findings.

How to Create a Title Page and Cite a Case Study

Let's see how to create an awesome title page.

Your title page depends on the prescribed citation format. The title page should include:

A title that attracts some attention and describes your study
The title should have the words “case study” in it
The title should range between 5-9 words in length
Your name and contact information
Your finished paper should be only 500 to 1,500 words in length.With this type of assignment, write effectively and avoid fluff

Here is a template for the APA and MLA format title page:

There are some cases when you need to cite someone else's study in your own one – therefore, you need to master how to cite a case study. A case study is like a research paper when it comes to citations. You can cite it like you cite a book, depending on what style you need.

Citation Example in MLA ‍ Hill, Linda, Tarun Khanna, and Emily A. Stecker. HCL Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing, 2008. Print.

Citation Example in APA ‍ Hill, L., Khanna, T., & Stecker, E. A. (2008). HCL Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing.

Citation Example in Chicago Hill, Linda, Tarun Khanna, and Emily A. Stecker. HCL Technologies.

Case Study Examples

To give you an idea of a professional case study example, we gathered and linked some below.

Eastman Kodak Case Study

Case Study Example: Audi Trains Mexican Autoworkers in Germany

To conclude, a case study is one of the best methods of getting an overview of what happened to a person, a group, or a situation in practice. It allows you to have an in-depth glance at the real-life problems that businesses, healthcare industry, criminal justice, etc. may face. This insight helps us look at such situations in a different light. This is because we see scenarios that we otherwise would not, without necessarily being there. If you need custom essays , try our research paper writing services .

Get Help Form Qualified Writers

Crafting a case study is not easy. You might want to write one of high quality, but you don’t have the time or expertise. If you’re having trouble with your case study, help with essay request - we'll help. EssayPro writers have read and written countless case studies and are experts in endless disciplines. Request essay writing, editing, or proofreading assistance from our custom case study writing service , and all of your worries will be gone.

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What Is A Case Study?

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Case Studying Educational Research: A Way of Looking at Reality
The research was predominantly qualitative and category-based, having as sample 42 Master´s dissertations, including single and multiple case studies, from students attending a Portuguese university.
A Case Study of Student and Teacher Relationships and The Effect on
Marzano (2003) studied the practices of effective teachers. and determined that "an effective teacher-student relationship may be. the keystone that allows the other aspects to work well" (p. 91). The relationships that teachers develop with their students have. an important role in a student's academic growth.
A Qualitative Case Study of Students' Perceptions of Their Experiences
A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ... working paper to review whether online education can be leveraged to increase the ... chose a qualitative descriptive case study research methodology, using a sample of students enrolled in an asynchronous online, introductory computer science course to ...
PDF An Exploratory Multiple Case Study about Using Game-Based Learning in
type of case study was normally a lot richer and of greater depth than could be found through other types of case study or experimental designs. Case Description Data used in this study included 101 students' pre and post-test scores, and four structured written reflection papers by four STEM classroom teachers who voluntarily joined the ...
Writing a Case Study
The purpose of a paper in the social sciences designed around a case study is to thoroughly investigate a subject of analysis in order to reveal a new understanding about the research problem and, in so doing, contributing new knowledge to what is already known from previous studies. In applied social sciences disciplines [e.g., education, social work, public administration, etc.], case ...
PDF A Case for Case Study Research in Education
Case study as research is most appropriate when the type of research question is "how" or "why" and the phenomenon to be studied is in a real-life context. Case study research excels at bringing us to an understanding of a complex issue or subject and can extend expe-rience or add strength to what is already known through previous ...
Case Study in Education Research
The study of samples and the study of cases. British Educational Research Journal 6:1-6. DOI: 10.1080/0141192800060101. A key article in which Stenhouse sets out his stand on case study work. Those interested in the evolution of case study use in educational research should consider this article and the insights given. Yin, R. K. 1984.
A Case for Case Study Research in Education
This chapter makes the case that case study research is making a comeback in educational research because it allows researchers a broad range of methodological tools to suit the needs of answering questions of "how" and "why" within a particular real-world context. As Stake (1995) suggests, case study is often a preferred method of ...
A Case for Case Study Research in Education
K. Grauer. Published 2012. Education. This chapter makes the case that case study research is making a comeback in educational research because it allows researchers a broad range of methodological tools to suit the needs of answering questions of "how" and "why" within a particular real-world context. As Stake (1995) suggests, case ...
Frontiers
Social networking systems, games for learning, and digital fabrication (making) will be further examined in this paper with case study examples. These case examples are chosen with regard to their likely impact on learning and instruction in current and future educational designs (Woolf, 2010; Chang et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2019).
A Beginner's Guide to Applied Educational Research using ...
A Research Design for a Case Study Approach . Proposed in this article is a research design suitable for a case study approach that can be implemented in distinctive educational settings to address research questions. Case study design is presented in the research literature as a strategy of inquiry (Denzin & Lincoln,
Action research in education: a set of case studies?
ABSTRACT. The present work provides a review of two widely used approaches in educational research: action research and case study. Action research aims to improve educational practice by means of reflective cycles and shows variants according to a predominant paradigm, from technical to critical visions.
Writing a Case Analysis Paper
To avoid any confusion, here are twelve characteristics that delineate the differences between writing a paper using the case study research method and writing a case analysis paper: Case study is a method of in-depth research and rigorous inquiry; case analysis is a reliable method of teaching and learning. A case study is a modality of ...
Case Study Methodology of Qualitative Research: Key Attributes and
A case study is one of the most commonly used methodologies of social research. This article attempts to look into the various dimensions of a case study research strategy, the different epistemological strands which determine the particular case study type and approach adopted in the field, discusses the factors which can enhance the effectiveness of a case study research, and the debate ...
What Is a Case Study?
Revised on November 20, 2023. A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research. A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods, but quantitative methods are ...
Multiple Case Studies
It is both a research method and a strategy (Creswell, 2013; Yin, 2017). In this type of research design, a case can be an individual, an event, or an entity, as determined by the research questions. There are two variants of the case study: the single-case study and the multiple-case study.
Educational Case Reports: Purpose, Style, and Format
The most germane to medical education is the use of case studies in graduate schools of education. Examples include reports of the implementation of a new teaching method, interventions, or programs at a particular school and, more broadly, the effects of a change in educational policy or regulations. ... Case study research: design and methods ...
Case Study
A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth examination and analysis of a particular phenomenon or case, such as an individual, organization, community, event, or situation. It is a qualitative research approach that aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the case being studied.
Case studies and practical examples: Supporting teaching and improving
Whether we realise it or not, we seek stories and real-world examples to help us learn every day - from watching a video about baking a chocolate cake, to watching a personal trainer demonstrate the correct way to do a plank. Learning by example can be invaluable in helping to illuminate where theory (a recipe) meets practice (beating eggs).
Managing school behavior: a qualitative case study
Managing school behavior: a qualitative case study. Customize. <p>The purposes of this dissertation research were to understand the methods by which building-level school administrators collect office discipline referral data, and to understand the ways they make decisions based on that data. In order to achieve this overall objective, the ...
How to Write a Case Study: from Outline to Examples
Explain what you will examine in the case study. Write an overview of the field you're researching. Make a thesis statement and sum up the results of your observation in a maximum of 2 sentences. Background. Provide background information and the most relevant facts. Isolate the issues.
PDF Kurt Schoch I
Case Study Sample Size. Typically, a case study has a sample of one (i.e., the bounded case, but note that sam - pling can also occur within the case), unless the research project is a multiple-case study. In a multiple-case study, having three to four distinct cases for comparison is probably the most cases that one can realistically handle.
A Robotics Experimental Design Method Based on PDCA: A Case Study of
There is a lack of research that proposes a complete and interoperable robotics experimental design method to improve students' learning outcomes. Therefore, this study proposes a student-oriented method based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) concept to design robotics experiments. The proposed method is based on our teaching experience and multiple practical experiences of allowing students to ...

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Case Study in Education Research by Lorna Hamilton LAST REVIEWED: 21 April 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 27 June 2018 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0201

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Introduction

Collaborative Learning as a Cognitive and Affective Learning Process

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Case Examples in Digital Education

CASE 1: Social Networking Systems for Supporting Equal Participation and Collaborative Argumentation

CASE 2: Games for Learning as Supporting Students' Creativity, Problem Solving, and Programming Skills

CASE 3: Digital Fabrication and Makers Education for Supporting Collaborative Learning

CASE 4. Supporting Fab Lab Facilitators to Develop Pedagogical Practices to Improve Learning in Digital Fabrication Activities

Discussion—How to Design Cognitively Effortful and Affectively Meaningful Learning

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Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Types of Case Study

Single-Case Study

Multiple-Case Study

Descriptive Case Study

Instrumental Case Study

Case Study Data Collection Methods

Observations

How to conduct Case Study Research

Examples of Case Study

Application of Case Study

Business and Management

Social Sciences

Law and Ethics

Purpose of Case Study

Advantages of Case Study Research

Limitations of Case Study Research

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Muhammad Hassan

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