What is a case study?

A case is a written description of a problem or situation. Unlike other forms of stories and narrations, a case study does not include analysis or conclusions but only the facts of the story arranged in a chronological sequence. The purpose of a case study is to place participants (students) in the role of decision makers, asking them to distinguish pertinent from peripheral facts, to identify central alternatives among several issues competing for attention, and to formulate strategies and policy recommendations. (McDade 1988, p. 1)

Why use cases?

Cases attempt to reflect the various pressures and considerations that professionals of all varieties confront in the workplace. Cases are also an excellent way to see how abstract principles learned in class are applied to real world situations.

Why Instructors Use Case Assignments

•  Real-life Scenarios - Cases to allow you to apply classroom principles to real situations.

•  Solve Ambiguous Problems - Few problems in the real world are as clean cut as those in a textbook. Cases can help you develop skills to analyze the more complex problems you may encounter later.

•  Sort and Analyze Ambiguous Data - Case studies can help you learn strategies for sorting out seemingly unconnected bits of data and organizing them to understand the problem.

•  Communication Skills - Both group discussion and writing an analysis of the issues can improve your writing and speaking skills.

•  Learn Different Perspectives - Group discussion can help you understand how others might view an issue and what valid points they "bring to the table."

•  Identify Your Own Assumptions - Learning what your core assumptions in life are can help you understand what emotional reactions you may have to certain issues and help you consider whether they are valid or not

Benefits of the case method?

1. The student is forced, by exposure to basically insoluble problems with no right answer, to formulate his or her own personally workable approach to problem definition and formulation. The case method teaches students to learn for themselves what the problems are and how to define the questions.

2. Repetitive exposure to these ambiguous problems has a remarkable confidence-building effect on those who eventually must deal with similar problems in management. What the psychologists call "tolerance for ambiguity" is cultured directly by case learning. The instructor should constantly encourage students to drive toward specific actions in spite of incomplete information, uncertain circumstances, and unclear problems. Though this can sometimes provoke premature action, such a model is much more consistent with the way the "real world" works than is an insistence on complete information or unattainable certainty.

3. The experience of the problem in the case method precedes the structure created to solve it. The case method advocates, at least partially, the notion of throwing students into one end of the forest with a pad and paper to see what they come out with on the other side.

The role of the Lecturer

First, the professor cannot create a successful case experience for you; you have to do that yourself. Good classroom experiences grow out of student-to-student interchange. Second, the professor is not primarily a source of answers but rather a guide through the case process. His or her role is to:

(1) Stimulate an in-depth, comprehensive analysis,

(2) Promote active listening, and sound reasoning, and

(3) Help the class assess individual and group performance.

The professor is not a crutch for the class, but a facilitator.