how to write a situation analysis for a case study

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A Complete Guide To Situational Analysis (With Examples)

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Summary. Situational Analysis is used to assess the internal and external factors of a business. It is used to help determine a business’ strengths, weaknesses, potential new customers, and any issues that may be there. The three popular methos of situational analysis are SWOT analysis, 5C’s analysis, and Porters Five Forces.

Successful businesses don’t just wing it and hope for the best. They proactively evaluate the landscape of their industry and the internal assets they possess. To do this, executives, team leaders, project managers, and others in positions of strategic leadership perform situational analyses.

A situational analysis allows for a company to take stock of its internal strengths and deficiencies, while also identifying the broader trends happening among competition and customers. It’s an invaluable step zero that smart teams run before making any grand plans.

We’ll cover three of the most popular methods for running a situational analysis, break down the benefits of each, and provide tips for performing one.

Key Takeaways:

Situational analysis assesses the internal and external factors of a business to clarify its advantages and disadvantages.

A situational analysis is particularly useful before launching a new project or marketing campaign.

There are many ways to perform a situational analysis such as, the SWOT analysis, the 5 C’s Analysis, and Porter’s Five Forces.

A useful situational analysis should be practical, easy to understand, provides equal attention to internal and external factors, and sets goals for your business.

What Is a Situational Analysis?

Factors to consider in situation analysis, why is a situational analysis important, methods of situational analysis, what is swot analysis, what is the 5c’s analysis, what is a porter five forces analysis, how to complete a situational analysis, qualities of useful situational analysis results, challenges of situational analysis, situational analysis faq.

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A situational analysis is a method used to assess the internal and external factors of a business. It identifies both the advantages a business enjoys and the challenges that it is likely to face.

The ultimate goal of situational analysis is to determine a business’ strengths, weaknesses, potential new customers, and lingering issues that contribute to the company’s general standing. Multiple different methods of analysis are used to complete this evaluation, and they’re often used in conjunction with one another.

Usually, situational analysis is started before launching a new project or embracing new marketing strategies. A situational analysis incorporates a few factors for consideration. These include:

Competition. Determine what steps you want your company to take by comparing the advantages you have over your competition and vice versa.

Product. Understand your product, whether it is a good or service. If you have multiple products, make sure to analyze them independently and assess how they relate to one another.

Distribution. Analyze how your product moves through the supply chain from beginning to end.

Customers. Know who your current customers are and who you want your prospective customers to be.

Market Environment. The environment of your market includes your industry and localized economy, as well as your relationship to suppliers and customers.

The purpose of conducting a situation analysis is to get a better understanding of the factors that will affect your company’s success. The results of a situational analysis give the business insight into how to move forward.

A situational analysis is important because there’s no way to fully grasp the scope of mitigating factors that impact the outcome of a company without implementing it in some form. It’s running an organization blindly.

A situational analysis describes the work environment for what it does well, where it needs improvement, and where the likeliest avenues of growth are.

Companies use several different methods to outline their overall performance and decide on what actions they should take next. A comprehensive situational analysis uses at least two of these methods to evaluate a company’s status.

Popular methods of situational analysis include:

SWOT analysis

5C’s analysis

Porter five forces

A SWOT analysis is a method of situational analysis that relies on taking stock of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Theats. It;s a popular method of situational analysis. There are four main areas that this SWOT analysis looks into:

Strengths . Evaluating a company’s strengths asks you to determine what they do well. These can be positive aspects of their product, customer relations, or any other feature that acts as a strength.

Weaknesses. While many organizations are vocal and aware of their strengths, they may be less willing to face their weaknesses . However, understanding a company’s weaknesses and what areas these reside in is crucial to improvement.

Opportunities. Gathering a company’s opportunity pool is often a lot of brainstorming . Opportunities are places that the business expands to further its success. This could be in the form of catering to a new customer base or entering an emerging market.

Threats. More than any other piece of the SWOT analysis, the threats portion asks a business to think about external factors. These are outside entities or aspects that hurt a business and can lead to failure down the line.

These broad aspects are the qualities that determine a business’ current standing, future options, and potential problems.

The 5C’s analysis serves a similar function to the SWOT, but it’s used as a framework for marketing, rather than determining a company’s overall health. Understanding the 5C’s establishes marketing strategies that put a business ahead of its competition.

The 5C’s are:

Company. Even though the 5C method of analysis deals with marketing and competition, the first step is to look inward at your own company. Consider your business’ abilities, products, current marketing, and financials. Take stock of where your company stands.

Customers. Now that a picture of your company has been established, shift attention to the customer base. Ask yourselves what your company’s customers need and want. This leads to better communication between an organization and the individuals it serves.

Competitors. In any kind of business, knowing your competitors is how your company eventually surpasses them. If you don’t know who your company’s top competitors are, do some market research into the subject. When you have a firm grasp on who your team competes with, dig deeper into these brands and their marketing strategies.

Collaborators. The collaborators involved with your company are the exact opposite of the competition. It’s organizations that you could have a symbiotic relationship with. They’re investors or other businesses that you could potentially have a professional partnership with in the future.

Climate. The final aspect to assess through the 5C’s analysis is climate. This refers to the environment that your company is functioning in. That could refer to your business’ specific field or more global events that impact a variety of industries.

Competition is a huge aspect of a business’ success in its market. The Porter Five Forces analysis highlights this principle by evaluating competition to assess threats and using this knowledge to further your own company.

The elements of the Porter Five Forces are:

Evaluating existing competition. The first factor that the Porter Five Forces asks businesses to establish is the number of competitors they have and how strong they are.

The threat of substitutes. The threat of substitutes refers to the ability of a company’s product to be recreated. A company whose product or service has no similar substitutes has more control and power in the market.

The threat of new entrants. A company’s standing is also determined by how easily new competitors can enter their field in the future. Industries that are hassle-free to enter and become a valid competitor weaken the power of businesses participating overall.

Bargaining power of customers. Small businesses are often the most affected by the bargaining power of customers. This means how influential the customers are to driving a product’s price up or down.

Bargaining power of suppliers. Finally, the bargaining power of suppliers makes up the last tier of a complete competition picture. Just about every brand requires unique supplies to create their products, and these have to come from somewhere.

Choose a method of analysis. To complete a situational analysis at your company, first, choose a method that you’ll be using for evaluation. Many companies begin with the SWOT analysis because it provides the most comprehensive picture of a business’ status in terms of what it does well and how it could improve.

Complete the method’s guidelines. The second step to a situational analysis is the fairly simple direction of following your chosen method’s guidelines.

Reproduce with another method of analysis. Finally, reproduce your company’s situational analysis using a different method. Run through its steps completely. It’s recommended to perform all three methods of analysis for the most complete results and best strategy formulation.

It’s easily understandable. A company’s situational analysis results should be easily understandable. Someone who doesn’t work at your company or in your field should be able to understand it.

It’s practical. The point of conducting a situational analysis of a business is to gather useful data and formulate practical marketing strategies. If the results from a situational analysis are impractical and have no use, then the process was a waste.

Equal attention to external and internal factors. A business is never solely affected by internal or external factors. It’s a combination of both. A useful situational analysis pays equal attention to aspects inside and outside the business.

Inspires more company analysis. Beginning the discussion about where a company currently stands in the market and their potential outlets for improvement gets the ball rolling on future analysis. Practical analysis almost always ends with inspiration for more later on.

Includes goals for the future. Situational analysis isn’t just about the current status of your company but also setting intentions for expansion. A huge part of successful situational analysis is the formulation of goals for the future because, without them, the business simply remains stagnant.

Outlines plans for these goals . In addition to setting goals for your company’s future, useful situational analysis results in outlining a plan for how this feat will be accomplished.

Making a situational analysis is not always easier. Sometimes your company will have issues along the way. Common challenges include:

Cluttered or conflicting priorities during analysis.

Factors lacking objectivity.

All of these issues will doom a situational analysis if they are not handled properly. Remember, it is important that your situational analysis creates a clear picture that both your business and outsiders can easily understand.

Is situational analysis the same as SWOT?

No, situational analysis is not the same as SWOT. SWOT is one method for conducting a situational analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

What is situational analysis used for?

Situational analysis is used to create a framework from which a plan can develop. Performing a situational analysis is the first step toward setting priorities, delegating tasks, carrying out processes, and ultimately evaluating the success of a project.

What are the basic components of situational analysis?

The basic components of situational analysis in SWOT are:

Opportunities

The basic components of situational analysis in the 5C’s analysis are:

Competitors

Collaborators

The basic components of situational analysis in a Porter Five Forces analysis are:

Evaluating existing competition

The threat of substitutes

The threat of new entrants

Bargaining power of customers

Bargaining power of suppliers

What is the outcome of situational analysis?

The outcome of situational analysis is a comprehensive idea of the internal and external forces that will affect a business or project’s success. Ideally, a complete situational analysis should be recorded and sent to all relevant stakeholders, for use in designing plans specific to their department.

Marian University – Situational Analysis

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
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• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
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• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
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• Writing a Reflective Paper
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• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

A case study research paper examines a person, place, event, condition, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate  key themes and results that help predict future trends, illuminate previously hidden issues that can be applied to practice, and/or provide a means for understanding an important research problem with greater clarity. A case study research paper usually examines a single subject of analysis, but case study papers can also be designed as a comparative investigation that shows relationships between two or more subjects. The methods used to study a case can rest within a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method investigative paradigm.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010 ; “What is a Case Study?” In Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London: SAGE, 2010.

How to Approach Writing a Case Study Research Paper

General information about how to choose a topic to investigate can be found under the " Choosing a Research Problem " tab in the Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper writing guide. Review this page because it may help you identify a subject of analysis that can be investigated using a case study design.

However, identifying a case to investigate involves more than choosing the research problem . A case study encompasses a problem contextualized around the application of in-depth analysis, interpretation, and discussion, often resulting in specific recommendations for action or for improving existing conditions. As Seawright and Gerring note, practical considerations such as time and access to information can influence case selection, but these issues should not be the sole factors used in describing the methodological justification for identifying a particular case to study. Given this, selecting a case includes considering the following:

• The case represents an unusual or atypical example of a research problem that requires more in-depth analysis? Cases often represent a topic that rests on the fringes of prior investigations because the case may provide new ways of understanding the research problem. For example, if the research problem is to identify strategies to improve policies that support girl's access to secondary education in predominantly Muslim nations, you could consider using Azerbaijan as a case study rather than selecting a more obvious nation in the Middle East. Doing so may reveal important new insights into recommending how governments in other predominantly Muslim nations can formulate policies that support improved access to education for girls.
• The case provides important insight or illuminate a previously hidden problem? In-depth analysis of a case can be based on the hypothesis that the case study will reveal trends or issues that have not been exposed in prior research or will reveal new and important implications for practice. For example, anecdotal evidence may suggest drug use among homeless veterans is related to their patterns of travel throughout the day. Assuming prior studies have not looked at individual travel choices as a way to study access to illicit drug use, a case study that observes a homeless veteran could reveal how issues of personal mobility choices facilitate regular access to illicit drugs. Note that it is important to conduct a thorough literature review to ensure that your assumption about the need to reveal new insights or previously hidden problems is valid and evidence-based.
• The case challenges and offers a counter-point to prevailing assumptions? Over time, research on any given topic can fall into a trap of developing assumptions based on outdated studies that are still applied to new or changing conditions or the idea that something should simply be accepted as "common sense," even though the issue has not been thoroughly tested in current practice. A case study analysis may offer an opportunity to gather evidence that challenges prevailing assumptions about a research problem and provide a new set of recommendations applied to practice that have not been tested previously. For example, perhaps there has been a long practice among scholars to apply a particular theory in explaining the relationship between two subjects of analysis. Your case could challenge this assumption by applying an innovative theoretical framework [perhaps borrowed from another discipline] to explore whether this approach offers new ways of understanding the research problem. Taking a contrarian stance is one of the most important ways that new knowledge and understanding develops from existing literature.
• The case provides an opportunity to pursue action leading to the resolution of a problem? Another way to think about choosing a case to study is to consider how the results from investigating a particular case may result in findings that reveal ways in which to resolve an existing or emerging problem. For example, studying the case of an unforeseen incident, such as a fatal accident at a railroad crossing, can reveal hidden issues that could be applied to preventative measures that contribute to reducing the chance of accidents in the future. In this example, a case study investigating the accident could lead to a better understanding of where to strategically locate additional signals at other railroad crossings so as to better warn drivers of an approaching train, particularly when visibility is hindered by heavy rain, fog, or at night.
• The case offers a new direction in future research? A case study can be used as a tool for an exploratory investigation that highlights the need for further research about the problem. A case can be used when there are few studies that help predict an outcome or that establish a clear understanding about how best to proceed in addressing a problem. For example, after conducting a thorough literature review [very important!], you discover that little research exists showing the ways in which women contribute to promoting water conservation in rural communities of east central Africa. A case study of how women contribute to saving water in a rural village of Uganda can lay the foundation for understanding the need for more thorough research that documents how women in their roles as cooks and family caregivers think about water as a valuable resource within their community. This example of a case study could also point to the need for scholars to build new theoretical frameworks around the topic [e.g., applying feminist theories of work and family to the issue of water conservation].

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (October 1989): 532-550; Emmel, Nick. Sampling and Choosing Cases in Qualitative Research: A Realist Approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2013; Gerring, John. “What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political Science Review 98 (May 2004): 341-354; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Seawright, Jason and John Gerring. "Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research." Political Research Quarterly 61 (June 2008): 294-308.

Structure and Writing Style

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 studies may also be used to reveal best practices, highlight key programs, or investigate interesting aspects of professional work.

In general, the structure of a case study research paper is not all that different from a standard college-level research paper. However, there are subtle differences you should be aware of. Here are the key elements to organizing and writing a case study research paper.

I.  Introduction

As with any research paper, your introduction should serve as a roadmap for your readers to ascertain the scope and purpose of your study . The introduction to a case study research paper, however, should not only describe the research problem and its significance, but you should also succinctly describe why the case is being used and how it relates to addressing the problem. The two elements should be linked. With this in mind, a good introduction answers these four questions:

• What is being studied? Describe the research problem and describe the subject of analysis [the case] you have chosen to address the problem. Explain how they are linked and what elements of the case will help to expand knowledge and understanding about the problem.
• Why is this topic important to investigate? Describe the significance of the research problem and state why a case study design and the subject of analysis that the paper is designed around is appropriate in addressing the problem.
• What did we know about this topic before I did this study? Provide background that helps lead the reader into the more in-depth literature review to follow. If applicable, summarize prior case study research applied to the research problem and why it fails to adequately address the problem. Describe why your case will be useful. If no prior case studies have been used to address the research problem, explain why you have selected this subject of analysis.
• How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding? Explain why your case study will be suitable in helping to expand knowledge and understanding about the research problem.

Each of these questions should be addressed in no more than a few paragraphs. Exceptions to this can be when you are addressing a complex research problem or subject of analysis that requires more in-depth background information.

II.  Literature Review

The literature review for a case study research paper is generally structured the same as it is for any college-level research paper. The difference, however, is that the literature review is focused on providing background information and  enabling historical interpretation of the subject of analysis in relation to the research problem the case is intended to address . This includes synthesizing studies that help to:

• Place relevant works in the context of their contribution to understanding the case study being investigated . This would involve summarizing studies that have used a similar subject of analysis to investigate the research problem. If there is literature using the same or a very similar case to study, you need to explain why duplicating past research is important [e.g., conditions have changed; prior studies were conducted long ago, etc.].
• Describe the relationship each work has to the others under consideration that informs the reader why this case is applicable . Your literature review should include a description of any works that support using the case to investigate the research problem and the underlying research questions.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research using the case study . If applicable, review any research that has examined the research problem using a different research design. Explain how your use of a case study design may reveal new knowledge or a new perspective or that can redirect research in an important new direction.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies . This refers to synthesizing any literature that points to unresolved issues of concern about the research problem and describing how the subject of analysis that forms the case study can help resolve these existing contradictions.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research . Your review should examine any literature that lays a foundation for understanding why your case study design and the subject of analysis around which you have designed your study may reveal a new way of approaching the research problem or offer a perspective that points to the need for additional research.
• Expose any gaps that exist in the literature that the case study could help to fill . Summarize any literature that not only shows how your subject of analysis contributes to understanding the research problem, but how your case contributes to a new way of understanding the problem that prior research has failed to do.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important!] . Collectively, your literature review should always place your case study within the larger domain of prior research about the problem. The overarching purpose of reviewing pertinent literature in a case study paper is to demonstrate that you have thoroughly identified and synthesized prior studies in relation to explaining the relevance of the case in addressing the research problem.

III.  Method

In this section, you explain why you selected a particular case [i.e., subject of analysis] and the strategy you used to identify and ultimately decide that your case was appropriate in addressing the research problem. The way you describe the methods used varies depending on the type of subject of analysis that constitutes your case study.

If your subject of analysis is an incident or event . In the social and behavioral sciences, the event or incident that represents the case to be studied is usually bounded by time and place, with a clear beginning and end and with an identifiable location or position relative to its surroundings. The subject of analysis can be a rare or critical event or it can focus on a typical or regular event. The purpose of studying a rare event is to illuminate new ways of thinking about the broader research problem or to test a hypothesis. Critical incident case studies must describe the method by which you identified the event and explain the process by which you determined the validity of this case to inform broader perspectives about the research problem or to reveal new findings. However, the event does not have to be a rare or uniquely significant to support new thinking about the research problem or to challenge an existing hypothesis. For example, Walo, Bull, and Breen conducted a case study to identify and evaluate the direct and indirect economic benefits and costs of a local sports event in the City of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of their study was to provide new insights from measuring the impact of a typical local sports event that prior studies could not measure well because they focused on large "mega-events." Whether the event is rare or not, the methods section should include an explanation of the following characteristics of the event: a) when did it take place; b) what were the underlying circumstances leading to the event; and, c) what were the consequences of the event in relation to the research problem.

If your subject of analysis is a person. Explain why you selected this particular individual to be studied and describe what experiences they have had that provide an opportunity to advance new understandings about the research problem. Mention any background about this person which might help the reader understand the significance of their experiences that make them worthy of study. This includes describing the relationships this person has had with other people, institutions, and/or events that support using them as the subject for a case study research paper. It is particularly important to differentiate the person as the subject of analysis from others and to succinctly explain how the person relates to examining the research problem [e.g., why is one politician in a particular local election used to show an increase in voter turnout from any other candidate running in the election]. Note that these issues apply to a specific group of people used as a case study unit of analysis [e.g., a classroom of students].

If your subject of analysis is a place. In general, a case study that investigates a place suggests a subject of analysis that is unique or special in some way and that this uniqueness can be used to build new understanding or knowledge about the research problem. A case study of a place must not only describe its various attributes relevant to the research problem [e.g., physical, social, historical, cultural, economic, political], but you must state the method by which you determined that this place will illuminate new understandings about the research problem. It is also important to articulate why a particular place as the case for study is being used if similar places also exist [i.e., if you are studying patterns of homeless encampments of veterans in open spaces, explain why you are studying Echo Park in Los Angeles rather than Griffith Park?]. If applicable, describe what type of human activity involving this place makes it a good choice to study [e.g., prior research suggests Echo Park has more homeless veterans].

If your subject of analysis is a phenomenon. A phenomenon refers to a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be studied or observed but with the cause or explanation to be in question. In this sense, a phenomenon that forms your subject of analysis can encompass anything that can be observed or presumed to exist but is not fully understood. In the social and behavioral sciences, the case usually focuses on human interaction within a complex physical, social, economic, cultural, or political system. For example, the phenomenon could be the observation that many vehicles used by ISIS fighters are small trucks with English language advertisements on them. The research problem could be that ISIS fighters are difficult to combat because they are highly mobile. The research questions could be how and by what means are these vehicles used by ISIS being supplied to the militants and how might supply lines to these vehicles be cut off? How might knowing the suppliers of these trucks reveal larger networks of collaborators and financial support? A case study of a phenomenon most often encompasses an in-depth analysis of a cause and effect that is grounded in an interactive relationship between people and their environment in some way.

NOTE:   The choice of the case or set of cases to study cannot appear random. Evidence that supports the method by which you identified and chose your subject of analysis should clearly support investigation of the research problem and linked to key findings from your literature review. Be sure to cite any studies that helped you determine that the case you chose was appropriate for examining the problem.

IV.  Discussion

The main elements of your discussion section are generally the same as any research paper, but centered around interpreting and drawing conclusions about the key findings from your analysis of the case study. Note that a general social sciences research paper may contain a separate section to report findings. However, in a paper designed around a case study, it is common to combine a description of the results with the discussion about their implications. The objectives of your discussion section should include the following:

Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings Briefly reiterate the research problem you are investigating and explain why the subject of analysis around which you designed the case study were used. You should then describe the findings revealed from your study of the case using direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results. Highlight any findings that were unexpected or especially profound.

Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important Systematically explain the meaning of your case study findings and why you believe they are important. Begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most important or surprising finding first, then systematically review each finding. Be sure to thoroughly extrapolate what your analysis of the case can tell the reader about situations or conditions beyond the actual case that was studied while, at the same time, being careful not to misconstrue or conflate a finding that undermines the external validity of your conclusions.

Relate the Findings to Similar Studies No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. The discussion section should relate your case study results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for choosing your subject of analysis. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your case study design and the subject of analysis differs from prior research about the topic.

Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings Remember that the purpose of social science research is to discover and not to prove. When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations revealed by the case study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. Be alert to what the in-depth analysis of the case may reveal about the research problem, including offering a contrarian perspective to what scholars have stated in prior research if that is how the findings can be interpreted from your case.

Acknowledge the Study's Limitations You can state the study's limitations in the conclusion section of your paper but describing the limitations of your subject of analysis in the discussion section provides an opportunity to identify the limitations and explain why they are not significant. This part of the discussion section should also note any unanswered questions or issues your case study could not address. More detailed information about how to document any limitations to your research can be found here .

Suggest Areas for Further Research Although your case study may offer important insights about the research problem, there are likely additional questions related to the problem that remain unanswered or findings that unexpectedly revealed themselves as a result of your in-depth analysis of the case. Be sure that the recommendations for further research are linked to the research problem and that you explain why your recommendations are valid in other contexts and based on the original assumptions of your study.

V.  Conclusion

As with any research paper, you should summarize your conclusion in clear, simple language; emphasize how the findings from your case study differs from or supports prior research and why. Do not simply reiterate the discussion section. Provide a synthesis of key findings presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem. If you haven't already done so in the discussion section, be sure to document the limitations of your case study and any need for further research.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to: 1) reiterate the main argument supported by the findings from your case study; 2) state clearly the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem using a case study design in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found from reviewing the literature; and, 3) provide a place to persuasively and succinctly restate the significance of your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with in-depth information about the topic.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize these points for your reader.
• If prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the conclusion of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration of the case study's findings that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from your case study findings.

Note that, depending on the discipline you are writing in or the preferences of your professor, the concluding paragraph may contain your final reflections on the evidence presented as it applies to practice or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the subject of analysis you have investigated will depend on whether you are explicitly asked to express your observations in this way.

Problems to Avoid

Overgeneralization One of the goals of a case study is to lay a foundation for understanding broader trends and issues applied to similar circumstances. However, be careful when drawing conclusions from your case study. They must be evidence-based and grounded in the results of the study; otherwise, it is merely speculation. Looking at a prior example, it would be incorrect to state that a factor in improving girls access to education in Azerbaijan and the policy implications this may have for improving access in other Muslim nations is due to girls access to social media if there is no documentary evidence from your case study to indicate this. There may be anecdotal evidence that retention rates were better for girls who were engaged with social media, but this observation would only point to the need for further research and would not be a definitive finding if this was not a part of your original research agenda.

Failure to Document Limitations No case is going to reveal all that needs to be understood about a research problem. Therefore, 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. For example, the case of studying how women conceptualize the need for water conservation in a village in Uganda could have limited application in other cultural contexts or in areas where fresh water from rivers or lakes is plentiful and, therefore, conservation is understood more in terms of managing access rather than preserving access to a scarce resource.

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. If you do not, your reader may question the validity of your analysis, particularly if you failed to document an obvious outcome from your case study research. For example, in the case of studying the accident at the railroad crossing to evaluate where and what types of warning signals should be located, you failed to take into consideration speed limit signage as well as warning signals. When designing your case study, be sure you have thoroughly addressed all aspects of the problem and do not leave gaps in your analysis that leave the reader questioning the results.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Gerring, John. Case Study Research: Principles and Practices . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education . Rev. ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998; Miller, Lisa L. “The Use of Case Studies in Law and Social Science Research.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14 (2018): TBD; Mills, Albert J., Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Putney, LeAnn Grogan. "Case Study." In Encyclopedia of Research Design , Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010), pp. 116-120; Simons, Helen. Case Study Research in Practice . London: SAGE Publications, 2009;  Kratochwill,  Thomas R. and Joel R. Levin, editors. Single-Case Research Design and Analysis: New Development for Psychology and Education .  Hilldsale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992; Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London : SAGE, 2010; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Los Angeles, CA, SAGE Publications, 2014; Walo, Maree, Adrian Bull, and Helen Breen. “Achieving Economic Benefits at Local Events: A Case Study of a Local Sports Event.” Festival Management and Event Tourism 4 (1996): 95-106.

Writing Tip

At Least Five Misconceptions about Case Study Research

Social science case studies are often perceived as limited in their ability to create new knowledge because they are not randomly selected and findings cannot be generalized to larger populations. Flyvbjerg examines five misunderstandings about case study research and systematically "corrects" each one. To quote, these are:

Misunderstanding 1 :  General, theoretical [context-independent] knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical [context-dependent] knowledge. Misunderstanding 2 :  One cannot generalize on the basis of an individual case; therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development. Misunderstanding 3 :  The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses; that is, in the first stage of a total research process, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building. Misunderstanding 4 :  The case study contains a bias toward verification, that is, a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions. Misunderstanding 5 :  It is often difficult to summarize and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies [p. 221].

While writing your paper, think introspectively about how you addressed these misconceptions because to do so can help you strengthen the validity and reliability of your research by clarifying issues of case selection, the testing and challenging of existing assumptions, the interpretation of key findings, and the summation of case outcomes. Think of a case study research paper as a complete, in-depth narrative about the specific properties and key characteristics of your subject of analysis applied to the research problem.

Flyvbjerg, Bent. “Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (April 2006): 219-245.

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Situational Analysis: What It Is, Why It's Important and How to Do It

11 min read · Updated on July 25, 2023

Fuel success and drive growth in an ever-changing business landscape

Performing situational analysis can be seen as an art: it requires a combination of skill, intuition, and strategic thinking. Just as an artist carefully crafts their masterpiece, conducting a situational analysis involves meticulously gathering and analyzing information to create a clear and insightful picture of the current business landscape. It's not just about crunching numbers; it's about understanding the nuances, identifying patterns, and using that knowledge to make informed and effective decisions.

But what is situational analysis, why is it important, and how do you do it? Whether you're an experienced strategist or just starting to dip your toes into the world of business analysis, get ready to unleash the artistry of situational analysis in this article. We'll walk you through the ins and outs of this powerful technique, unraveling its significance and guiding you through the processes that will allow you to wield data and insights with finesse, transforming them into the very brushstrokes of business success.

What is situational analysis?

Situational analysis is like a magnifying glass for your business or company. It gives you the power to see beyond the surface and dive into the core of your organization's current state. It can also be compared to a GPS for decision-making, as it guides you through the intricate twists and turns of the business. In fact, situational analysis can be used in every corner of business, including internal and external factors that shape the future of your success. From your company's strengths and weaknesses to dynamic market forces and industry trends , nothing escapes the watchful eye of situational analysis.

SWOT vs. situational analysis: understanding the distinctive duo

Before we dive deeper, let's clear up some potential confusion. A lot of people think that SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis is the same as situational analysis. Instead, SWOT is one of the situational analyst's trusty sidekicks – not the whole deal. 

Situational analysis takes a step back to see the bigger picture, involving a more comprehensive evaluation of your overall business situation. So, while SWOT shines a spotlight on internal factors, situational analysis brings the whole cast onto the stage – internal, external, and everything in between.

Objectives and benefits

When you perform situational analysis, you're able to tackle problems head-on and make better-informed decisions. It also helps you to spot profitable opportunities. In the realm of business, a well-put-together situational analysis is like having a secret weapon in your pocket full of valuable insights, that you can pull out to smoke the competition. Key benefits include:

Making informed decisions

When you take a look into every nook and cranny of your organization, you become armed with information about everything from your company's current position to the surrounding market dynamics. You'll see some job postings out there that call for folks who know how to make data-driven decisions . Well, this is what they're talking about. The details you get from gathering and analyzing data allow you to make those coveted data-driven decisions, weighing the benefits and risks and aligning strategies with long-term business objectives. 

Adapting to change

The knowledge from your analysis also allows you to anticipate challenges and capitalize on opportunities. If there's one constant in business, it's that things change. Armed with the power of situational analysis, you can guide your organization to adapt swiftly in response to competitor and market changes. 

Spotting lucrative opportunities

If your organization is in business to make money, then being able to identify opportunities is extremely important. By analyzing market trends, customer preferences, and emerging technologies, you'll uncover vast opportunities waiting to be seized. 

And guess what? It's not just about new possibilities – situational analysis reveals untapped potential. Discovering hidden talents and resources can lead to innovative breakthroughs that set you apart from the competition.

Tackling threats head-on

There is a world of factors that influence the ebb and flow of business. When you perform a situational analysis, you gain valuable tools that you can use to address potential problems before they get too big to handle. You're able to identify threats at an early stage, assess their severity and potential impact, allocate resources to address them and develop a strategic response. You're also in a good position to put contingency plans in place to handle unforeseen challenges - if your company doesn't have a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C, they're set up for failure.

The four Cs of situational analysis

We've arrived at the core of situational analysis. The four Cs (Context, Conditions, Capabilities, and Competitors) are your compass for navigating business terrain. 

Context is all about understanding the backdrop against which your organization operates, encompassing strengths, weaknesses, and operational capabilities. It involves analyzing the internal aspects of your company (like financial health, resources, and talent pool) and gaining a profound comprehension of its mission, vision, values, and culture. Beyond that, context extends its gaze externally, capturing the broader economic landscape that shapes your business environment. You have to know what's going on externally, so you can adapt and stay ahead of the curve.

2. Conditions

Conditions are like the tides of the business ocean - ever-changing and influential. To stay afloat, you must gauge the market climate with precision. Analyze industry trends, customer behavior, supply and demand, pricing, and emerging opportunities that could propel your organization forward.

3. Capabilities

These are your company's inner strengths. You'll find out what these are by analyzing your team's expertise, the company's technological prowess, and the operation's overall efficiency. Capabilities are also influenced by organizational weaknesses. As you embrace strengths and shore up weaknesses, you'll approach well-rounded and eye-opening strategies for business success.

4. Competitors

Have you heard the saying, " Keep your friends close and your enemies closer ?" That's what you're doing here. Study your competitor's strategies, strengths, and weaknesses to anticipate their moves and maintain a competitive edge. But remember, competition isn't just about winning; it's about spotting opportunities amid rivalries. Analyze gaps in the market that your competitors may have overlooked. Simultaneously, be vigilant of their advances, identifying potential threats that could challenge your market position.

The five parts of a situational analysis

Now that you know what's involved in performing situational analysis, you need to know how to write one. There's a step-by-step formula that's considered the foundation of a good situational analysis - it contains five parts as follows.

1. Market analysis

This is where you define your target audience . You have to find out who they are, what they want, and what pain points your company can address for them. When you understand your potential customers, you'll be equipped to deliver products and services that meet their needs. The best way to approach identifying your target audience is to create segments. By dividing your target audience into distinct groups, based on things like demographics, preferences, and behaviors, you can create buying personas. Crafting buyer personas brings your customers to life, making them relatable characters that shape your decision-making journey.

2. Industry analysis

Your situational analysis is still externally focused, at this point, guided by things that are going on with competitors, the industry, and technological breakthroughs. Understanding things like regulatory shifts can help you to identify your market position and influence the direction of your organization's journey. 

3. SWOT analysis

Remember we said that SWOT is just a part of overall situational analysis? Well, here's where it comes into play. At this stage, your analysis is internally focused and your goal is to identify internal strengths that set you apart, pinpoint weaknesses that require fortification, seize opportunities that beckon, and defend against lurking threats. Align your SWOT findings with your strategic objectives. 

4. PESTEL analysis

Think of SWOT as a micro-view of your organization. Conversely, PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) is a macro view - the big picture. It's more than a checklist of external factors, it's an ever-changing process that requires constant vigilance and adaptability. PESTEL can create ripples across your business landscape that presents opportunities and challenges that can come from things like political instability, economic growth, cultural shifts in consumer behaviors, and environmental sustainability. 

5. Stakeholder analysis

In order to conduct a comprehensive situational analysis, you have to know who the key players are. Stakeholder analysis will help you to identify and understand the individuals, groups, or organizations that have a significant impact on your operations and objectives. Each stakeholder brings unique needs, interests, and expectations to the table. They also often have diverse interests and conflicts may arise among them. Stakeholder analysis helps organizations to anticipate potential conflicts and identify areas of overlap or divergence. By addressing these conflicts proactively, organizations can mitigate risks, prevent negative outcomes, and maintain positive relationships.

Situational analysis example - the success story of TechHub Inc.

Let's put all of this knowledge to work with a case study of a situational analysis that guided TechHub Inc., a thriving tech startup, toward success and strategic brilliance.

TechHub Inc. is a growing technology startup that specializes in developing cutting-edge mobile applications. They have a team of innovative Engineers who define themselves as customer-centric. Now that the company is expanding its portfolio and venturing into new markets, leaders are conducting a comprehensive situational analysis to ensure success and align growth with organizational objectives and values. 

Methodology

To conduct the situational analysis, TechHub Inc. adopted a systematic and data-driven approach, focusing on the five key parts of situational analysis: market analysis, industry analysis, SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, and stakeholder analysis.

• Market analysis: TechHub Inc. conducted an in-depth examination of its target audience, aiming to gain a holistic understanding of their needs and preferences. The team used market research surveys, customer feedback, and competitive analysis to identify emerging trends and consumer behavior patterns. The findings helped them to refine their product offerings and tailor their marketing strategies to better resonate with their target customers.
• Industry analysis: TechHub Inc. wanted to understand market positioning and identify opportunities for differentiation. This analysis involved evaluating competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and market share. The team also analyzed industry trends, technological advancements, and potential disruptions to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving tech market.
• SWOT analysis: A comprehensive SWOT analysis provided valuable insights into TechHub Inc.'s internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities, and potential threats. The company's strong product development capabilities, agile team, and customer-centric approach emerged as key strengths. However, the analysis also highlighted the need to address certain operational inefficiencies and potential challenges posed by increased market competition.
• PESTEL analysis: TechHub Inc. assessed the macro-environmental factors that could impact its business. Political stability, favorable economic conditions, and a growing demand for tech solutions were identified as positive influences. Simultaneously, the analysis revealed the importance of adhering to evolving environmental regulations and staying on top of rapid technological advancements.
• Stakeholder analysis: The company conducted a thorough stakeholder analysis to understand the interests and expectations of investors, customers, employees, partners, and regulatory bodies. By engaging with key stakeholders, TechHub Inc. built trust and fostered long-term relationships that supported its growth strategies.

Key findings and outcomes

The situational analysis proved instrumental in shaping TechHub Inc.'s growth trajectory and decision-making processes:

Refined product strategy: The market and industry analysis helped TechHub Inc. to identify a new market segment with untapped potential. They adapted their product strategy to cater to the specific needs of this segment, resulting in increased demand and market share.

Operational improvements: The SWOT analysis revealed specific areas for improvement within the company's operations. TechHub Inc. implemented streamlined processes, resulting in increased efficiency and reduced costs.

Strategic expansion: The PESTEL analysis highlighted emerging market trends and government policies. Using this information, TechHub Inc. successfully expanded its operations to new regions, capitalizing on growth opportunities.

Enhanced stakeholder engagement: The stakeholder analysis facilitated open communication with investors, leading to increased financial backing and support for new projects.

Achieve strategic brilliance

Situational analysis stands as a vital pillar in the world of strategic decision-making. Armed with the insights gained from the Five Parts and the Four Cs , you can navigate the complexities of your business landscape with confidence and foresight. 

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The Easy Guide to Performing an Effective Situation Analysis

Updated on: 5 January 2023

Decision-making in any area of your business should be done after a situation analysis. It should be the first step in project planning or in setting up of any new initiative.

In this post we will discuss what is a situation analysis, and help you understand the concept further by explaining how to do a situation analysis .

What is a Situation Analysis?

It is basically the process of critically evaluating the internal and external conditions that affect an organization, which is done prior to a new initiative or project.

It provides the knowledge to identify the current opportunities and challenges to your organization, service or product. This in turn helps with devising a strategy to move forward from your current situation to your desired situation.

Importance:

• Helps define the nature and scope of a problem
• Helps identify the current strategies and activities in place to overcome the problem
• Helps understand the opinions and experiences of stakeholders
• Helps give a comprehensive view of the current situation of the organization
• Helps detect the gaps between the current state and desired state  
• Provides information necessary to create a plan to get to reach the goals
• Helps identify the best courses of action to take during the project
• Helps make sure that efforts and actions are not repeated and wasted unnecessarily

Steps to Conduct A Situation Analysis

By completing them, you will be able to get a thorough understanding of the conditions surrounding your organization.

Conduct a Customer Analysis

Do thorough research on your target market to understand the demographics, locations, trends, interests, challenges etc.  A customer profile can help you organize the information properly.

An in-depth customer analysis will help you discern market trends, customer behavior and needs and device effective strategies to reach them effectively.

Consider the Product and Product Distribution Situation

Examine your current products and services and their ability to cater to the needs of your customers.

If you have distributors, you should also analyze them in terms of distribution channels, the needs of distributors, type and size of distributors and also the various benefits received by the distributors and the company itself.

Analyze the Competitive Advantage

In or to determine your competitive advantage, you need to identify your core competitors, their product positioning , their strengths and weaknesses.

Here’s how to conduct an effective competitor analysis with the help of some handy visual tools.

Scan Your Environment

Investigate how internal factors such as available resources, skills of employees etc. and external factors such as economic and political trends, can affect the performance of your organization.

The PESTLE analysis as well as the SWOT analysis can serve as useful environmental scanning tools .

At the end of a proper environmental scan you will be able to identify the opportunities and challenges in the face of new development.  

Situation Analysis Tools

Swot analysis.

The SWOT analysis is a tool that can be used to scan the internal and external environment of an organization. It helps identify strengths you can take advantage of and weaknesses you can take action on, as well as opportunities and threats for success.

The SWOT analysis is also frequently used to assess the same factors about the organizations, products and services of your competitors.

PESTLE Analysis

The PESTLE analysis is another environmental scanning techniques that help provide insight into the external situation of an organization from many different angles. It focuses on political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.

Political factors – impact of government policies, trading policies or elections

Economic factors – impact of economic trends, taxes, or import/export ratios

Social factors – impact of demographics, lifestyles, or ethnic issues

Technological factors – impact of advancing technology or technology legislations

Legal factors – impact of employment laws or health and safety regulations

Environmental factors – impact of climate change or environmental regulations

More Resources

STEEPLE analysis is a strategic management method that is used to examine the external factors affecting the growth and performance of an organization. It is a variant of the popular PESTLE analysis.

Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s five forces technique is used to analyze the competitive environment. It looks at the following areas that may affect an organization’s competitive position,

• Supplier power
• Buyer power
• Competitive rivalry
• The threat of substitution
• The threat of new entry

Analyzing these factors help understand the power of competition in the industry/ market and how profitable it is to compete in it.

5 C Analysis

This tool helps assess the organizational environment from 5 different areas that may affect your marketing decisions .

• Customers;  market segments, customer requirements and demands, market size and growth, retail channel and information sources, buying process, consumer trends, etc.
• Competitors; current and potential customers, customer products and positioning, their strengths and weaknesses, market share etc.
• Company; products or services, brand image, goals, company culture, strengths and weaknesses, technology and experience etc.
• Collaborators; distribution channels/ distributors, suppliers, alliances etc.
• Climate; political factors, economic factors, socio-cultural factors, technological factors, environmental factors, and legal factors

VRIO Analysis

The VRIO analysis is another tool that can be used to evaluate the resources of a company such as financial resources, human resources etc. It Stands for Value, Rareness, Imitability, Organization .

Learn how to use the VRIO analysis and get more templates with this resources on VRIO analysis examples .

What’s Your Approach to Conducting a Situation Analysis?

We’ve covered what is a situation analysis, how to perform one with helpful tools that you can use along with editable templates.

If you have any other tips, please do share them with us in the comment section below.

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Main Tips On How To Write Case Study Analysis

Table of contents

• 1 What is a Case Study Analysis?
• 2 Difference Between Research Paper and Case Study
• 3 Types of Case Studies
• 4 Case Study Title Examples
• 5 Writing a Case Study Draft
• 6 How to Format a Case Study
• 7 How to Write a Case Study Outline
• 8 How to Write a Case Study
• 9 How to Create a Title Page and Cite a Case Study

Many students struggle with how to do a case study analysis. Writing such an assignment is always daunting, as it requires you to analyze something and form conclusions based on your research.

It usually focuses on phenomena you can’t study in a typical way. Therefore, when writing such a text, you have to prepare thoughtfully. In the  PapersOwl article, you will find out what this academic writing is and how to write a case analysis.

What is a Case Study Analysis?

A case study analysis is a form of writing that analyzes a specific situation, event, object, person, or even place. The said analysis should be written and structured to lead to a conclusion. Typically, you cannot analyze the subject of this essay via quantitative methods.

Note that such studies can be used in various fields and require the use of many theories that can give you a unique approach to the matter. For example, you can write a paper like this about social sciences, business, medicine, and many other fields. Each of these will require a particular approach.

Difference Between Research Paper and Case Study

Like all papers share similarities, these two are no different. Hence, knowing these parallels and distinctions, you will be able to learn how to write a case study assignment correctly.

A case study introduction can present the topic but does not require a citation of other similar works or the writer’s opinion. On the other hand, research papers do not need a complete introduction about the general topic, but need citation since you will be using other people’s works.

In addition, a writer must present their thoughts and views about the case they research. Finally, the most significant difference is that the research papers make the readers focus on a specific issue. On the contrary, the case study goes more into the matter and shifts the focus to all the details.

Types of Case Studies

When it comes to writing case study analysis, there are five types you must learn to differentiate. That is important because whether you get such an assignment, you will have to understand the task first and then start with the writing.

Here are the types of case studies which you will encounter most often:

• Problem-oriented – this type focuses on real-life situations or theoretical issues and aims to solve them. For example, “World Hunger.”

The second type is critical, also known as innate. The goal is to investigate a specific case, particularly its effects and what causes them – “Why Toys Remain Gender Stereotyped.”

Historical case studies papers focus on events from our past. The text should contain information about a specific historical period of this type. Your goal will be to provide different perspectives of an event and parallel them to current-day issues. An example of such a topic is “Racism During Ancient Times – Roman Empire.”

The illustrative or Instrumental type focuses on describing a particular event. Here you have to explain the event’s outcome and what you have learned from it. A sample of such a topic is “The Effects of Dance Therapy in Depressed Adolescents.”

Collective case studies are the fifth type. They include a collection of data about a specific case you will use to compare. E.g., “The Management Leadership at Work.”

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Case Study Title Examples

When writing a case study analysis, titles usually point out that the text is a study. Thus, most of them contain “case study” in the header. Here are some case study analysis examples:

• Santander’s Expansion in Canada: Case Study Analysis
• Case Study on the Effects of Art Therapy on Children with ADHD
• The National Health Service’s Treatment of People with Learning Disabilities, Case Study Analysis
• Toxicological Case Study of The Mississippi River
• Reading Development in Remote Areas of Nigeria: A Case Study
• Case Study on the Growth of Veganism in Berlin

Writing a Case Study Draft

Creating a rough draft is the foremost step to take while writing such a paper. It is an essential step you must take, no matter how experienced you are. By doing it, you will be able to get more creative. In addition, you can explore options and decide on what to focus on more precisely, which will eventually result in a higher grade for your work.

So, sit down in a quiet place, bring an old-fashioned pen and paper, and start drafting ideas. Read them briefly while sipping on your tea and edit. After you have decided where your focus will lay, you have to develop these ideas and thoughts a bit more, then pick the best one.

How to Format a Case Study

Knowing how a case study analysis format should look is crucial. Therefore, you must know what the text structure should look like. The standard one contains about eight sections:

• Introduction/The Executive Summary: As the first part here, you have to hook the reader’s attention, so the introduction of the case study is the most important part of the writing.  Then present them with a brief overview of your case study analyses and their findings. Make sure to form a good thesis statement , as this is the pivotal point of your work.
• Literary Review/Background information: Similarly to other papers, in this part, you have to write your most important facts or findings while identifying the case issue.
• Method/Findings/Discussion: This section can be written separately based on how your text flows. Here you will have to explore more about the case and its findings. Allow yourself to go into more detail instead of just briefly covering them.
• Solutions/Recommendations/Implementation Part: You have to discuss the answers you came up with. Basically, you say why they are fit to solve the case and how you think they can be used in practice. Note that you must write only realistic and practical solutions for the problem. It’s possible to write testable evidence that can support your recommendations.
• Conclusion: Here, you are supposed to cover your whole paper briefly and even repeat the thesis (rephrased). Make sure to highlight the critical points of your case study.
• References or Bibliography: This section must include the sources from which you collected data or whom you consulted. Usually, this part is on a separate page, and the listing should be according to your academic institution’s requirements.
• Appendices (include only if applicable): It is usual for some parts of your materials to be too lengthy or unfit for the other sections of the case study. Therefore, you have to include them here. That can be pictures, raw data of statistics, graphs, notes, etc. The appendix section is strictly for subsidiary materials, do not put the most relevant ones here.
• Author Note: Remember that all educational institutions have their requirement for a case study format. The abovementioned is an example; thus, you may see a section or another is missing, or there are additional ones.

How to Write a Case Study Outline

To write a case study outline, you have first to conduct research. The best way to do so is by accessing academic search engines like Google Scholar or by using old-fashioned books and published works. From there, you should understand how to structure and what key points to form your text. Then, construct your thesis statement around the idea you picked.

The outline for your case study paper is essential to your writing process. It helps you organize your thoughts and ideas in order to present a comprehensive, well-structured paper. Furthermore, it allows your professor to evaluate your understanding of the subject, the correct formatting and structure, and to identify any potential issues with your paper. Having an outline serves as a guide for both you and your professor, making it easier to plan and write your paper . With the help of a well-crafted outline, your professor can navigate your paper more easily and spot any issues before they arise. Writing a case study paper can be daunting, but the outline helps make it easier.

A case study outline will most likely consist of the following sections and information:

• Case study title;
• Student’s name;
• Educational instructor’s name;
• Course name.

Introduction/Summary

• It briefly overviews your case study, thesis statement, and essential findings.

Main Body Paragraphs – usually three to five

• Literature Review/Background Information;
• Method/Findings;
• Discussion/Solutions/Recommendations.
• Repeat a paraphrased version of your thesis;
• Summarize your case study key points;
• Finish with a statement that can recommend the audience to read further by giving them thoughts to contemplate and develop new ideas.

Reference List or Bibliography

• List all the sources of evidence used to create your case study in your educational organization’s required citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Turabian, etc.).

How to Write a Case Study

The way to write a case study is by strictly following the main idea of your thesis. You already know that a study’s main body consists of an introduction, literature review, method, discussion, and conclusion sections. Thus, all that is left is to focus on these parts and understand how to make them perfect.

• The Introduction/Summary: The introduction of a case study should start with a solid first sentence that will hook the reader. Afterward, you must explain the question you will be answering and why you are doing it. You should include some of the topic’s relevant history and details here. Also, you should explain how your case study will enrich the available information. Also, briefly summarize your literature review, which your findings will use as a base. Try to finish positively and make the reader see the benefits of reading your work.

• Background Information/Literature Review: ‍Structure and present the data from your academic sources . This section will show the reader how vital your work is and the basis for it.
• Method/Findings: This part aims to explain the case you selected, how it connects to the issue, and why you chose them. You can also add what methods you use. Here you must note that the data collection methods are qualitative, not quantitative, for case studies. That means the data is not random but well-structured and chronically taken from interviews, focus groups, and other sources.
• Discussion/Solutions: Restate your thesis but rephrase it, then draw your conclusions from what you have discovered via your research and link to your statement. Inform the audience of your main findings and define why the results are relevant to the field. Think about the following questions:

Were the results unexpected? Why/Why not?

How do your findings compare to previous similar case studies in your literature review?

Do your findings correlate to previous results, or do they contradict them?

Are your findings helpful in deepening the current understanding of the topic?

Next, explore possible alternative explanations or interpretations of your findings. Be subjective and explain your paper’s limitations. End with some suggestions for further exploration based on the limits of your work. ‍

• Conclusion: Inform the reader precisely why your case study and findings are relevant, and restate your thesis and main results. Give a summary of previous studies you reviewed and how you contributed to expanding current knowledge. The final should explain how your work can be helpful and implemented in future research.

Your instructor should have an excellent example they can show you, so feel free to ask. They will surely want to help you learn how to write a case study!

How to Create a Title Page and Cite a Case Study

A case study in APA format for students can differ from one institution to another. So, knowing your college or school requirements is crucial before you start writing. Nonetheless, the general one should look like this:

• Title – A header no longer than nine words has “Case Study” and reflects the content and the idea behind it yet is engaging to read;
• Write your full name;
• The name of your course/class;
• Next is your professor or instructor name;
• The university/school name;
• The date of submission.

When citing in your paper, you must ensure it is done accurately and in your academic style. If you are unsure how to do it, research the requirements and google “How to do a case study analysis in Harvard”, for example. Note that short citations can be in your text, but longer ones should be in the bibliography section.

Hruby, A. (2018). Hruby, A., & Hu, F. B. (2015). The epidemiology of obesity: a big picture. Pharmacoeconomics, 33(7), 673-689. www.sciepub.com. http://www.sciepub.com/reference/254744

Case studies strive to analyze an event, location, case, or person. They can be similar to research papers, so you must pay close attention to the structure and what your professor has requested from you.

Finally, the process of writing can be overwhelming due to the many sections. However, if you take the process step by step and do your preparations properly, you will have an easy time writing the paper. You can also look for assistance online – many services offer to order case study online help . With the right kind of assistance, you can be sure that your paper is of high quality and is due on time!

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Designing and Conducting Case Studies

This guide examines case studies, a form of qualitative descriptive research that is used to look at individuals, a small group of participants, or a group as a whole. Researchers collect data about participants using participant and direct observations, interviews, protocols, tests, examinations of records, and collections of writing samples. Starting with a definition of the case study, the guide moves to a brief history of this research method. Using several well documented case studies, the guide then looks at applications and methods including data collection and analysis. A discussion of ways to handle validity, reliability, and generalizability follows, with special attention to case studies as they are applied to composition studies. Finally, this guide examines the strengths and weaknesses of case studies.

Definition and Overview

Case study refers to the collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves. A form of qualitative descriptive research, the case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. Researchers do not focus on the discovery of a universal, generalizable truth, nor do they typically look for cause-effect relationships; instead, emphasis is placed on exploration and description.

Case studies typically examine the interplay of all variables in order to provide as complete an understanding of an event or situation as possible. This type of comprehensive understanding is arrived at through a process known as thick description, which involves an in-depth description of the entity being evaluated, the circumstances under which it is used, the characteristics of the people involved in it, and the nature of the community in which it is located. Thick description also involves interpreting the meaning of demographic and descriptive data such as cultural norms and mores, community values, ingrained attitudes, and motives.

Unlike quantitative methods of research, like the survey, which focus on the questions of who, what, where, how much, and how many, and archival analysis, which often situates the participant in some form of historical context, case studies are the preferred strategy when how or why questions are asked. Likewise, they are the preferred method when the researcher has little control over the events, and when there is a contemporary focus within a real life context. In addition, unlike more specifically directed experiments, case studies require a problem that seeks a holistic understanding of the event or situation in question using inductive logic--reasoning from specific to more general terms.

In scholarly circles, case studies are frequently discussed within the context of qualitative research and naturalistic inquiry. Case studies are often referred to interchangeably with ethnography, field study, and participant observation. The underlying philosophical assumptions in the case are similar to these types of qualitative research because each takes place in a natural setting (such as a classroom, neighborhood, or private home), and strives for a more holistic interpretation of the event or situation under study.

Unlike more statistically-based studies which search for quantifiable data, the goal of a case study is to offer new variables and questions for further research. F.H. Giddings, a sociologist in the early part of the century, compares statistical methods to the case study on the basis that the former are concerned with the distribution of a particular trait, or a small number of traits, in a population, whereas the case study is concerned with the whole variety of traits to be found in a particular instance" (Hammersley 95).

Case studies are not a new form of research; naturalistic inquiry was the primary research tool until the development of the scientific method. The fields of sociology and anthropology are credited with the primary shaping of the concept as we know it today. However, case study research has drawn from a number of other areas as well: the clinical methods of doctors; the casework technique being developed by social workers; the methods of historians and anthropologists, plus the qualitative descriptions provided by quantitative researchers like LePlay; and, in the case of Robert Park, the techniques of newspaper reporters and novelists.

Park was an ex-newspaper reporter and editor who became very influential in developing sociological case studies at the University of Chicago in the 1920s. As a newspaper professional he coined the term "scientific" or "depth" reporting: the description of local events in a way that pointed to major social trends. Park viewed the sociologist as "merely a more accurate, responsible, and scientific reporter." Park stressed the variety and value of human experience. He believed that sociology sought to arrive at natural, but fluid, laws and generalizations in regard to human nature and society. These laws weren't static laws of the kind sought by many positivists and natural law theorists, but rather, they were laws of becoming--with a constant possibility of change. Park encouraged students to get out of the library, to quit looking at papers and books, and to view the constant experiment of human experience. He writes, "Go and sit in the lounges of the luxury hotels and on the doorsteps of the flophouses; sit on the Gold Coast settees and on the slum shakedowns; sit in the Orchestra Hall and in the Star and Garter Burlesque. In short, gentlemen [sic], go get the seats of your pants dirty in real research."

But over the years, case studies have drawn their share of criticism. In fact, the method had its detractors from the start. In the 1920s, the debate between pro-qualitative and pro-quantitative became quite heated. Case studies, when compared to statistics, were considered by many to be unscientific. From the 1930's on, the rise of positivism had a growing influence on quantitative methods in sociology. People wanted static, generalizable laws in science. The sociological positivists were looking for stable laws of social phenomena. They criticized case study research because it failed to provide evidence of inter subjective agreement. Also, they condemned it because of the few number of cases studied and that the under-standardized character of their descriptions made generalization impossible. By the 1950s, quantitative methods, in the form of survey research, had become the dominant sociological approach and case study had become a minority practice.

Educational Applications

The 1950's marked the dawning of a new era in case study research, namely that of the utilization of the case study as a teaching method. "Instituted at Harvard Business School in the 1950s as a primary method of teaching, cases have since been used in classrooms and lecture halls alike, either as part of a course of study or as the main focus of the course to which other teaching material is added" (Armisted 1984). The basic purpose of instituting the case method as a teaching strategy was "to transfer much of the responsibility for learning from the teacher on to the student, whose role, as a result, shifts away from passive absorption toward active construction" (Boehrer 1990). Through careful examination and discussion of various cases, "students learn to identify actual problems, to recognize key players and their agendas, and to become aware of those aspects of the situation that contribute to the problem" (Merseth 1991). In addition, students are encouraged to "generate their own analysis of the problems under consideration, to develop their own solutions, and to practically apply their own knowledge of theory to these problems" (Boyce 1993). Along the way, students also develop "the power to analyze and to master a tangled circumstance by identifying and delineating important factors; the ability to utilize ideas, to test them against facts, and to throw them into fresh combinations" (Merseth 1991).

In addition to the practical application and testing of scholarly knowledge, case discussions can also help students prepare for real-world problems, situations and crises by providing an approximation of various professional environments (i.e. classroom, board room, courtroom, or hospital). Thus, through the examination of specific cases, students are given the opportunity to work out their own professional issues through the trials, tribulations, experiences, and research findings of others. An obvious advantage to this mode of instruction is that it allows students the exposure to settings and contexts that they might not otherwise experience. For example, a student interested in studying the effects of poverty on minority secondary student's grade point averages and S.A.T. scores could access and analyze information from schools as geographically diverse as Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and New Mexico without ever having to leave the classroom.

The case study method also incorporates the idea that students can learn from one another "by engaging with each other and with each other's ideas, by asserting something and then having it questioned, challenged and thrown back at them so that they can reflect on what they hear, and then refine what they say" (Boehrer 1990). In summary, students can direct their own learning by formulating questions and taking responsibility for the study.

Types and Design Concerns

Researchers use multiple methods and approaches to conduct case studies.

Types of Case Studies

Under the more generalized category of case study exist several subdivisions, each of which is custom selected for use depending upon the goals and/or objectives of the investigator. These types of case study include the following:

Illustrative Case Studies These are primarily descriptive studies. They typically utilize one or two instances of an event to show what a situation is like. Illustrative case studies serve primarily to make the unfamiliar familiar and to give readers a common language about the topic in question.

Exploratory (or pilot) Case Studies These are condensed case studies performed before implementing a large scale investigation. Their basic function is to help identify questions and select types of measurement prior to the main investigation. The primary pitfall of this type of study is that initial findings may seem convincing enough to be released prematurely as conclusions.

Cumulative Case Studies These serve to aggregate information from several sites collected at different times. The idea behind these studies is the collection of past studies will allow for greater generalization without additional cost or time being expended on new, possibly repetitive studies.

Critical Instance Case Studies These examine one or more sites for either the purpose of examining a situation of unique interest with little to no interest in generalizability, or to call into question or challenge a highly generalized or universal assertion. This method is useful for answering cause and effect questions.

Identifying a Theoretical Perspective

Much of the case study's design is inherently determined for researchers, depending on the field from which they are working. In composition studies, researchers are typically working from a qualitative, descriptive standpoint. In contrast, physicists will approach their research from a more quantitative perspective. Still, in designing the study, researchers need to make explicit the questions to be explored and the theoretical perspective from which they will approach the case. The three most commonly adopted theories are listed below:

Individual Theories These focus primarily on the individual development, cognitive behavior, personality, learning and disability, and interpersonal interactions of a particular subject.

Organizational Theories These focus on bureaucracies, institutions, organizational structure and functions, or excellence in organizational performance.

Social Theories These focus on urban development, group behavior, cultural institutions, or marketplace functions.

Two examples of case studies are used consistently throughout this chapter. The first, a study produced by Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988), looks at a first year graduate student's initiation into an academic writing program. The study uses participant-observer and linguistic data collecting techniques to assess the student's knowledge of appropriate discourse conventions. Using the pseudonym Nate to refer to the subject, the study sought to illuminate the particular experience rather than to generalize about the experience of fledgling academic writers collectively.

For example, in Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman's (1988) study we are told that the researchers are interested in disciplinary communities. In the first paragraph, they ask what constitutes membership in a disciplinary community and how achieving membership might affect a writer's understanding and production of texts. In the third paragraph they state that researchers must negotiate their claims "within the context of his sub specialty's accepted knowledge and methodology." In the next paragraph they ask, "How is literacy acquired? What is the process through which novices gain community membership? And what factors either aid or hinder students learning the requisite linguistic behaviors?" This introductory section ends with a paragraph in which the study's authors claim that during the course of the study, the subject, Nate, successfully makes the transition from "skilled novice" to become an initiated member of the academic discourse community and that his texts exhibit linguistic changes which indicate this transition. In the next section the authors make explicit the sociolinguistic theoretical and methodological assumptions on which the study is based (1988). Thus the reader has a good understanding of the authors' theoretical background and purpose in conducting the study even before it is explicitly stated on the fourth page of the study. "Our purpose was to examine the effects of the educational context on one graduate student's production of texts as he wrote in different courses and for different faculty members over the academic year 1984-85." The goal of the study then, was to explore the idea that writers must be initiated into a writing community, and that this initiation will change the way one writes.

The second example is Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composing process of a group of twelfth graders. In this study, Emig seeks to answer the question of what happens to the self as a result educational stimuli in terms of academic writing. The case study used methods such as protocol analysis, tape-recorded interviews, and discourse analysis.

In the case of Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composing process of eight twelfth graders, four specific hypotheses were made:

• Twelfth grade writers engage in two modes of composing: reflexive and extensive.
• These differences can be ascertained and characterized through having the writers compose aloud their composition process.
• A set of implied stylistic principles governs the writing process.
• For twelfth grade writers, extensive writing occurs chiefly as a school-sponsored activity, or reflexive, as a self-sponsored activity.

In this study, the chief distinction is between the two dominant modes of composing among older, secondary school students. The distinctions are:

• The reflexive mode, which focuses on the writer's thoughts and feelings.
• The extensive mode, which focuses on conveying a message.

Emig also outlines the specific questions which guided the research in the opening pages of her Review of Literature , preceding the report.

Designing a Case Study

After considering the different sub categories of case study and identifying a theoretical perspective, researchers can begin to design their study. Research design is the string of logic that ultimately links the data to be collected and the conclusions to be drawn to the initial questions of the study. Typically, research designs deal with at least four problems:

• What questions to study
• What data are relevant
• What data to collect
• How to analyze that data

In other words, a research design is basically a blueprint for getting from the beginning to the end of a study. The beginning is an initial set of questions to be answered, and the end is some set of conclusions about those questions.

Because case studies are conducted on topics as diverse as Anglo-Saxon Literature (Thrane 1986) and AIDS prevention (Van Vugt 1994), it is virtually impossible to outline any strict or universal method or design for conducting the case study. However, Robert K. Yin (1993) does offer five basic components of a research design:

• A study's questions.
• A study's propositions (if any).
• A study's units of analysis.
• The logic that links the data to the propositions.
• The criteria for interpreting the findings.

In addition to these five basic components, Yin also stresses the importance of clearly articulating one's theoretical perspective, determining the goals of the study, selecting one's subject(s), selecting the appropriate method(s) of collecting data, and providing some considerations to the composition of the final report.

Conducting Case Studies

To obtain as complete a picture of the participant as possible, case study researchers can employ a variety of approaches and methods. These approaches, methods, and related issues are discussed in depth in this section.

Method: Single or Multi-modal?

To obtain as complete a picture of the participant as possible, case study researchers can employ a variety of methods. Some common methods include interviews , protocol analyses, field studies, and participant-observations. Emig (1971) chose to use several methods of data collection. Her sources included conversations with the students, protocol analysis, discrete observations of actual composition, writing samples from each student, and school records (Lauer and Asher 1988).

Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) collected data by observing classrooms, conducting faculty and student interviews, collecting self reports from the subject, and by looking at the subject's written work.

A study that was criticized for using a single method model was done by Flower and Hayes (1984). In this study that explores the ways in which writers use different forms of knowing to create space, the authors used only protocol analysis to gather data. The study came under heavy fire because of their decision to use only one method.

Participant Selection

Case studies can use one participant, or a small group of participants. However, it is important that the participant pool remain relatively small. The participants can represent a diverse cross section of society, but this isn't necessary.

For example, the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study looked at just one participant, Nate. By contrast, in Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composition process of twelfth graders, eight participants were selected representing a diverse cross section of the community, with volunteers from an all-white upper-middle-class suburban school, an all-black inner-city school, a racially mixed lower-middle-class school, an economically and racially mixed school, and a university school.

Often, a brief "case history" is done on the participants of the study in order to provide researchers with a clearer understanding of their participants, as well as some insight as to how their own personal histories might affect the outcome of the study. For instance, in Emig's study, the investigator had access to the school records of five of the participants, and to standardized test scores for the remaining three. Also made available to the researcher was the information that three of the eight students were selected as NCTE Achievement Award winners. These personal histories can be useful in later stages of the study when data are being analyzed and conclusions drawn.

Data Collection

There are six types of data collected in case studies:

• Archival records.
• Interviews.
• Direct observation.
• Participant observation.

In the field of composition research, these six sources might be:

• A writer's drafts.
• School records of student writers.
• Transcripts of interviews with a writer.
• Transcripts of conversations between writers (and protocols).
• Videotapes and notes from direct field observations.
• Hard copies of a writer's work on computer.

Depending on whether researchers have chosen to use a single or multi-modal approach for the case study, they may choose to collect data from one or any combination of these sources.

Protocols, that is, transcriptions of participants talking aloud about what they are doing as they do it, have been particularly common in composition case studies. For example, in Emig's (1971) study, the students were asked, in four different sessions, to give oral autobiographies of their writing experiences and to compose aloud three themes in the presence of a tape recorder and the investigator.

In some studies, only one method of data collection is conducted. For example, the Flower and Hayes (1981) report on the cognitive process theory of writing depends on protocol analysis alone. However, using multiple sources of evidence to increase the reliability and validity of the data can be advantageous.

Case studies are likely to be much more convincing and accurate if they are based on several different sources of information, following a corroborating mode. This conclusion is echoed among many composition researchers. For example, in her study of predrafting processes of high and low-apprehensive writers, Cynthia Selfe (1985) argues that because "methods of indirect observation provide only an incomplete reflection of the complex set of processes involved in composing, a combination of several such methods should be used to gather data in any one study." Thus, in this study, Selfe collected her data from protocols, observations of students role playing their writing processes, audio taped interviews with the students, and videotaped observations of the students in the process of composing.

It can be said then, that cross checking data from multiple sources can help provide a multidimensional profile of composing activities in a particular setting. Sharan Merriam (1985) suggests "checking, verifying, testing, probing, and confirming collected data as you go, arguing that this process will follow in a funnel-like design resulting in less data gathering in later phases of the study along with a congruent increase in analysis checking, verifying, and confirming."

It is important to note that in case studies, as in any qualitative descriptive research, while researchers begin their studies with one or several questions driving the inquiry (which influence the key factors the researcher will be looking for during data collection), a researcher may find new key factors emerging during data collection. These might be unexpected patterns or linguistic features which become evident only during the course of the research. While not bearing directly on the researcher's guiding questions, these variables may become the basis for new questions asked at the end of the report, thus linking to the possibility of further research.

Data Analysis

As the information is collected, researchers strive to make sense of their data. Generally, researchers interpret their data in one of two ways: holistically or through coding. Holistic analysis does not attempt to break the evidence into parts, but rather to draw conclusions based on the text as a whole. Flower and Hayes (1981), for example, make inferences from entire sections of their students' protocols, rather than searching through the transcripts to look for isolatable characteristics.

However, composition researchers commonly interpret their data by coding, that is by systematically searching data to identify and/or categorize specific observable actions or characteristics. These observable actions then become the key variables in the study. Sharan Merriam (1988) suggests seven analytic frameworks for the organization and presentation of data:

• The role of participants.
• The network analysis of formal and informal exchanges among groups.
• Historical.
• Thematical.
• Ritual and symbolism.
• Critical incidents that challenge or reinforce fundamental beliefs, practices, and values.

There are two purposes of these frameworks: to look for patterns among the data and to look for patterns that give meaning to the case study.

As stated above, while most researchers begin their case studies expecting to look for particular observable characteristics, it is not unusual for key variables to emerge during data collection. Typical variables coded in case studies of writers include pauses writers make in the production of a text, the use of specific linguistic units (such as nouns or verbs), and writing processes (planning, drafting, revising, and editing). In the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study, for example, researchers coded the participant's texts for use of connectives, discourse demonstratives, average sentence length, off-register words, use of the first person pronoun, and the ratio of definite articles to indefinite articles.

Since coding is inherently subjective, more than one coder is usually employed. In the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study, for example, three rhetoricians were employed to code the participant's texts for off-register phrases. The researchers established the agreement among the coders before concluding that the participant used fewer off-register words as the graduate program progressed.

Composing the Case Study Report

In the many forms it can take, "a case study is generically a story; it presents the concrete narrative detail of actual, or at least realistic events, it has a plot, exposition, characters, and sometimes even dialogue" (Boehrer 1990). Generally, case study reports are extensively descriptive, with "the most problematic issue often referred to as being the determination of the right combination of description and analysis" (1990). Typically, authors address each step of the research process, and attempt to give the reader as much context as possible for the decisions made in the research design and for the conclusions drawn.

This contextualization usually includes a detailed explanation of the researchers' theoretical positions, of how those theories drove the inquiry or led to the guiding research questions, of the participants' backgrounds, of the processes of data collection, of the training and limitations of the coders, along with a strong attempt to make connections between the data and the conclusions evident.

Although the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study does not, case study reports often include the reactions of the participants to the study or to the researchers' conclusions. Because case studies tend to be exploratory, most end with implications for further study. Here researchers may identify significant variables that emerged during the research and suggest studies related to these, or the authors may suggest further general questions that their case study generated.

For example, Emig's (1971) study concludes with a section dedicated solely to the topic of implications for further research, in which she suggests several means by which this particular study could have been improved, as well as questions and ideas raised by this study which other researchers might like to address, such as: is there a correlation between a certain personality and a certain composing process profile (e.g. is there a positive correlation between ego strength and persistence in revising)?

Also included in Emig's study is a section dedicated to implications for teaching, which outlines the pedagogical ramifications of the study's findings for teachers currently involved in high school writing programs.

Sharan Merriam (1985) also offers several suggestions for alternative presentations of data:

• Prepare specialized condensations for appropriate groups.
• Replace narrative sections with a series of answers to open-ended questions.
• Present "skimmer's" summaries at beginning of each section.
• Incorporate headlines that encapsulate information from text.
• Prepare analytic summaries with supporting data appendixes.
• Present data in colorful and/or unique graphic representations.

Issues of Validity and Reliability

Once key variables have been identified, they can be analyzed. Reliability becomes a key concern at this stage, and many case study researchers go to great lengths to ensure that their interpretations of the data will be both reliable and valid. Because issues of validity and reliability are an important part of any study in the social sciences, it is important to identify some ways of dealing with results.

Multi-modal case study researchers often balance the results of their coding with data from interviews or writer's reflections upon their own work. Consequently, the researchers' conclusions become highly contextualized. For example, in a case study which looked at the time spent in different stages of the writing process, Berkenkotter concluded that her participant, Donald Murray, spent more time planning his essays than in other writing stages. The report of this case study is followed by Murray's reply, wherein he agrees with some of Berkenkotter's conclusions and disagrees with others.

As is the case with other research methodologies, issues of external validity, construct validity, and reliability need to be carefully considered.

Commentary on Case Studies

Researchers often debate the relative merits of particular methods, among them case study. In this section, we comment on two key issues. To read the commentaries, choose any of the items below:

Strengths and Weaknesses of Case Studies

Most case study advocates point out that case studies produce much more detailed information than what is available through a statistical analysis. Advocates will also hold that while statistical methods might be able to deal with situations where behavior is homogeneous and routine, case studies are needed to deal with creativity, innovation, and context. Detractors argue that case studies are difficult to generalize because of inherent subjectivity and because they are based on qualitative subjective data, generalizable only to a particular context.

Flexibility

The case study approach is a comparatively flexible method of scientific research. Because its project designs seem to emphasize exploration rather than prescription or prediction, researchers are comparatively freer to discover and address issues as they arise in their experiments. In addition, the looser format of case studies allows researchers to begin with broad questions and narrow their focus as their experiment progresses rather than attempt to predict every possible outcome before the experiment is conducted.

Emphasis on Context

By seeking to understand as much as possible about a single subject or small group of subjects, case studies specialize in "deep data," or "thick description"--information based on particular contexts that can give research results a more human face. This emphasis can help bridge the gap between abstract research and concrete practice by allowing researchers to compare their firsthand observations with the quantitative results obtained through other methods of research.

Inherent Subjectivity

"The case study has long been stereotyped as the weak sibling among social science methods," and is often criticized as being too subjective and even pseudo-scientific. Likewise, "investigators who do case studies are often regarded as having deviated from their academic disciplines, and their investigations as having insufficient precision (that is, quantification), objectivity and rigor" (Yin 1989). Opponents cite opportunities for subjectivity in the implementation, presentation, and evaluation of case study research. The approach relies on personal interpretation of data and inferences. Results may not be generalizable, are difficult to test for validity, and rarely offer a problem-solving prescription. Simply put, relying on one or a few subjects as a basis for cognitive extrapolations runs the risk of inferring too much from what might be circumstance.

High Investment

Case studies can involve learning more about the subjects being tested than most researchers would care to know--their educational background, emotional background, perceptions of themselves and their surroundings, their likes, dislikes, and so on. Because of its emphasis on "deep data," the case study is out of reach for many large-scale research projects which look at a subject pool in the tens of thousands. A budget request of $10,000 to examine 200 subjects sounds more efficient than a similar request to examine four subjects.

Ethical Considerations

Researchers conducting case studies should consider certain ethical issues. For example, many educational case studies are often financed by people who have, either directly or indirectly, power over both those being studied and those conducting the investigation (1985). This conflict of interests can hinder the credibility of the study.

The personal integrity, sensitivity, and possible prejudices and/or biases of the investigators need to be taken into consideration as well. Personal biases can creep into how the research is conducted, alternative research methods used, and the preparation of surveys and questionnaires.

A common complaint in case study research is that investigators change direction during the course of the study unaware that their original research design was inadequate for the revised investigation. Thus, the researchers leave unknown gaps and biases in the study. To avoid this, researchers should report preliminary findings so that the likelihood of bias will be reduced.

Concerns about Reliability, Validity, and Generalizability

Merriam (1985) offers several suggestions for how case study researchers might actively combat the popular attacks on the validity, reliability, and generalizability of case studies:

• Prolong the Processes of Data Gathering on Site: This will help to insure the accuracy of the findings by providing the researcher with more concrete information upon which to formulate interpretations.
• Employ the Process of "Triangulation": Use a variety of data sources as opposed to relying solely upon one avenue of observation. One example of such a data check would be what McClintock, Brannon, and Maynard (1985) refer to as a "case cluster method," that is, when a single unit within a larger case is randomly sampled, and that data treated quantitatively." For instance, in Emig's (1971) study, the case cluster method was employed, singling out the productivity of a single student named Lynn. This cluster profile included an advanced case history of the subject, specific examination and analysis of individual compositions and protocols, and extensive interview sessions. The seven remaining students were then compared with the case of Lynn, to ascertain if there are any shared, or unique dimensions to the composing process engaged in by these eight students.
• Conduct Member Checks: Initiate and maintain an active corroboration on the interpretation of data between the researcher and those who provided the data. In other words, talk to your subjects.
• Collect Referential Materials: Complement the file of materials from the actual site with additional document support. For example, Emig (1971) supports her initial propositions with historical accounts by writers such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and D.H. Lawrence. Emig also cites examples of theoretical research done with regards to the creative process, as well as examples of empirical research dealing with the writing of adolescents. Specific attention is then given to the four stages description of the composing process delineated by Helmoltz, Wallas, and Cowley, as it serves as the focal point in this study.
• Engage in Peer Consultation: Prior to composing the final draft of the report, researchers should consult with colleagues in order to establish validity through pooled judgment.

Although little can be done to combat challenges concerning the generalizability of case studies, "most writers suggest that qualitative research should be judged as credible and confirmable as opposed to valid and reliable" (Merriam 1985). Likewise, it has been argued that "rather than transplanting statistical, quantitative notions of generalizability and thus finding qualitative research inadequate, it makes more sense to develop an understanding of generalization that is congruent with the basic characteristics of qualitative inquiry" (1985). After all, criticizing the case study method for being ungeneralizable is comparable to criticizing a washing machine for not being able to tell the correct time. In other words, it is unjust to criticize a method for not being able to do something which it was never originally designed to do in the first place.

Annotated Bibliography

Armisted, C. (1984). How Useful are Case Studies. Training and Development Journal, 38 (2), 75-77.

This article looks at eight types of case studies, offers pros and cons of using case studies in the classroom, and gives suggestions for successfully writing and using case studies.

Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1997). Beyond Methods: Components of Second Language Teacher Education . New York: McGraw-Hill.

A compilation of various research essays which address issues of language teacher education. Essays included are: "Non-native reading research and theory" by Lee, "The case for Psycholinguistics" by VanPatten, and "Assessment and Second Language Teaching" by Gradman and Reed.

Bartlett, L. (1989). A Question of Good Judgment; Interpretation Theory and Qualitative Enquiry Address. 70th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco.

Bartlett selected "quasi-historical" methodology, which focuses on the "truth" found in case records, as one that will provide "good judgments" in educational inquiry. He argues that although the method is not comprehensive, it can try to connect theory with practice.

Baydere, S. et. al. (1993). Multimedia conferencing as a tool for collaborative writing: a case study in Computer Supported Collaborative Writing. New York: Springer-Verlag.

The case study by Baydere et. al. is just one of the many essays in this book found in the series "Computer Supported Cooperative Work." Denley, Witefield and May explore similar issues in their essay, "A case study in task analysis for the design of a collaborative document production system."

Berkenkotter, C., Huckin, T., N., & Ackerman J. (1988). Conventions, Conversations, and the Writer: Case Study of a Student in a Rhetoric Ph.D. Program. Research in the Teaching of English, 22, 9-44.

The authors focused on how the writing of their subject, Nate or Ackerman, changed as he became more acquainted or familiar with his field's discourse community.

Berninger, V., W., and Gans, B., M. (1986). Language Profiles in Nonspeaking Individuals of Normal Intelligence with Severe Cerebral Palsy. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2, 45-50.

Argues that generalizations about language abilities in patients with severe cerebral palsy (CP) should be avoided. Standardized tests of different levels of processing oral language, of processing written language, and of producing written language were administered to 3 male participants (aged 9, 16, and 40 yrs).

Bockman, J., R., and Couture, B. (1984). The Case Method in Technical Communication: Theory and Models. Texas: Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.

Examines the study and teaching of technical writing, communication of technical information, and the case method in terms of those applications.

Boehrer, J. (1990). Teaching With Cases: Learning to Question. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 42 41-57.

This article discusses the origins of the case method, looks at the question of what is a case, gives ideas about learning in case teaching, the purposes it can serve in the classroom, the ground rules for the case discussion, including the role of the question, and new directions for case teaching.

Bowman, W. R. (1993). Evaluating JTPA Programs for Economically Disadvantaged Adults: A Case Study of Utah and General Findings . Washington: National Commission for Employment Policy.

"To encourage state-level evaluations of JTPA, the Commission and the State of Utah co-sponsored this report on the effectiveness of JTPA Title II programs for adults in Utah. The technique used is non-experimental and the comparison group was selected from registrants with Utah's Employment Security. In a step-by-step approach, the report documents how non-experimental techniques can be applied and several specific technical issues can be addressed."

Boyce, A. (1993) The Case Study Approach for Pedagogists. Annual Meeting of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. (Address). Washington DC.

This paper addresses how case studies 1) bridge the gap between teaching theory and application, 2) enable students to analyze problems and develop solutions for situations that will be encountered in the real world of teaching, and 3) helps students to evaluate the feasibility of alternatives and to understand the ramifications of a particular course of action.

Carson, J. (1993) The Case Study: Ideal Home of WAC Quantitative and Qualitative Data. Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. (Address). San Diego.

"Increasingly, one of the most pressing questions for WAC advocates is how to keep [WAC] programs going in the face of numerous difficulties. Case histories offer the best chance for fashioning rhetorical arguments to keep WAC programs going because they offer the opportunity to provide a coherent narrative that contextualizes all documents and data, including what is generally considered scientific data. A case study of the WAC program, . . . at Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh demonstrates the advantages of this research method. Such studies are ideal homes for both naturalistic and positivistic data as well as both quantitative and qualitative information."

---. (1991). A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing. College Composition and Communication. 32. 365-87.

No abstract available.

Cromer, R. (1994) A Case Study of Dissociations Between Language and Cognition. Constraints on Language Acquisition: Studies of Atypical Children . Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 141-153.

Crossley, M. (1983) Case Study in Comparative and International Education: An Approach to Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the Australian Comparative and International Education Society. Hamilton, NZ.

Case study research, as presented here, helps bridge the theory-practice gap in comparative and international research studies of education because it focuses on the practical, day-to-day context rather than on the national arena. The paper asserts that the case study method can be valuable at all levels of research, formation, and verification of theories in education.

Daillak, R., H., and Alkin, M., C. (1982). Qualitative Studies in Context: Reflections on the CSE Studies of Evaluation Use . California: EDRS

The report shows how the Center of the Study of Evaluation (CSE) applied qualitative techniques to a study of evaluation information use in local, Los Angeles schools. It critiques the effectiveness and the limitations of using case study, evaluation, field study, and user interview survey methodologies.

Davey, L. (1991). The Application of Case Study Evaluations. ERIC/TM Digest.

This article examines six types of case studies, the type of evaluation questions that can be answered, the functions served, some design features, and some pitfalls of the method.

Deutch, C. E. (1996). A course in research ethics for graduate students. College Teaching, 44, 2, 56-60.

This article describes a one-credit discussion course in research ethics for graduate students in biology. Case studies are focused on within the four parts of the course: 1) major issues, 2 )practical issues in scholarly work, 3) ownership of research results, and 4) training and personal decisions.

DeVoss, G. (1981). Ethics in Fieldwork Research. RIE 27p. (ERIC)

This article examines four of the ethical problems that can happen when conducting case study research: acquiring permission to do research, knowing when to stop digging, the pitfalls of doing collaborative research, and preserving the integrity of the participants.

Driscoll, A. (1985). Case Study of a Research Intervention: the University of Utah’s Collaborative Approach . San Francisco: Far West Library for Educational Research Development.

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, Denver, CO, March 1985. Offers information of in-service training, specifically case studies application.

Ellram, L. M. (1996). The Use of the Case Study Method in Logistics Research. Journal of Business Logistics, 17, 2, 93.

This article discusses the increased use of case study in business research, and the lack of understanding of when and how to use case study methodology in business.

Emig, J. (1971) The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders . Urbana: NTCE.

This case study uses observation, tape recordings, writing samples, and school records to show that writing in reflexive and extensive situations caused different lengths of discourse and different clusterings of the components of the writing process.

Feagin, J. R. (1991). A Case For the Case Study . Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

This book discusses the nature, characteristics, and basic methodological issues of the case study as a research method.

Feldman, H., Holland, A., & Keefe, K. (1989) Language Abilities after Left Hemisphere Brain Injury: A Case Study of Twins. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 9, 32-47.

"Describes the language abilities of 2 twin pairs in which 1 twin (the experimental) suffered brain injury to the left cerebral hemisphere around the time of birth and1 twin (the control) did not. One pair of twins was initially assessed at age 23 mo. and the other at about 30 mo.; they were subsequently evaluated in their homes 3 times at about 6-mo intervals."

Fidel, R. (1984). The Case Study Method: A Case Study. Library and Information Science Research, 6.

The article describes the use of case study methodology to systematically develop a model of online searching behavior in which study design is flexible, subject manner determines data gathering and analyses, and procedures adapt to the study's progressive change.

Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1984). Images, Plans and Prose: The Representation of Meaning in Writing. Written Communication, 1, 120-160.

Explores the ways in which writers actually use different forms of knowing to create prose.

Frey, L. R. (1992). Interpreting Communication Research: A Case Study Approach Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

The book discusses research methodologies in the Communication field. It focuses on how case studies bridge the gap between communication research, theory, and practice.

Gilbert, V. K. (1981). The Case Study as a Research Methodology: Difficulties and Advantages of Integrating the Positivistic, Phenomenological and Grounded Theory Approaches . The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration. (Address) Halifax, NS, Can.

This study on an innovative secondary school in England shows how a "low-profile" participant-observer case study was crucial to the initial observation, the testing of hypotheses, the interpretive approach, and the grounded theory.

Gilgun, J. F. (1994). A Case for Case Studies in Social Work Research. Social Work, 39, 4, 371-381.

This article defines case study research, presents guidelines for evaluation of case studies, and shows the relevance of case studies to social work research. It also looks at issues such as evaluation and interpretations of case studies.

Glennan, S. L., Sharp-Bittner, M. A. & Tullos, D. C. (1991). Augmentative and Alternative Communication Training with a Nonspeaking Adult: Lessons from MH. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 7, 240-7.

"A response-guided case study documented changes in a nonspeaking 36-yr-old man's ability to communicate using 3 trained augmentative communication modes. . . . Data were collected in videotaped interaction sessions between the nonspeaking adult and a series of adult speaking."

Graves, D. (1981). An Examination of the Writing Processes of Seven Year Old Children. Research in the Teaching of English, 15, 113-134.

Hamel, J. (1993). Case Study Methods . Newbury Park: Sage. .

"In a most economical fashion, Hamel provides a practical guide for producing theoretically sharp and empirically sound sociological case studies. A central idea put forth by Hamel is that case studies must "locate the global in the local" thus making the careful selection of the research site the most critical decision in the analytic process."

Karthigesu, R. (1986, July). Television as a Tool for Nation-Building in the Third World: A Post-Colonial Pattern, Using Malaysia as a Case-Study. International Television Studies Conference. (Address). London, 10-12.

"The extent to which Television Malaysia, as a national mass media organization, has been able to play a role in nation building in the post-colonial period is . . . studied in two parts: how the choice of a model of nation building determines the character of the organization; and how the character of the organization influences the output of the organization."

Kenny, R. (1984). Making the Case for the Case Study. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 16, (1), 37-51.

The article looks at how and why the case study is justified as a viable and valuable approach to educational research and program evaluation.

Knirk, F. (1991). Case Materials: Research and Practice. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 4 (1 ), 73-81.

The article addresses the effectiveness of case studies, subject areas where case studies are commonly used, recent examples of their use, and case study design considerations.

Klos, D. (1976). Students as Case Writers. Teaching of Psychology, 3.2, 63-66.

This article reviews a course in which students gather data for an original case study of another person. The task requires the students to design the study, collect the data, write the narrative, and interpret the findings.

Leftwich, A. (1981). The Politics of Case Study: Problems of Innovation in University Education. Higher Education Review, 13.2, 38-64.

The article discusses the use of case studies as a teaching method. Emphasis is on the instructional materials, interdisciplinarity, and the complex relationships within the university that help or hinder the method.

Mabrito, M. (1991, Oct.). Electronic Mail as a Vehicle for Peer Response: Conversations of High and Low Apprehensive Writers. Written Communication, 509-32.

McCarthy, S., J. (1955). The Influence of Classroom Discourse on Student Texts: The Case of Ella . East Lansing: Institute for Research on Teaching.

A look at how students of color become marginalized within traditional classroom discourse. The essay follows the struggles of one black student: Ella.

Matsuhashi, A., ed. (1987). Writing in Real Time: Modeling Production Processes Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Investigates how writers plan to produce discourse for different purposes to report, to generalize, and to persuade, as well as how writers plan for sentence level units of language. To learn about planning, an observational measure of pause time was used" (ERIC).

Merriam, S. B. (1985). The Case Study in Educational Research: A Review of Selected Literature. Journal of Educational Thought, 19.3, 204-17.

The article examines the characteristics of, philosophical assumptions underlying the case study, the mechanics of conducting a case study, and the concerns about the reliability, validity, and generalizability of the method.

---. (1988). Case Study Research in Education: A Qualitative Approach San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Merry, S. E., & Milner, N. eds. (1993). The Possibility of Popular Justice: A Case Study of Community Mediation in the United States . Ann Arbor: U of Michigan.

". . . this volume presents a case study of one experiment in popular justice, the San Francisco Community Boards. This program has made an explicit claim to create an alternative justice, or new justice, in the midst of a society ordered by state law. The contributors to this volume explore the history and experience of the program and compare it to other versions of popular justice in the United States, Europe, and the Third World."

Merseth, K. K. (1991). The Case for Cases in Teacher Education. RIE. 42p. (ERIC).

This monograph argues that the case method of instruction offers unique potential for revitalizing the field of teacher education.

Michaels, S. (1987). Text and Context: A New Approach to the Study of Classroom Writing. Discourse Processes, 10, 321-346.

"This paper argues for and illustrates an approach to the study of writing that integrates ethnographic analysis of classroom interaction with linguistic analysis of written texts and teacher/student conversational exchanges. The approach is illustrated through a case study of writing in a single sixth grade classroom during a single writing assignment."

Milburn, G. (1995). Deciphering a Code or Unraveling a Riddle: A Case Study in the Application of a Humanistic Metaphor to the Reporting of Social Studies Teaching. Theory and Research in Education, 13.

This citation serves as an example of how case studies document learning procedures in a senior-level economics course.

Milley, J. E. (1979). An Investigation of Case Study as an Approach to Program Evaluation. 19th Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research. (Address). San Diego.

The case study method merged a narrative report focusing on the evaluator as participant-observer with document review, interview, content analysis, attitude questionnaire survey, and sociogram analysis. Milley argues that case study program evaluation has great potential for widespread use.

Minnis, J. R. (1985, Sept.). Ethnography, Case Study, Grounded Theory, and Distance Education Research. Distance Education, 6.2.

This article describes and defines the strengths and weaknesses of ethnography, case study, and grounded theory.

Nunan, D. (1992). Collaborative language learning and teaching . New York: Cambridge University Press.

Included in this series of essays is Peter Sturman’s "Team Teaching: a case study from Japan" and David Nunan’s own "Toward a collaborative approach to curriculum development: a case study."

Nystrand, M., ed. (1982). What Writers Know: The Language, Process, and Structure of Written Discourse . New York: Academic Press.

Owenby, P. H. (1992). Making Case Studies Come Alive. Training, 29, (1), 43-46. (ERIC)

This article provides tips for writing more effective case studies.

---. (1981). Pausing and Planning: The Tempo of Writer Discourse Production. Research in the Teaching of English, 15 (2),113-34.

Perl, S. (1979). The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 13, 317-336.

"Summarizes a study of five unskilled college writers, focusing especially on one of the five, and discusses the findings in light of current pedagogical practice and research design."

Pilcher J. and A. Coffey. eds. (1996). Gender and Qualitative Research . Brookfield: Aldershot, Hants, England.

This book provides a series of essays which look at gender identity research, qualitative research and applications of case study to questions of gendered pedagogy.

Pirie, B. S. (1993). The Case of Morty: A Four Year Study. Gifted Education International, 9 (2), 105-109.

This case study describes a boy from kindergarten through third grade with above average intelligence but difficulty in learning to read, write, and spell.

Popkewitz, T. (1993). Changing Patterns of Power: Social Regulation and Teacher Education Reform. Albany: SUNY Press.

Popkewitz edits this series of essays that address case studies on educational change and the training of teachers. The essays vary in terms of discipline and scope. Also, several authors include case studies of educational practices in countries other than the United States.

---. (1984). The Predrafting Processes of Four High- and Four Low Apprehensive Writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 18, (1), 45-64.

Rasmussen, P. (1985, March) A Case Study on the Evaluation of Research at the Technical University of Denmark. International Journal of Institutional Management in Higher Education, 9 (1).

This is an example of a case study methodology used to evaluate the chemistry and chemical engineering departments at the University of Denmark.

Roth, K. J. (1986). Curriculum Materials, Teacher Talk, and Student Learning: Case Studies in Fifth-Grade Science Teaching . East Lansing: Institute for Research on Teaching.

Roth offers case studies on elementary teachers, elementary school teaching, science studies and teaching, and verbal learning.

Selfe, C. L. (1985). An Apprehensive Writer Composes. When a Writer Can't Write: Studies in Writer's Block and Other Composing-Process Problems . (pp. 83-95). Ed. Mike Rose. NMY: Guilford.

Smith-Lewis, M., R. and Ford, A. (1987). A User's Perspective on Augmentative Communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 3, 12-7.

"During a series of in-depth interviews, a 25-yr-old woman with cerebral palsy who utilized augmentative communication reflected on the effectiveness of the devices designed for her during her school career."

St. Pierre, R., G. (1980, April). Follow Through: A Case Study in Metaevaluation Research . 64th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. (Address).

The three approaches to metaevaluation are evaluation of primary evaluations, integrative meta-analysis with combined primary evaluation results, and re-analysis of the raw data from a primary evaluation.

Stahler, T., M. (1996, Feb.) Early Field Experiences: A Model That Worked. ERIC.

"This case study of a field and theory class examines a model designed to provide meaningful field experiences for preservice teachers while remaining consistent with the instructor's beliefs about the role of teacher education in preparing teachers for the classroom."

Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

This book examines case study research in education and case study methodology.

Stiegelbauer, S. (1984) Community, Context, and Co-curriculum: Situational Factors Influencing School Improvements in a Study of High Schools. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Discussion of several case studies: one looking at high school environments, another examining educational innovations.

Stolovitch, H. (1990). Case Study Method. Performance And Instruction, 29, (9), 35-37.

This article describes the case study method as a form of simulation and presents guidelines for their use in professional training situations.

Thaller, E. (1994). Bibliography for the Case Method: Using Case Studies in Teacher Education. RIE. 37 p.

This bibliography presents approximately 450 citations on the use of case studies in teacher education from 1921-1993.

Thrane, T. (1986). On Delimiting the Senses of Near-Synonyms in Historical Semantics: A Case Study of Adjectives of 'Moral Sufficiency' in the Old English Andreas. Linguistics Across Historical and Geographical Boundaries: In Honor of Jacek Fisiak on the Occasion of his Fiftieth Birthday . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

United Nations. (1975). Food and Agriculture Organization. Report on the FAO/UNFPA Seminar on Methodology, Research and Country: Case Studies on Population, Employment and Productivity . Rome: United Nations.

This example case study shows how the methodology can be used in a demographic and psychographic evaluation. At the same time, it discusses the formation and instigation of the case study methodology itself.

Van Vugt, J. P., ed. (1994). Aids Prevention and Services: Community Based Research . Westport: Bergin and Garvey.

"This volume has been five years in the making. In the process, some of the policy applications called for have met with limited success, such as free needle exchange programs in a limited number of American cities, providing condoms to prison inmates, and advertisements that depict same-sex couples. Rather than dating our chapters that deal with such subjects, such policy applications are verifications of the type of research demonstrated here. Furthermore, they indicate the critical need to continue community based research in the various communities threatened by acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) . . . "

Welch, W., ed. (1981, May). Case Study Methodology in Educational Evaluation. Proceedings of the Minnesota Evaluation Conference. Minnesota. (Address).

The four papers in these proceedings provide a comprehensive picture of the rationale, methodology, strengths, and limitations of case studies.

Williams, G. (1987). The Case Method: An Approach to Teaching and Learning in Educational Administration. RIE, 31p.

This paper examines the viability of the case method as a teaching and learning strategy in instructional systems geared toward the training of personnel of the administration of various aspects of educational systems.

Yin, R. K. (1993). Advancing Rigorous Methodologies: A Review of 'Towards Rigor in Reviews of Multivocal Literatures.' Review of Educational Research, 61, (3).

"R. T. Ogawa and B. Malen's article does not meet its own recommended standards for rigorous testing and presentation of its own conclusions. Use of the exploratory case study to analyze multivocal literatures is not supported, and the claim of grounded theory to analyze multivocal literatures may be stronger."

---. (1989). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. London: Sage Publications Inc.

This book discusses in great detail, the entire design process of the case study, including entire chapters on collecting evidence, analyzing evidence, composing the case study report, and designing single and multiple case studies.

Related Links

Consider the following list of related Web sites for more information on the topic of case study research. Note: although many of the links cover the general category of qualitative research, all have sections that address issues of case studies.

• Sage Publications on Qualitative Methodology: Search here for a comprehensive list of new books being published about "Qualitative Methodology" http://www.sagepub.co.uk/
• The International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education: An on-line journal "to enhance the theory and practice of qualitative research in education." On-line submissions are welcome. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/09518398.html
• Qualitative Research Resources on the Internet: From syllabi to home pages to bibliographies. All links relate somehow to qualitative research. http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/qualres.html

Becker, Bronwyn, Patrick Dawson, Karen Devine, Carla Hannum, Steve Hill, Jon Leydens, Debbie Matuskevich, Carol Traver, & Mike Palmquist. (2005). Case Studies. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=60

How to write a case study — examples, templates, and tools

It’s a marketer’s job to communicate the effectiveness of a product or service to potential and current customers to convince them to buy and keep business moving. One of the best methods for doing this is to share success stories that are relatable to prospects and customers based on their pain points, experiences, and overall needs.

That’s where case studies come in. Case studies are an essential part of a content marketing plan. These in-depth stories of customer experiences are some of the most effective at demonstrating the value of a product or service. Yet many marketers don’t use them, whether because of their regimented formats or the process of customer involvement and approval.

A case study is a powerful tool for showcasing your hard work and the success your customer achieved. But writing a great case study can be difficult if you’ve never done it before or if it’s been a while. This guide will show you how to write an effective case study and provide real-world examples and templates that will keep readers engaged and support your business.

In this article, you’ll learn:

What is a case study?

How to write a case study, case study templates, case study examples, case study tools.

A case study is the detailed story of a customer’s experience with a product or service that demonstrates their success and often includes measurable outcomes. Case studies are used in a range of fields and for various reasons, from business to academic research. They’re especially impactful in marketing as brands work to convince and convert consumers with relatable, real-world stories of actual customer experiences.

The best case studies tell the story of a customer’s success, including the steps they took, the results they achieved, and the support they received from a brand along the way. To write a great case study, you need to:

• Celebrate the customer and make them — not a product or service — the star of the story.
• Craft the story with specific audiences or target segments in mind so that the story of one customer will be viewed as relatable and actionable for another customer.
• Write copy that is easy to read and engaging so that readers will gain the insights and messages intended.
• Follow a standardized format that includes all of the essentials a potential customer would find interesting and useful.
• Support all of the claims for success made in the story with data in the forms of hard numbers and customer statements.

Case studies are a type of review but more in depth, aiming to show — rather than just tell — the positive experiences that customers have with a brand. Notably, 89% of consumers read reviews before deciding to buy, and 79% view case study content as part of their purchasing process. When it comes to B2B sales, 52% of buyers rank case studies as an important part of their evaluation process.

Telling a brand story through the experience of a tried-and-true customer matters. The story is relatable to potential new customers as they imagine themselves in the shoes of the company or individual featured in the case study. Showcasing previous customers can help new ones see themselves engaging with your brand in the ways that are most meaningful to them.

Besides sharing the perspective of another customer, case studies stand out from other content marketing forms because they are based on evidence. Whether pulling from client testimonials or data-driven results, case studies tend to have more impact on new business because the story contains information that is both objective (data) and subjective (customer experience) — and the brand doesn’t sound too self-promotional.

Case studies are unique in that there’s a fairly standardized format for telling a customer’s story. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for creativity. It’s all about making sure that teams are clear on the goals for the case study — along with strategies for supporting content and channels — and understanding how the story fits within the framework of the company’s overall marketing goals.

Here are the basic steps to writing a good case study.

1. Identify your goal

Start by defining exactly who your case study will be designed to help. Case studies are about specific instances where a company works with a customer to achieve a goal. Identify which customers are likely to have these goals, as well as other needs the story should cover to appeal to them.

The answer is often found in one of the buyer personas that have been constructed as part of your larger marketing strategy. This can include anything from new leads generated by the marketing team to long-term customers that are being pressed for cross-sell opportunities. In all of these cases, demonstrating value through a relatable customer success story can be part of the solution to conversion.

2. Choose your client or subject

Who you highlight matters. Case studies tie brands together that might otherwise not cross paths. A writer will want to ensure that the highlighted customer aligns with their own company’s brand identity and offerings. Look for a customer with positive name recognition who has had great success with a product or service and is willing to be an advocate.

The client should also match up with the identified target audience. Whichever company or individual is selected should be a reflection of other potential customers who can see themselves in similar circumstances, having the same problems and possible solutions.

Some of the most compelling case studies feature customers who:

• Switch from one product or service to another while naming competitors that missed the mark.
• Experience measurable results that are relatable to others in a specific industry.
• Represent well-known brands and recognizable names that are likely to compel action.
• Advocate for a product or service as a champion and are well-versed in its advantages.

Whoever or whatever customer is selected, marketers must ensure they have the permission of the company involved before getting started. Some brands have strict review and approval procedures for any official marketing or promotional materials that include their name. Acquiring those approvals in advance will prevent any miscommunication or wasted effort if there is an issue with their legal or compliance teams.

3. Conduct research and compile data

Substantiating the claims made in a case study — either by the marketing team or customers themselves — adds validity to the story. To do this, include data and feedback from the client that defines what success looks like. This can be anything from demonstrating return on investment (ROI) to a specific metric the customer was striving to improve. Case studies should prove how an outcome was achieved and show tangible results that indicate to the customer that your solution is the right one.

This step could also include customer interviews. Make sure that the people being interviewed are key stakeholders in the purchase decision or deployment and use of the product or service that is being highlighted. Content writers should work off a set list of questions prepared in advance. It can be helpful to share these with the interviewees beforehand so they have time to consider and craft their responses. One of the best interview tactics to keep in mind is to ask questions where yes and no are not natural answers. This way, your subject will provide more open-ended responses that produce more meaningful content.

4. Choose the right format

There are a number of different ways to format a case study. Depending on what you hope to achieve, one style will be better than another. However, there are some common elements to include, such as:

• An engaging headline
• A subject and customer introduction
• The unique challenge or challenges the customer faced
• The solution the customer used to solve the problem
• The results achieved
• Data and statistics to back up claims of success
• A strong call to action (CTA) to engage with the vendor

It’s also important to note that while case studies are traditionally written as stories, they don’t have to be in a written format. Some companies choose to get more creative with their case studies and produce multimedia content, depending on their audience and objectives. Case study formats can include traditional print stories, interactive web or social content, data-heavy infographics, professionally shot videos, podcasts, and more.

5. Write your case study

We’ll go into more detail later about how exactly to write a case study, including templates and examples. Generally speaking, though, there are a few things to keep in mind when writing your case study.

• Be clear and concise. Readers want to get to the point of the story quickly and easily, and they’ll be looking to see themselves reflected in the story right from the start.
• Provide a big picture. Always make sure to explain who the client is, their goals, and how they achieved success in a short introduction to engage the reader.
• Construct a clear narrative. Stick to the story from the perspective of the customer and what they needed to solve instead of just listing product features or benefits.
• Leverage graphics. Incorporating infographics, charts, and sidebars can be a more engaging and eye-catching way to share key statistics and data in readable ways.
• Offer the right amount of detail. Most case studies are one or two pages with clear sections that a reader can skim to find the information most important to them.
• Include data to support claims. Show real results — both facts and figures and customer quotes — to demonstrate credibility and prove the solution works.

6. Promote your story

Marketers have a number of options for distribution of a freshly minted case study. Many brands choose to publish case studies on their website and post them on social media. This can help support SEO and organic content strategies while also boosting company credibility and trust as visitors see that other businesses have used the product or service.

Marketers are always looking for quality content they can use for lead generation. Consider offering a case study as gated content behind a form on a landing page or as an offer in an email message. One great way to do this is to summarize the content and tease the full story available for download after the user takes an action.

Sales teams can also leverage case studies, so be sure they are aware that the assets exist once they’re published. Especially when it comes to larger B2B sales, companies often ask for examples of similar customer challenges that have been solved.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about case studies and what they should include, you may be wondering how to start creating great customer story content. Here are a couple of templates you can use to structure your case study.

Template 1 — Challenge-solution-result format

• Start with an engaging title. This should be fewer than 70 characters long for SEO best practices. One of the best ways to approach the title is to include the customer’s name and a hint at the challenge they overcame in the end.
• Create an introduction. Lead with an explanation as to who the customer is, the need they had, and the opportunity they found with a specific product or solution. Writers can also suggest the success the customer experienced with the solution they chose.
• Present the challenge. This should be several paragraphs long and explain the problem the customer faced and the issues they were trying to solve. Details should tie into the company’s products and services naturally. This section needs to be the most relatable to the reader so they can picture themselves in a similar situation.
• Share the solution. Explain which product or service offered was the ideal fit for the customer and why. Feel free to delve into their experience setting up, purchasing, and onboarding the solution.
• Explain the results. Demonstrate the impact of the solution they chose by backing up their positive experience with data. Fill in with customer quotes and tangible, measurable results that show the effect of their choice.
• Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that invites readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to nurture them further in the marketing pipeline. What you ask of the reader should tie directly into the goals that were established for the case study in the first place.

Template 2 — Data-driven format

• Start with an engaging title. Be sure to include a statistic or data point in the first 70 characters. Again, it’s best to include the customer’s name as part of the title.
• Create an overview. Share the customer’s background and a short version of the challenge they faced. Present the reason a particular product or service was chosen, and feel free to include quotes from the customer about their selection process.
• Present data point 1. Isolate the first metric that the customer used to define success and explain how the product or solution helped to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Present data point 2. Isolate the second metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Present data point 3. Isolate the final metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
• Summarize the results. Reiterate the fact that the customer was able to achieve success thanks to a specific product or service. Include quotes and statements that reflect customer satisfaction and suggest they plan to continue using the solution.
• Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that asks readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to further nurture them in the marketing pipeline. Again, remember that this is where marketers can look to convert their content into action with the customer.

While templates are helpful, seeing a case study in action can also be a great way to learn. Here are some examples of how Adobe customers have experienced success.

Juniper Networks

One example is the Adobe and Juniper Networks case study , which puts the reader in the customer’s shoes. The beginning of the story quickly orients the reader so that they know exactly who the article is about and what they were trying to achieve. Solutions are outlined in a way that shows Adobe Experience Manager is the best choice and a natural fit for the customer. Along the way, quotes from the client are incorporated to help add validity to the statements. The results in the case study are conveyed with clear evidence of scale and volume using tangible data.

The story of Lenovo’s journey with Adobe is one that spans years of planning, implementation, and rollout. The Lenovo case study does a great job of consolidating all of this into a relatable journey that other enterprise organizations can see themselves taking, despite the project size. This case study also features descriptive headers and compelling visual elements that engage the reader and strengthen the content.

Tata Consulting

When it comes to using data to show customer results, this case study does an excellent job of conveying details and numbers in an easy-to-digest manner. Bullet points at the start break up the content while also helping the reader understand exactly what the case study will be about. Tata Consulting used Adobe to deliver elevated, engaging content experiences for a large telecommunications client of its own — an objective that’s relatable for a lot of companies.

Case studies are a vital tool for any marketing team as they enable you to demonstrate the value of your company’s products and services to others. They help marketers do their job and add credibility to a brand trying to promote its solutions by using the experiences and stories of real customers.

When you’re ready to get started with a case study:

• Think about a few goals you’d like to accomplish with your content.
• Make a list of successful clients that would be strong candidates for a case study.
• Reach out to the client to get their approval and conduct an interview.
• Gather the data to present an engaging and effective customer story.

Adobe can help

There are several Adobe products that can help you craft compelling case studies. Adobe Experience Platform helps you collect data and deliver great customer experiences across every channel. Once you’ve created your case studies, Experience Platform will help you deliver the right information to the right customer at the right time for maximum impact.

To learn more, watch the Adobe Experience Platform story .

Keep in mind that the best case studies are backed by data. That’s where Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Adobe Analytics come into play. With Real-Time CDP, you can gather the data you need to build a great case study and target specific customers to deliver the content to the right audience at the perfect moment.

Watch the Real-Time CDP overview video to learn more.

Finally, Adobe Analytics turns real-time data into real-time insights. It helps your business collect and synthesize data from multiple platforms to make more informed decisions and create the best case study possible.

Request a demo to learn more about Adobe Analytics.

https://business.adobe.com/blog/perspectives/b2b-ecommerce-10-case-studies-inspire-you

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/business-case

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/what-is-real-time-analytics

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How-To-Guide

How to Conduct a Situation Analysis

Home > How to Guides > How to Conduct a Situation Analysis

Introduction

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Click here to access this Guide in Arabic – مراجعة هذا الدليل باللغة العربية، انقر هنا

Click here to access this Guide in Portuguese – Guias em Português

A situation analysis or environmental analysis is the fundamental first step in the social and behavior change communication change (SBCC) process. It involves a systematic collection and study of health and demographic data, study findings and other contextual information in order to identify and understand the specific health issue to be addressed. It examines the current status of the health issue as well as the social, economic, political and health context in which the health issue exists and establishes the vision for the SBCC program. A complete situation analysis gathers information on four areas:

• The problem, its severity and its causes.
• The people affected by the problem (potential audiences).
• The broad context in which the problem exists.
• Factors inhibiting or facilitating behavior change.

Why Conduct a Situation Analysis?

A situation analysis guides the identification of priorities for an SBCC intervention and informs all the following steps in the SBCC process. It establishes a clear, detailed and realistic picture of the opportunities, resources, challenges and barriers regarding a particular health issue or behavior. The quality of the situation analysis will affect the success of the entire SBCC effort.

Who Should Conduct a Situation Analysis?

A small, focused team should conduct the situation analysis . Members should include communication staff, health/social service staff and, if available, research staff.

Throughout the data collection process, team members should also consider how to engage stakeholders including opinion leaders, service providers, policy makers, partners, and potential beneficiaries. Ways to obtain stakeholder input include in-depth interviews , focus group discussions , community dialogue, small group meetings, taskforce engagement or participatory stakeholder workshops .

When Should a Situation Analysis Be Conducted?

A situation analysis should be conducted at the beginning of a program or project, before developing an SBCC strategy. It is part of the inquiry phase of the P-Process .

Estimated Time Needed

Completing a situation analysis can take up to two weeks. Consider the size of the project, scope of the literature review, how much data is available and easily accessible, and whether additional stakeholder or audience input is needed. Allow for additional time if formative research is needed to fill in any gaps that may exist in the literature.

Learning Objectives

After completing the activities in the situation analysis guide, the team will:

• Know the vision of the program.
• Understand the current situation (extent and severity) of the health issue.
• Understand the broad context in which the health issue exists.

The steps below will help to identify the problem and establish the vision for the SBCC intervention. Please note this how-to guide should be followed along with an audience analysis and a program analysis to obtain the full picture required for a successful SBCC strategy.

Step 1: Identify the Health Issue

For many health programs or strategies, the health issue is identified at the outset, such as when a funder releases a request for proposals for a child health project or when a government ministry requests specific technical assistance for HIV prevention programs.

At other times, it may be necessary for an organization itself to identify the broad health issue that needs to be addressed in a particular geographic area. To do so, review existing health and demographic data, survey results, study findings and any other available data to identify the priority health issue. Throughout the review, pay attention to the following types of information:

• Geographic areas where high levels of mortality and morbidity exist because of a health issue.
• The prevalence or incidence of that health issue.
• Population segments that are most heavily impacted by the health issue.
• The existing priorities of the government.
• The donor landscape.
• Health trends from one point in time to another.

Step 2: Develop a Problem Statement

Successful SBCC strategies focus on one specific issue at a time. Addressing too many issues or too general an issue, such as overall reproductive health, can be confusing. To help focus the situation analysis, develop a focused problem statement, such as:

This problem statement names the health issue (family planning) and indicates who is affected (newly married couples), where (Zed district) and, if known, the extent of the problem (a high amount). A well-written problem statement has the added benefit of providing specific search terms to use in collecting documents for the desk review (see Step 4).

To develop a problem statement, it may be helpful to first have all of the team members state the problem in their own words. Then, as a group, write a clear one- to two-sentence problem statement that reflects the team’s common understanding and that can guide the data collection and analysis on that specific health issue.

Step 3: Draft a Shared Vision

A vision provides a picture of what the situation will look like when the SBCC effort is completely successful and will anchor the SBCC intervention by stating what the program hopes to influence. A good vision statement provides direction, communicates enthusiasm and fosters commitment and dedication. A good vision should:

• Be Ambitious – go beyond what is thought likely in the near term.
• Be Inspiring and Motivating – call to mind a powerful image that triggers emotion and excitement, creates enthusiasm and poses a challenge.
• Look at the big picture – give everyone a larger sense of purpose.

To guide the team during the initial data collection and analysis, draft a provisional vision statement, which will later be shared with stakeholders to create a shared vision for the SBCC effort. One approach to developing the vision follows: each team member individually imagines the future she wants to see and draws that image on a paper. Team members share the pictures with each other and discuss similarities and differences. The team agrees on the elements that inspire them, adding new elements that arise from the discussion, and draws a new picture that represents the vision of the entire team. The team then translates the picture into words to create a vision statement.

The vision should be written in the present tense and then tested to make sure it meets the criteria of a good vision listed above.

Once the team has conducted an initial situation analysis, the provisional vision will be shared with stakeholders involved in the SBCC strategy design process and agreed upon. This can be done through a stakeholder workshop or informal meetings where stakeholders provide feedback and suggest changes to the provisional vision statement. The resulting shared vision statement should clarify what is important for all stakeholders and guide the strategy design and development process.

Step 4: Conduct a Desk Review

To better understand the health issue and to address the problem, the team needs to conduct a desk or literature review. To start this process, review the vision and problem statements and divide them up into concepts. Develop a list of keywords related to those concepts. Brainstorm additional synonyms and related keywords for each concept. These keywords will be the search terms used to find relevant literature.

Step 5: Decide the Scope of the Review

Determine how many studies and how comprehensive the review should be. Decide on the dates for the data, the studies to be collected and the best databases (or other sources of information such as partners) to focus the search ( see commonly used databases for literature reviews under resources). Decide whether the review will include only peer review literature or will expand into grey literature .

Step 6: Identify the Relevant Information

Use the keywords/search terms to look for literature that fits within the scope of the review, including existing quantitative and qualitative data about the problem and the people affected. Look for information on:

Look for both national and local data using online searches, local library resources, and partner resources. Good sources include:

• Large-scale, population-level studies such as the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)
• National policies and strategies to address the issue
• Reports on national, regional, district or health facility-level indicators
• Published research on the topic
• Bibliographies and references of relevant research studies
• Unpublished studies conducted by programs working in the area
• Stories and reports in the media
• Census research
• Media reports
• Anecdotes and narratives from communities

Step 7: Review and Organize the Data

Focus only on information that will help the project team address the problem and avoid including information that is not as relevant for SBCC. Organize and summarize the findings in a way that makes them easy to use ( see Literature Review Template under templates).

While reviewing the data, organize the studies that contain information on potential audiences for SBCC interventions. Some studies provide information on what people think, feel and do about the health problem, what influences their behavior and the communication channels they use. Capture this information for use in the audience analysis ( see Audience Focused Literature Review Template under templates).

A desk review is complete when no new information is discovered and the articles introduce similar arguments, methodologies, findings, authors and studies.

Write a list of questions that are not adequately answered in the available data and questions that arise from the data. For example, the team may need additional information on local practices or beliefs about the health issue. These are gaps that stakeholders might be able to address during a stakeholder workshop .

Step 8: Analyze the Data and Summarize the Findings

Look closely at the information collected. Determine the commonalities and conflicts among the studies. Decide if the information is valid and important in addressing the health issue. A good way to summarize the findings is to write a situation analysis report, which can be shared with the larger project team and relevant stakeholders.

Step 9: Fill the Existing Gaps

Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with members of potential audiences can help fill any information gaps that remain after the desk review. One way to fill gaps is to hold a stakeholder workshop . Other ways to fill gaps include holding in-depth interviews and focus groups with key informants or potential audience members; and conducting facility surveys (health, social service, religious or other facilities).

Literature Review Template

Audience-Focused Literature Review Template

Situation Analysis of Behavior Change Communication Activities in Bihar

The Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Belize: An Ecological Review

Situation Analysis of Nutrition in Southern Sudan: Analysis Based on June 2009 Assessment

Vulnerable Girls and HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature and Program Review

MSM + HIV + Africa

Tips & Recommendations

• Let the numbers and facts you learn tell a story. The story can be powerful and give clues to what needs to be done.
• Data does not only mean numbers. Personal accounts and reports can also be very powerful. Ideally, the project team will look at both. Consider including brief, insightful personal accounts (vignettes) in the situation analysis report to help bring the problem to life.
• When reviewing the literature, start by reviewing the abstracts to save time. Read article abstracts for the keywords and discipline-specific jargon that authors and scholars are using in their publications.
• Draw on the experience, expertise and insights of the stakeholders and those who have worked on the topic before. Set aside your own beliefs and values and keep an open mind to learning.
• When preparing for the stakeholder workshop , include only the information needed to achieve the objectives. If there is uncertainty, have optional slides ready, and create new ones as needed during the workshop.
• If the information does not exist, is outdated or does not provide enough insight into priority audiences, conduct additional primary qualitative formative research in the form of focus groups, interviews or informal visits to communities and homes.

Lessons Learned

• A situation analysis might appear to be a lot of work. However, a good situation analysis is well worth the effort. The benefits will become clear when you reach the implementation stage.

Glossary & Concepts

• Stakeholders are those who are affected by, have a direct interest in or are somehow involved with the health issue.
• Incidence measures the rate of new cases of a particular health issue per thousand people in the population. For example, the number of cases of malnutrition in the northern region is increasing by 5 percent per year.
• Grey literature refers to academic literature that has not been published.
• Prevalence measures the proportion – usually the percentage – of people in a defined population who have the problem at a given time. For example, last year, 55 percent of all children in the northern region were malnourished.
• Mortality is the number of deaths in a population.
• Morbidity is the incidence of illness or disease in a population.
• Quantitative data tells how many, how often, what percentage.
• Qualitative data is descriptive and often help explain quantitative findings. Qualitative data tend to emphasize what, why and how.

Resources and References

Commonly Used Databases for Literature Reviews

Conducting Literature Reviews and Finding Information

A Field Guide to Designing a Health Communication Strategy

Leadership in Strategic Communication: Making a Difference in Infectious Disease and Reproductive Health

Understanding the Situation: Practitioner’s Handbook

• Elements of an Effective Vision Statement by Erica Olsen from Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies , 2nd Edition.
• UN Women. Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls: Situation Analysis .
• O’Sullivan, G.A., Yonkler, J.A., Morgan, W., and Merritt, A.P. A Field Guide to Designing a Health Communication Strategy , Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, March 2003.
• World Health Organization. National Health Policies, Strategies & Plans: Situation Analysis and Priority Setting .
• Athuraliya, Amanda. 2019. The Easy Guide to Performing an Effective Situation Analysis . Retrieved on 2/5/20

Banner Photo: © 2008 Anil Gulati, Courtesy of Photoshare

ABOUT HOW TO GUIDES

SBC How-to Guides are short guides that provide step-by-step instructions on how to perform core social and behavior change tasks. From formative research through monitoring and evaluation, these guides cover each step of the SBC process, offer useful hints, and include important resources and references.

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Case Study Analysis: Examples + How-to Guide & Writing Tips

A case study analysis is a typical assignment in business management courses. The task aims to show high school and college students how to analyze a current situation, determine what problems exist, and develop the best possible strategy to achieve the desired outcome.

Many students feel anxious about writing case analyses because being told to analyze a case study and provide a solution can seem like a big task. That is especially so when working with real-life scenarios. However, you can rest assured writing a case analysis paper is easier than you think. Just keep reading this article and you will find case study examples for students and the advice provided by Custom-writing experts!

• 👣 Main Steps
• 🕵 Preparing the Case

🔬 Analyzing the Case

• 📑 Format & Structure
• 🙅 Things to Avoid
• 🏁 Conclusion

🔗 References

👣 writing a case study analysis: main steps.

Business management is built on case analysis. Every single economic result shows that the methods and instruments employed were either well-timed and expedient, in the event of success, or not, in case of failure. These two options indicate whether the strategy is efficient (and should be followed) or requires corrections (or complete change). Such an approach to the case study will make your writing piece more proficient and valuable for the reader. The following steps will direct your plan for writing a case study analysis.

Step 1: Preliminary work

• Make notes and highlight the numbers and ideas that could be quoted.
• Single out as many problems as you can, and briefly mark their underlying issues. Then make a note of those responsible. In the report, you will use two to five of the problems, so you will have a selection to choose from.
• Outline a possible solution to each of the problems you found. Course readings and outside research shall be used here. Highlight your best and worst solution for further reference.

Step 2: Drafting the Case

• Provide a general description of the situation and its history.
• Name all the problems you are going to discuss.
• Specify the theory used for the analysis.
• Present the assumptions that emerged during the analysis, if any.
• Describe the detected problems in more detail.
• Indicate their link to, and effect on, the general situation.
• Explain why the problems emerged and persist.
• List realistic and feasible solutions to the problems you outlined, in the order of importance.
• Specify your predicted results of such changes.
• Support your choice with reliable evidence (i.e., textbook readings, the experience of famous companies, and other external research).
• Define the strategies required to fulfill your proposed solution.
• Indicate the responsible people and the realistic terms for its implementation.
• Recommend the issues for further analysis and supervision.

Step 3: Finalizing the Case

Like any other piece of writing, a case analysis requires post-editing. Carefully read it through, looking for inconsistencies and gaps in meaning. Your purpose is to make it look complete, precise, and convincing.

🕵 Preparing a Case for Analysis

Your professor might give you various case study examples from which to choose, or they may just assign you a particular case study. To conduct a thorough data analysis, you must first read the case study. This might appear to be obvious. However, you’d be surprised at how many students don’t take adequate time to complete this part.

Read the case study very thoroughly, preferably several times. Highlight, underline, flag key information, and make notes to refer to later when you are writing your analysis report.

If you don’t have a complete knowledge of the case study your professor has assigned, you won’t conduct a proper analysis of it. Even if you make use of a business case study template or refer to a sample analysis, it won’t help if you aren’t intimately familiar with your case study.

You will also have to conduct research. When it comes to research, you will need to do the following:

• Gather hard, quantitative data (e.g. 67% of the staff participated in the meeting).
• Design research tools , such as questionnaires and surveys (this will aid in gathering data).
• Determine and suggest the best specific, workable solutions.

It would be best if you also learned how to analyze a case study. Once you have read through the case study, you need to determine the focus of your analysis. You can do this by doing the following:

Compare your chosen solutions to the solutions offered by the experts who analyzed the case study you were given or to online assignments for students who were dealing with a similar task. The experts’ solutions will probably be more advanced than yours simply because these people are more experienced. However, don’t let this discourage you; the whole point of doing this analysis is to learn. Use the opportunity to learn from others’ valuable experience, and your results will be better next time.

If you are still in doubt, the University of South Carolina offers a great guide on forming a case study analysis.

📑 Case Analysis Format & Structure

When you are learning how to write a case study analysis, it is important to get the format of your analysis right. Understanding the case study format is vital for both the professor and the student. The person planning and handing out such an assignment should ensure that the student doesn’t have to use any external sources .

In turn, students have to remember that a well-written case analysis provides all the data, making it unnecessary for the reader to go elsewhere for information.

Regardless of whether you use a case study template, you will need to follow a clear and concise format when writing your analysis report. There are some possible case study frameworks available. Still, a case study should contain eight sections laid out in the following format:

• Describe the purpose of the current case study;
• Provide a summary of the company;
• Briefly introduce the problems and issues found in the case study
• Discuss the theory you will be using in the analysis;
• Present the key points of the study and present any assumptions made during the analysis.
• Present each problem you have singled out;
• Justify your inclusion of each problem by providing supporting evidence from the case study and by discussing relevant theory and what you have learned from your course content;
• Divide the section (and following sections) into subsections, one for each of your selected problems.
• Present a summary of each problem you have identified;
• Present plausible solutions for each of the problems, keeping in mind that each problem will likely have more than one possible solution;
• Provide the pros and cons of each solution in a way that is practical.
• Conclusion . This is a summary of your findings and discussion.
• Decide which solution best fits each of the issues you identified;
• Explain why you chose this solution and how it will effectively solve the problem;
• Be persuasive when you write this section so that you can drive your point home;
• Be sure to bring together theory and what you have learned throughout your course to support your recommendations.
• Provide an explanation of what must be done, who should take action, and when the solution should be carried out;
• Where relevant, you should provide an estimate of the cost in implementing the solution, including both the financial investment and the cost in terms of time.
• References. While you generally do not need to refer to many external sources when writing a case study analysis, you might use a few. When you do, you will need to properly reference these sources, which is most often done in one of the main citation styles, including APA, MLA, or Harvard. There is plenty of help when citing references, and you can follow these APA guidelines , these MLA guidelines , or these Harvard guidelines .
• Appendices. This is the section you include after your case study analysis if you used any original data in the report. These data, presented as charts, graphs, and tables, are included here because to present them in the main body of the analysis would be disruptive to the reader. The University of Southern California provides a great description of appendices and when to make use of them.

When you’ve finished your first draft, be sure to proofread it. Look not only for potential grammar and spelling errors but also for discrepancies or holes in your argument.

You should also know what you need to avoid when writing your analysis.

🙅 Things to Avoid in Case Analysis

Whenever you deal with a case study, remember that there are some pitfalls to avoid! Beware of the following mistakes:

• Excessive use of colloquial language . Even though it is a study of an actual case, it should sound formal.
• Lack of statistical data . Give all the important data, both in percentages and in numbers.
• Excessive details. State only the most significant facts, rather than drowning the reader in every fact you find.
• Inconsistency in the methods you have used . In a case study, theory plays a relatively small part, so you must develop a specific case study research methodology.
• Trivial means of research . It is critical that you design your own case study research method in whatever form best suits your analysis, such as questionnaires and surveys.

It is useful to see a few examples of case analysis papers. After all, a sample case study report can provide you with some context so you can see how to approach each aspect of your paper.

👀 Case Study Examples for Students

It might be easier to understand how a case study analysis works if you have an example to look at. Fortunately, examples of case studies are easy to come by. Take a look at this video for a sample case study analysis for the Coca-Cola Company.

If you want another example, then take a look at the one below!

Business Case Analysis: Example

CRM’s primary focus is customers and customer perception of the brand or the company. The focus may shift depending on customers’ needs. The main points that Center Parcs should consider are an increase in customer satisfaction and its market share. Both of these points will enhance customer perception of the product as a product of value. Increased customer satisfaction will indicate that the company provides quality services, and increased market share can reduce the number of switching (or leaving) customers, thus fostering customer loyalty.

Case Study Topics

• Equifax case study: the importance of cybersecurity measures . 
• Study a case illustrating ethical issues of medical research.  
• Examine the case describing the complications connected with nursing and residential care.  
• Analyze the competitive strategy of Delta Airlines . 
• Present a case study of an ethical dilemma showing the conflict between the spirit and the letter of the law.  
• Explore the aspects of Starbucks’ marketing strategyin a case study.  
• Research a case of community-based clinic organization and development.  
• Customer service of United Airlines: a case study . 
• Analyze a specific schizophrenia case and provide your recommendations.  
• Provide a case study of a patient with hyperglycemia.  
• Examine the growth strategy of United Healthcare. 
• Present a case study demonstrating ethical issues in business.  
• Study a case of the 5% shareholding rule application and its impact on the company.  
• Case study of post-traumatic stress disorder . 
• Analyze a case examining the issues of cross-cultural management .  
• Write a case study exploring the ethical issues the finance manager of a long-term care facility can face and the possible reaction to them.  
• Write a case study analyzing the aspects of a new president of a firm election. 
• Discuss the specifics of supply chain management in the case of Tehindo company. 
• Study a case of a life crisis in a family and the ways to cope with it.  
• Case study of Tea Leaves and More: supply chain issues .   
• Explore the case of ketogenic diet implementation among sportspeople.  
• Analyze the case of Webster Jewelry shop and suggest some changes.  
• Examine the unique aspects of Tea and More brand management .  
• Adidas case study: an ethical dilemma .  
• Research the challenges of Brazos Valley Food Bank and suggest possible solutions.  
• Describe the case of dark web monitoring for business.  
• Study a case of permissive parenting style .  
• Case study of Starbucks employees. 
• Analyze a case of workplace discrimination and suggest a strategy to avoid it.  
• Examine a case of the consumer decision-making process and define the factors that influence it.  
• Present a case study of Netflix illustrating the crucial role of management innovation for company development.  
• Discuss a case describing a workplace ethical issue and propose ways to resolve it.  
• Case study of the 2008 financial crisis: Graham’s value investing principles in the modern economic climate. 
• Write a case study analyzing the harmful consequences of communication issues in a virtual team.  
• Analyze a case that highlights the importance of a proper functional currency choice. 
• Examine the case of Hitachi Power Systems management.  
• Present a case study of medication research in a healthcare facility.  
• Study the case of Fiji Water and the challenges the brand faces.  
• Research a social problem case and suggest a solution.  
• Analyze a case that reveals the connection between alcohol use and borderline personality disorder.  
• Transglobal Airline case study: break-even analysis.   
• Examine the case of Chiquita Brands International from the moral and business ethics points of view.  
• Present a case study of applying for Social Security benefits. 
• Study the case of a mass hacker attack on Microsoft clients and suggest possible ways to prevent future attacks.  
• Case study of leadership effectiveness . 
• Analyze a case presenting a clinical moral dilemma and propose ways to resolve it. 
• Describe the case of Cowbell Brewing Company and discuss the strategy that made them successful.  
• Write a case study of WeWork company and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of its strategy.  
• Case study of medical ethical decision-making. 
• Study the case of The Georges hotel and suggest ways to overcome its managerial issues.  

🏁 Concluding Remarks

Writing a case study analysis can seem incredibly overwhelming, especially if you have never done it before. Just remember, you can do it provided you follow a plan, keep to the format described here, and study at least one case analysis example.

If you still need help analyzing a case study, your professor is always available to answer your questions and point you in the right direction. You can also get help with any aspect of the project from a custom writing company. Just tackle the research and hand over the writing, write a rough draft and have it checked by a professional, or completely hand the project off to an expert writer.

Regardless of the path you choose, you will turn in something of which you can be proud!

✏️ Case Study Analysis FAQ

Students (especially those who study business) often need to write a case study analysis. It is a kind of report that describes a business case. It includes multiple aspects, for example, the problems that exist, possible solutions, forecasts, etc.

There should be 3 main points covered in a case study analysis:

• The challenge(s) description,
• Possible solutions,
• Outcomes (real and/or foreseen).

Firstly, study some examples available online and in the library. Case study analysis should be a well-structured paper with all the integral components in place. Thus, you might want to use a template and/or an outline to start correctly.

A case study analysis is a popular task for business students. They typically hand it in the format of a paper with several integral components:

• Description of the problem
• Possible ways out
• Results and/or forecasts

Students sometimes tell about the outcome of their research within an oral presentation.

• Case Study: Academia
• Windows of vulnerability: a case study analysis (IEEE)
• A (Very) Brief Refresher on the Case Study Method: SAGE
• The case study approach: Medical Research Methodology
• Strengths and Limitations of Case Studies: Stanford University
• A Sample APA Paper: Radford University
• How to Write a Case Study APA Style: Seattle PI
• The Case Analysis: GVSU
• How to Outline: Purdue OWL
• Incorporating Interview Data: UW-Madison Writing Center
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How to perform a situation analysis for strategic planning.

Thriving businesses know how to identify and capture market share. But are all businesses capable of capitalizing on potential opportunities? A situation analysis will help a company identify its strengths and weaknesses to understand how it can compete in the marketplace.

What is a situation analysis?

A situation analysis is a detailed examination of a company’s market presence based on internal and external factors. It examines a business’s current and potential customers and how they respond to the company’s products and services. A situation analysis also explores a firm’s capabilities and how the current business climate impacts the company. 

An analysis can forecast what results a company can expect — based on the decisions made — so it can adjust its strategies to meet its goals. A situational analysis can reveal many important details about a business such as:

• The opinions and experiences of customers and stakeholders
• A business’s strength and weakness(es)
• How a company is capitalizing on market trends
• How it measures up to competitors 
• What’s holding a business back from its desired goal(s)
• The current strategies in place to overcome the weakness(es)

A business should run a situational analysis periodically — the market is ever-evolving as customers’ needs and preferences change. A regular situation analysis provides the information a company needs to create a course of action to achieve its goals. 

Components of a situation analysis.

Analysis can reveal how your business is performing and help you adapt with course corrections if your plan isn’t achieving the expected results. There are several components in a situational analysis:

The company.

An analysis of a company’s vision, strategy, and goals — and if it’s meeting them — is a good start. Examining how the company is performing by reviewing sales, market share, and customer retention provides a useful snapshot that reveals if the business is fulfilling its goals. It will also help you evaluate competitors and market share.

Product and services.

Analyzing current products or services, as well as future product launches, is a vital component of a situation analysis. Market research is needed to determine how viable a new product or service will be. 

A market analysis conducted with potential customers who offer feedback or opinions about the product, service, or pricing can shed light on who the target market is and how to improve a company’s offerings. Examine products and services separately to identify which products best meet your clients' needs and which ones need adjusting.

Distribution.

The market analysis uncovers the target demographic and demand for a company’s products or services. The competitor analysis compares your business to other similar companies. Analyzing both can reveal important information about your company’s distribution channels. 

The distribution portion of a situation analysis reviews how you get your products to market and compares it to your competitors’ to determine the best distribution channels for your business. 

Opportunities.

Unmet or underserved needs represent market opportunities. Knowing how to capture that market share is essential to a company’s success. But before a business can successfully target an untapped market, it should understand its strengths and weaknesses. A strength, weakness, opportunity, threat (SWOT) analysis is a useful tool to identify how capable your business is of capitalizing on opportunities.

A SWOT analysis is relatively simple to create and usually presents a list of information. 

• The strengths category should include internal systems and processes that are successful, competitive advantages, and assets such as technology, patents, expertise, and cash. 
• Weaknesses include internal factors that keep your business from being more competitive, such as gaps in hiring or lack of funding. 
• Opportunities are external factors that can aid your company such as regulation changes, upcoming press, and special events. 
• Threats are external factors your company has no control over.
• List the appropriate information in each category box. Brainstorming is excellent for getting ideas and information onto paper. Save the ideas from the brainstorming sessions in each applicable box, and create an overall insight for each category. Once complete, pull together all the insights and summarize them.
• When performing a SWOT analysis, strengths and weaknesses are derived from an internal evaluation of your business, while opportunities and threats involve an external review.

Customer analysis.

Thorough research is critical to understanding your customers. Collect data on your customer’s demographics, locations, interests, and challenges. Once you know your customers well, you can identify other potential customers as your target market and create an effective marketing plan. Knowing your customers will help you identify your target market’s needs, preferences, and behaviors to devise the best strategies to reach them. 

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Competitors.

An analysis of your main competitors will help you determine how your business measures up. Identifying and comparing the competitive advantages of one company to another can help your business adapt to compete more effectively. 

Collaborators.

Partnerships and collaborations are a critical part of many business operations. They include the suppliers who provide raw materials to your business, business partners, and the distributors who may manage your company’s supply chain, manufacturing, and vendor relationships.

Analyze collaborations to understand the strength and durability of the partnerships. Reviewing contracts and studying whether products and services were historically delivered as promised can give a company insight on the reliability of these relationships.

Current business environment.

A situational analysis should examine the external and internal environment that impact a business's performance. External factors include the economy, competitors, government policies, and regulations. Company culture, employees, business resources, and cash management are internal factors that affect a business.

A PESTLE analysis examines the external situation of a company by looking at political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. Examining each category can provide insights into the overall business market. Look at each category of a PESTLE analysis more closely:

• P olitical factors: the impact of government policies or elections
• E conomic factors: how fiscal trends, current import and export trade ratios, and taxes affect a business
• S ocial factors: the effect of customer lifestyles and demographics
• T echnological factors: how technology and innovation impact a business
• L egal factors: the impact of safety regulations and employment laws 
• E nvironmental factors: how environmental regulations or climate change affect a company 

5C situation analysis example.

A situational analysis should include the internal and external factors that affect a business, and a 5C approach may be the simplest. The 5Cs are company, customers, competitors, collaborators, and climate. 

In a 5C analysis, the company segment includes the company’s vision and goals, its market position, distribution, opportunities, and products. The customers provide key information on current customers, the target market, and the opportunities a company should pursue through a marketing plan. 

The competitors’ section reveals a company’s strengths and how it can improve, based on competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Collaborators are the partnerships that make products and distribution possible. Climate includes factors like government policy and the economy.

Performing a periodic situational analysis can help you identify the state of your company as it evolves so you can succeed in the market.

The many purposes of a situation analysis.

An analysis can provide insight into where your business stands in the current market, what is working, what can improve, and opportunities to capitalize on and grow. 

Use a situation analysis to develop a marketing plan, identify market gaps your company can fill, advance new technology, and respond to competitor changes. Adapt the report as needed to get better insight on where your business is coming from — and which direction it should take.

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How to Write a Case Study Analysis

Step-By-Step Instructions

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When writing a business case study analysis , you must first have a good understanding of the case study . Before you begin the steps below, read the business case carefully, taking notes all the while. It may be necessary to read the case several times to get all of the details and fully grasp the issues facing the group, company, or industry.

As you are reading, do your best to identify key issues, key players, and the most pertinent facts. After you are comfortable with the information, use the following step-by-step instructions (geared toward a single-company analysis) to write your report. To write about an industry, just adapt the steps listed here to discuss the segment as a whole.

Step 1: Investigate the Company’s History and Growth

A company’s past can greatly affect the present and future state of the organization. To begin, investigate the company’s founding, critical incidents, structure, and growth. Create a timeline of events, issues, and achievements. This timeline will come in handy for the next step. 

Step 2: Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Using the information you gathered in step one, continue by examining and making a list of the value creation functions of the company. For example, the company may be weak in product development but strong in marketing. Make a list of problems that have occurred and note the effects they have had on the company. You should also list areas where the company has excelled. Note the effects of these incidents as well.

You're essentially conducting a partial SWOT analysis to get a better understanding of the company's strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT analysis involves documenting things like internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and external opportunities (O) and threats (T). 

Step 3: Examine the External Environment

The third step involves identifying opportunities and threats within the company’s external environment. This is where the second part of the SWOT analysis (the O and the T) comes into play. Special items to note include competition within the industry, bargaining powers, and the threat of substitute products. Some examples of opportunities include expansion into new markets or new technology. Some examples of threats include increasing competition and higher interest rates.

Step 4: Analyze Your Findings

Using the information in steps 2 and 3, create an evaluation for this portion of your case study analysis. Compare the strengths and weaknesses within the company to the external threats and opportunities. Determine if the company is in a strong competitive position, and decide if it can continue at its current pace successfully.

Step 5: Identify Corporate-Level Strategy

To identify a company’s corporate-level strategy, identify and evaluate the company’s mission , goals, and actions toward those goals. Analyze the company’s line of business and its subsidiaries and acquisitions. You also want to debate the pros and cons of the company strategy to determine whether or not a change might benefit the company in the short or long term.​

Step 6: Identify Business-Level Strategy

Thus far, your case study analysis has identified the company’s corporate-level strategy. To perform a complete analysis, you will need to identify the company’s business-level strategy. (Note: If it is a single business, without multiple companies under one umbrella, and not an industry-wide review, the corporate strategy and the business-level strategy are the same.) For this part, you should identify and analyze each company’s competitive strategy, marketing strategy, costs, and general focus.

Step 7: Analyze Implementations

This portion requires that you identify and analyze the structure and control systems that the company is using to implement its business strategies. Evaluate organizational change, levels of hierarchy, employee rewards, conflicts, and other issues that are important to the company you are analyzing.

Step 8: Make Recommendations

The final part of your case study analysis should include your recommendations for the company. Every recommendation you make should be based on and supported by the context of your analysis. Never share hunches or make a baseless recommendation.

You also want to make sure that your suggested solutions are actually realistic. If the solutions cannot be implemented due to some sort of restraint, they are not realistic enough to make the final cut.

Finally, consider some of the alternative solutions that you considered and rejected. Write down the reasons why these solutions were rejected. 

Step 9: Review

Look over your analysis when you have finished writing. Critique your work to make sure every step has been covered. Look for grammatical errors , poor sentence structure, or other things that can be improved. It should be clear, accurate, and professional.

Business Case Study Analysis Tips

Keep these strategic tips in mind:

• Know the case study ​backward and forward before you begin your case study analysis.
• Give yourself enough time to write the case study analysis. You don't want to rush through it.
• Be honest in your evaluations. Don't let personal issues and opinions cloud your judgment.
• Be analytical, not descriptive.
• Proofread your work, and even let a test reader give it a once-over for dropped words or typos that you no longer can see.
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What Is a Case Study?

Weighing the pros and cons of this method of research

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

Verywell / Colleen Tighe

• Pros and Cons

What Types of Case Studies Are Out There?

Where do you find data for a case study, how do i write a psychology case study.

A case study is an in-depth study of one person, group, or event. In a case study, nearly every aspect of the subject's life and history is analyzed to seek patterns and causes of behavior. Case studies can be used in many different fields, including psychology, medicine, education, anthropology, political science, and social work.

The point of a case study is to learn as much as possible about an individual or group so that the information can be generalized to many others. Unfortunately, case studies tend to be highly subjective, and it is sometimes difficult to generalize results to a larger population.

While case studies focus on a single individual or group, they follow a format similar to other types of psychology writing. If you are writing a case study, we got you—here are some rules of APA format to reference.  

At a Glance

A case study, or an in-depth study of a person, group, or event, can be a useful research tool when used wisely. In many cases, case studies are best used in situations where it would be difficult or impossible for you to conduct an experiment. They are helpful for looking at unique situations and allow researchers to gather a lot of˜ information about a specific individual or group of people. However, it's important to be cautious of any bias we draw from them as they are highly subjective.

What Are the Benefits and Limitations of Case Studies?

A case study can have its strengths and weaknesses. Researchers must consider these pros and cons before deciding if this type of study is appropriate for their needs.

One of the greatest advantages of a case study is that it allows researchers to investigate things that are often difficult or impossible to replicate in a lab. Some other benefits of a case study:

• Allows researchers to capture information on the 'how,' 'what,' and 'why,' of something that's implemented
• Gives researchers the chance to collect information on why one strategy might be chosen over another
• Permits researchers to develop hypotheses that can be explored in experimental research

On the other hand, a case study can have some drawbacks:

• It cannot necessarily be generalized to the larger population
• Cannot demonstrate cause and effect
• It may not be scientifically rigorous
• It can lead to bias

Researchers may choose to perform a case study if they want to explore a unique or recently discovered phenomenon. Through their insights, researchers develop additional ideas and study questions that might be explored in future studies.

It's important to remember that the insights from case studies cannot be used to determine cause-and-effect relationships between variables. However, case studies may be used to develop hypotheses that can then be addressed in experimental research.

Case Study Examples

There have been a number of notable case studies in the history of psychology. Much of  Freud's work and theories were developed through individual case studies. Some great examples of case studies in psychology include:

• Anna O : Anna O. was a pseudonym of a woman named Bertha Pappenheim, a patient of a physician named Josef Breuer. While she was never a patient of Freud's, Freud and Breuer discussed her case extensively. The woman was experiencing symptoms of a condition that was then known as hysteria and found that talking about her problems helped relieve her symptoms. Her case played an important part in the development of talk therapy as an approach to mental health treatment.
• Phineas Gage : Phineas Gage was a railroad employee who experienced a terrible accident in which an explosion sent a metal rod through his skull, damaging important portions of his brain. Gage recovered from his accident but was left with serious changes in both personality and behavior.
• Genie : Genie was a young girl subjected to horrific abuse and isolation. The case study of Genie allowed researchers to study whether language learning was possible, even after missing critical periods for language development. Her case also served as an example of how scientific research may interfere with treatment and lead to further abuse of vulnerable individuals.

Such cases demonstrate how case research can be used to study things that researchers could not replicate in experimental settings. In Genie's case, her horrific abuse denied her the opportunity to learn a language at critical points in her development.

This is clearly not something researchers could ethically replicate, but conducting a case study on Genie allowed researchers to study phenomena that are otherwise impossible to reproduce.

There are a few different types of case studies that psychologists and other researchers might use:

• Collective case studies : These involve studying a group of individuals. Researchers might study a group of people in a certain setting or look at an entire community. For example, psychologists might explore how access to resources in a community has affected the collective mental well-being of those who live there.
• Descriptive case studies : These involve starting with a descriptive theory. The subjects are then observed, and the information gathered is compared to the pre-existing theory.
• Explanatory case studies : These   are often used to do causal investigations. In other words, researchers are interested in looking at factors that may have caused certain things to occur.
• Exploratory case studies : These are sometimes used as a prelude to further, more in-depth research. This allows researchers to gather more information before developing their research questions and hypotheses .
• Instrumental case studies : These occur when the individual or group allows researchers to understand more than what is initially obvious to observers.
• Intrinsic case studies : This type of case study is when the researcher has a personal interest in the case. Jean Piaget's observations of his own children are good examples of how an intrinsic case study can contribute to the development of a psychological theory.

The three main case study types often used are intrinsic, instrumental, and collective. Intrinsic case studies are useful for learning about unique cases. Instrumental case studies help look at an individual to learn more about a broader issue. A collective case study can be useful for looking at several cases simultaneously.

The type of case study that psychology researchers use depends on the unique characteristics of the situation and the case itself.

There are a number of different sources and methods that researchers can use to gather information about an individual or group. Six major sources that have been identified by researchers are:

• Archival records : Census records, survey records, and name lists are examples of archival records.
• Direct observation : This strategy involves observing the subject, often in a natural setting . While an individual observer is sometimes used, it is more common to utilize a group of observers.
• Documents : Letters, newspaper articles, administrative records, etc., are the types of documents often used as sources.
• Interviews : Interviews are one of the most important methods for gathering information in case studies. An interview can involve structured survey questions or more open-ended questions.
• Participant observation : When the researcher serves as a participant in events and observes the actions and outcomes, it is called participant observation.
• Physical artifacts : Tools, objects, instruments, and other artifacts are often observed during a direct observation of the subject.

If you have been directed to write a case study for a psychology course, be sure to check with your instructor for any specific guidelines you need to follow. If you are writing your case study for a professional publication, check with the publisher for their specific guidelines for submitting a case study.

Here is a general outline of what should be included in a case study.

Section 1: A Case History

This section will have the following structure and content:

Background information : The first section of your paper will present your client's background. Include factors such as age, gender, work, health status, family mental health history, family and social relationships, drug and alcohol history, life difficulties, goals, and coping skills and weaknesses.

Description of the presenting problem : In the next section of your case study, you will describe the problem or symptoms that the client presented with.

Describe any physical, emotional, or sensory symptoms reported by the client. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions related to the symptoms should also be noted. Any screening or diagnostic assessments that are used should also be described in detail and all scores reported.

Your diagnosis : Provide your diagnosis and give the appropriate Diagnostic and Statistical Manual code. Explain how you reached your diagnosis, how the client's symptoms fit the diagnostic criteria for the disorder(s), or any possible difficulties in reaching a diagnosis.

Section 2: Treatment Plan

This portion of the paper will address the chosen treatment for the condition. This might also include the theoretical basis for the chosen treatment or any other evidence that might exist to support why this approach was chosen.

• Cognitive behavioral approach : Explain how a cognitive behavioral therapist would approach treatment. Offer background information on cognitive behavioral therapy and describe the treatment sessions, client response, and outcome of this type of treatment. Make note of any difficulties or successes encountered by your client during treatment.
• Humanistic approach : Describe a humanistic approach that could be used to treat your client, such as client-centered therapy . Provide information on the type of treatment you chose, the client's reaction to the treatment, and the end result of this approach. Explain why the treatment was successful or unsuccessful.
• Psychoanalytic approach : Describe how a psychoanalytic therapist would view the client's problem. Provide some background on the psychoanalytic approach and cite relevant references. Explain how psychoanalytic therapy would be used to treat the client, how the client would respond to therapy, and the effectiveness of this treatment approach.
• Pharmacological approach : If treatment primarily involves the use of medications, explain which medications were used and why. Provide background on the effectiveness of these medications and how monotherapy may compare with an approach that combines medications with therapy or other treatments.

This section of a case study should also include information about the treatment goals, process, and outcomes.

When you are writing a case study, you should also include a section where you discuss the case study itself, including the strengths and limitiations of the study. You should note how the findings of your case study might support previous research. 

In your discussion section, you should also describe some of the implications of your case study. What ideas or findings might require further exploration? How might researchers go about exploring some of these questions in additional studies?

Need More Tips?

Here are a few additional pointers to keep in mind when formatting your case study:

• Never refer to the subject of your case study as "the client." Instead, use their name or a pseudonym.
• Read examples of case studies to gain an idea about the style and format.
• Remember to use APA format when citing references .

Crowe S, Cresswell K, Robertson A, Huby G, Avery A, Sheikh A. The case study approach .  BMC Med Res Methodol . 2011;11:100.

Crowe S, Cresswell K, Robertson A, Huby G, Avery A, Sheikh A. The case study approach . BMC Med Res Methodol . 2011 Jun 27;11:100. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-11-100

Gagnon, Yves-Chantal.  The Case Study as Research Method: A Practical Handbook . Canada, Chicago Review Press Incorporated DBA Independent Pub Group, 2010.

Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods . United States, SAGE Publications, 2017.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Do Your Students Know How to Analyze a Case—Really?

Explore more.

• Case Teaching
• Student Engagement

J ust as actors, athletes, and musicians spend thousands of hours practicing their craft, business students benefit from practicing their critical-thinking and decision-making skills. Students, however, often have limited exposure to real-world problem-solving scenarios; they need more opportunities to practice tackling tough business problems and deciding on—and executing—the best solutions.

To ensure students have ample opportunity to develop these critical-thinking and decision-making skills, we believe business faculty should shift from teaching mostly principles and ideas to mostly applications and practices. And in doing so, they should emphasize the case method, which simulates real-world management challenges and opportunities for students.

To help educators facilitate this shift and help students get the most out of case-based learning, we have developed a framework for analyzing cases. We call it PACADI (Problem, Alternatives, Criteria, Analysis, Decision, Implementation); it can improve learning outcomes by helping students better solve and analyze business problems, make decisions, and develop and implement strategy. Here, we’ll explain why we developed this framework, how it works, and what makes it an effective learning tool.

The Case for Cases: Helping Students Think Critically

Business students must develop critical-thinking and analytical skills, which are essential to their ability to make good decisions in functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations, and information technology, as well as to understand the relationships among these functions. For example, the decisions a marketing manager must make include strategic planning (segments, products, and channels); execution (digital messaging, media, branding, budgets, and pricing); and operations (integrated communications and technologies), as well as how to implement decisions across functional areas.

Faculty can use many types of cases to help students develop these skills. These include the prototypical “paper cases”; live cases , which feature guest lecturers such as entrepreneurs or corporate leaders and on-site visits; and multimedia cases , which immerse students into real situations. Most cases feature an explicit or implicit decision that a protagonist—whether it is an individual, a group, or an organization—must make.

For students new to learning by the case method—and even for those with case experience—some common issues can emerge; these issues can sometimes be a barrier for educators looking to ensure the best possible outcomes in their case classrooms. Unsure of how to dig into case analysis on their own, students may turn to the internet or rely on former students for “answers” to assigned cases. Or, when assigned to provide answers to assignment questions in teams, students might take a divide-and-conquer approach but not take the time to regroup and provide answers that are consistent with one other.

To help address these issues, which we commonly experienced in our classes, we wanted to provide our students with a more structured approach for how they analyze cases—and to really think about making decisions from the protagonists’ point of view. We developed the PACADI framework to address this need.

PACADI: A Six-Step Decision-Making Approach

The PACADI framework is a six-step decision-making approach that can be used in lieu of traditional end-of-case questions. It offers a structured, integrated, and iterative process that requires students to analyze case information, apply business concepts to derive valuable insights, and develop recommendations based on these insights.

Prior to beginning a PACADI assessment, which we’ll outline here, students should first prepare a two-paragraph summary—a situation analysis—that highlights the key case facts. Then, we task students with providing a five-page PACADI case analysis (excluding appendices) based on the following six steps.

Step 1: Problem definition. What is the major challenge, problem, opportunity, or decision that has to be made? If there is more than one problem, choose the most important one. Often when solving the key problem, other issues will surface and be addressed. The problem statement may be framed as a question; for example, How can brand X improve market share among millennials in Canada? Usually the problem statement has to be re-written several times during the analysis of a case as students peel back the layers of symptoms or causation.

Step 2: Alternatives. Identify in detail the strategic alternatives to address the problem; three to five options generally work best. Alternatives should be mutually exclusive, realistic, creative, and feasible given the constraints of the situation. Doing nothing or delaying the decision to a later date are not considered acceptable alternatives.

Step 3: Criteria. What are the key decision criteria that will guide decision-making? In a marketing course, for example, these may include relevant marketing criteria such as segmentation, positioning, advertising and sales, distribution, and pricing. Financial criteria useful in evaluating the alternatives should be included—for example, income statement variables, customer lifetime value, payback, etc. Students must discuss their rationale for selecting the decision criteria and the weights and importance for each factor.

Step 4: Analysis. Provide an in-depth analysis of each alternative based on the criteria chosen in step three. Decision tables using criteria as columns and alternatives as rows can be helpful. The pros and cons of the various choices as well as the short- and long-term implications of each may be evaluated. Best, worst, and most likely scenarios can also be insightful.

Step 5: Decision. Students propose their solution to the problem. This decision is justified based on an in-depth analysis. Explain why the recommendation made is the best fit for the criteria.

Step 6: Implementation plan. Sound business decisions may fail due to poor execution. To enhance the likeliness of a successful project outcome, students describe the key steps (activities) to implement the recommendation, timetable, projected costs, expected competitive reaction, success metrics, and risks in the plan.

“Students note that using the PACADI framework yields ‘aha moments’—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.”

PACADI’s Benefits: Meaningfully and Thoughtfully Applying Business Concepts

The PACADI framework covers all of the major elements of business decision-making, including implementation, which is often overlooked. By stepping through the whole framework, students apply relevant business concepts and solve management problems via a systematic, comprehensive approach; they’re far less likely to surface piecemeal responses.

As students explore each part of the framework, they may realize that they need to make changes to a previous step. For instance, when working on implementation, students may realize that the alternative they selected cannot be executed or will not be profitable, and thus need to rethink their decision. Or, they may discover that the criteria need to be revised since the list of decision factors they identified is incomplete (for example, the factors may explain key marketing concerns but fail to address relevant financial considerations) or is unrealistic (for example, they suggest a 25 percent increase in revenues without proposing an increased promotional budget).

In addition, the PACADI framework can be used alongside quantitative assignments, in-class exercises, and business and management simulations. The structured, multi-step decision framework encourages careful and sequential analysis to solve business problems. Incorporating PACADI as an overarching decision-making method across different projects will ultimately help students achieve desired learning outcomes. As a practical “beyond-the-classroom” tool, the PACADI framework is not a contrived course assignment; it reflects the decision-making approach that managers, executives, and entrepreneurs exercise daily. Case analysis introduces students to the real-world process of making business decisions quickly and correctly, often with limited information. This framework supplies an organized and disciplined process that students can readily defend in writing and in class discussions.

PACADI in Action: An Example

Here’s an example of how students used the PACADI framework for a recent case analysis on CVS, a large North American drugstore chain.

The CVS Prescription for Customer Value*

PACADI Stage

Summary Response

How should CVS Health evolve from the “drugstore of your neighborhood” to the “drugstore of your future”?

Alternatives

A1. Kaizen (continuous improvement)

A2. Product development

A3. Market development

A4. Personalization (micro-targeting)

Criteria (include weights)

C1. Customer value: service, quality, image, and price (40%)

C2. Customer obsession (20%)

C3. Growth through related businesses (20%)

C4. Customer retention and customer lifetime value (20%)

Each alternative was analyzed by each criterion using a Customer Value Assessment Tool

Alternative 4 (A4): Personalization was selected. This is operationalized via: segmentation—move toward segment-of-1 marketing; geodemographics and lifestyle emphasis; predictive data analysis; relationship marketing; people, principles, and supply chain management; and exceptional customer service.

Implementation

Partner with leading medical school

Curbside pick-up

Pet pharmacy

E-newsletter for customers and employees

Employee incentive program

CVS beauty days

Expand to Latin America and Caribbean

Healthier/happier corner

Holiday toy drives/community outreach

*Source: A. Weinstein, Y. Rodriguez, K. Sims, R. Vergara, “The CVS Prescription for Superior Customer Value—A Case Study,” Back to the Future: Revisiting the Foundations of Marketing from Society for Marketing Advances, West Palm Beach, FL (November 2, 2018).

Results of Using the PACADI Framework

When faculty members at our respective institutions at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and the University of North Carolina Wilmington have used the PACADI framework, our classes have been more structured and engaging. Students vigorously debate each element of their decision and note that this framework yields an “aha moment”—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.

These lively discussions enhance individual and collective learning. As one external metric of this improvement, we have observed a 2.5 percent increase in student case grade performance at NSU since this framework was introduced.

Tips to Get Started

The PACADI approach works well in in-person, online, and hybrid courses. This is particularly important as more universities have moved to remote learning options. Because students have varied educational and cultural backgrounds, work experience, and familiarity with case analysis, we recommend that faculty members have students work on their first case using this new framework in small teams (two or three students). Additional analyses should then be solo efforts.

To use PACADI effectively in your classroom, we suggest the following:

Advise your students that your course will stress critical thinking and decision-making skills, not just course concepts and theory.

Use a varied mix of case studies. As marketing professors, we often address consumer and business markets; goods, services, and digital commerce; domestic and global business; and small and large companies in a single MBA course.

As a starting point, provide a short explanation (about 20 to 30 minutes) of the PACADI framework with a focus on the conceptual elements. You can deliver this face to face or through videoconferencing.

Give students an opportunity to practice the case analysis methodology via an ungraded sample case study. Designate groups of five to seven students to discuss the case and the six steps in breakout sessions (in class or via Zoom).

Ensure case analyses are weighted heavily as a grading component. We suggest 30–50 percent of the overall course grade.

Once cases are graded, debrief with the class on what they did right and areas needing improvement (30- to 40-minute in-person or Zoom session).

Encourage faculty teams that teach common courses to build appropriate instructional materials, grading rubrics, videos, sample cases, and teaching notes.

When selecting case studies, we have found that the best ones for PACADI analyses are about 15 pages long and revolve around a focal management decision. This length provides adequate depth yet is not protracted. Some of our tested and favorite marketing cases include Brand W , Hubspot , Kraft Foods Canada , TRSB(A) , and Whiskey & Cheddar .

Art Weinstein , Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has published more than 80 scholarly articles and papers and eight books on customer-focused marketing strategy. His latest book is Superior Customer Value—Finding and Keeping Customers in the Now Economy . Dr. Weinstein has consulted for many leading technology and service companies.

Herbert V. Brotspies , D.B.A., is an adjunct professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University. He has over 30 years’ experience as a vice president in marketing, strategic planning, and acquisitions for Fortune 50 consumer products companies working in the United States and internationally. His research interests include return on marketing investment, consumer behavior, business-to-business strategy, and strategic planning.

John T. Gironda , Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research has been published in Industrial Marketing Management, Psychology & Marketing , and Journal of Marketing Management . He has also presented at major marketing conferences including the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, and Society for Marketing Advances.

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The Situation Analysis: How to Put Your Research to Work

Once you’ve completed discovery work for a content strategy project, the next best step is to create a situation analysis. Here’s how to craft one effectively.

A  situation analysis  summarizes what you’ve learned during discovery on your content strategy project with the people on your project team. It also sets the stage for what comes next.

It’s more than just a research summary; it includes your expert analysis about what all of this stuff  means  with respect to content strategy. Done well, it answers “So what?” before folks have a chance to ask.

Building a situation analysis into your project plan  ensures that you’ll slow down and think a bit in between doing your research and making recommendations. Even when I feel like I’ve learned a lot during my discovery work, I learn even more from summarizing it.

Organizing a situation analysis is effectively me having a conversation with myself about what I’ve learned so far. I then tidy up that conversation, share it with other people, and see if I’m making any sense.

A document … and a story

For the purposes of this post, I’m talking about a situation analysis as a physical document. It could be a report. Or a memo. Or a slide deck. Or a three-act play—which would be weird, but you do you.

Whatever the format, a situation analysis serves in part as an agenda for a conversation about your discovery work. For most of my projects, the analysis is usually a simple deck that I share during a 90-minute conversation with the core project team. Whether you’re recapping a day of onsite consulting or a months-long process with multiple forms of research, the approach is more or less the same.

However you structure your combination of document and presentation, the situation analysis ultimately says: “Here’s what I’ve learned so far and what I think we should do about it next.” It tells a story about the content strategy project so far.

Highlights, not play-by-play

You’re going to learn all kinds of interesting stuff during your discovery work, and have tens if not hundreds of examples to illustrate the various points you need to make. You want to keep this stuff handy, for sure, but your job at this point is to give your team the highlights. The things that matter, right now, to help figure out what’s next.

To get you started, here’s an outline of what I tend to include in my situation analysis deck:

• Project overview:  This tends to be more for posterity than anything, in case the analysis document gets socialized beyond the presentation.
• Where we’re at:  Summarize the work so far. What you’ve looked at, who you’ve talked to, major activities completed.
• Current trends:  This is my wild card section. I’ll pick three or five or seven themes that emerged during discovery, give them a memorable name, and add some color like user quotes or website screenshots.
• Content strategy SWOT:  Sort of a “value add” on the discovery work. A content-strategy-focused SWOT analysis becomes a good reference for the client to plan future content strategy projects beyond the current engagement.
• Preliminary strategy indications:  This is where you test the waters on what’s next. Depending on where we are in the project work so far, it might include things like a preliminary content strategy statement or a draft of prioritized website audiences based on a workshop activity.
• Next steps:  Compare where you need to go next with where you thought you’d need to go at the start of the project. Whether you’re still right on track or need to change things up, you’ll want to use what you’ve learned in discovery to explain why that’s the case.

Choose the right audience

As a content strategy consultant, I usually start by sharing the situation analysis with my core team. That’s anyone working on the project from my side along with the one to three people I’ve been working with from the client’s team.

Depending on the organizational culture, you may also want to share the situation analysis with a larger audience of content stakeholders. If you did stakeholder interviews, this can be a little tricky depending on what you have to say about what those content stakeholders have told you. One option is to do a more complete situation analysis with the core team, and then break out a component like a content strategy SWOT or content maturity model to socialize with the larger group.

A situation analysis might be less formal if you’re working on an in-house project. Then again, if you’re low in the hierarchy, it may be even more important to do a persuasive, eye-opening presentation about the current state of content strategy in your organization in order to get a better chance of selling your eventual recommendations and guidelines.

Test the waters for your strategy recommendations

I often use the situation analysis presentation to test the waters on potential strategy and governance recommendations that might be controversial or take time to warm up to. It  introduces  big ideas without directly  proposing  them.

However good and smart and research-informed my strategy recommendations might be, they aren’t going to be warmly received if I just show up and say “Ta-da!” At best you get a flat, lukewarm, “I’m not really sure what I’m looking at” kind of reaction. At worst? Full. Scale. Riot. OK, maybe not a riot, but to folks not immersed in content strategy conversations all day, the logical gap between perceived problem and proposed solutions can seem HUGE. A situation analysis helps bridge that gap.

Find your blind spots

“What have I missed?” That’s one of the most important questions to ask your collaborators and stakeholders after sharing your situation analysis. A situation analysis should be developed and presented with an openness to learning what you may have overlooked.

Someone almost always finds one more thing for me to look into before moving forward that I wasn’t able to uncover until this point. Hopefully it’s minor, but either way, you’ll be glad to know about it now rather than after you’ve put in hours of work on your recommendations.

Be flexible

Like a lot of content strategy deliverables, I tend to tweak the format a little bit each time I make a situation analysis. It can and should be heavily informed by the specific discovery activities you engage in and what you learn along the way. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your own!

Subscribe to the Brain Traffic newsletter! Get more valuable content strategy articles like this one delivered right to your inbox.

Scott Kubie is the lead content strategist here at Brain Traffic and the author of Writing for Designers from A Book Apart . Scott has focused on the content side of digital experiences since 2009, and was the first UX content strategist at Wolfram Research. He grew up in rural Nebraska, and studied electronic media and journalism at Drake University.

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How to Analyse a Case Study

Last Updated: April 13, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Sarah Evans . Sarah Evans is a Public Relations & Social Media Expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada. With over 14 years of industry experience, Sarah is the Founder & CEO of Sevans PR. Her team offers strategic communications services to help clients across industries including tech, finance, medical, real estate, law, and startups. The agency is renowned for its development of the "reputation+" methodology, a data-driven and AI-powered approach designed to elevate brand credibility, trust, awareness, and authority in a competitive marketplace. Sarah’s thought leadership has led to regular appearances on The Doctors TV show, CBS Las Vegas Now, and as an Adobe influencer. She is a respected contributor at Entrepreneur magazine, Hackernoon, Grit Daily, and KLAS Las Vegas. Sarah has been featured in PR Daily and PR Newswire and is a member of the Forbes Agency Council. She received her B.A. in Communications and Public Relations from Millikin University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 411,766 times.

Case studies are used in many professional education programs, primarily in business school, to present real-world situations to students and to assess their ability to parse out the important aspects of a given dilemma. In general, a case study should include, in order: background on the business environment, description of the given business, identification of a key problem or issue, steps taken to address the issue, your assessment of that response, and suggestions for better business strategy. The steps below will guide you through the process of analyzing a business case study in this way.

• Describe the nature of the organization under consideration and its competitors. Provide general information about the market and customer base. Indicate any significant changes in the business environment or any new endeavors upon which the business is embarking.

• Analyze its management structure, employee base, and financial history. Describe annual revenues and profit. Provide figures on employment. Include details about private ownership, public ownership, and investment holdings. Provide a brief overview of the business's leaders and command chain.

• In all likelihood, there will be several different factors at play. Decide which is the main concern of the case study by examining what most of the data talks about, the main problems facing the business, and the conclusions at the end of the study. Examples might include expansion into a new market, response to a competitor's marketing campaign, or a changing customer base. [3] X Research source

• Draw on the information you gathered and trace a chronological progression of steps taken (or not taken). Cite data included in the case study, such as increased marketing spending, purchasing of new property, changed revenue streams, etc.

• Indicate whether or not each aspect of the response met its goal and whether the response overall was well-crafted. Use numerical benchmarks, like a desired customer share, to show whether goals were met; analyze broader issues, like employee management policies, to talk about the response as a whole. [4] X Research source

• Suggest alternative or improved measures that could have been taken by the business, using specific examples and backing up your suggestions with data and calculations.

Community Q&A

• Always read a case study several times. At first, you should read just for the basic details. On each subsequent reading, look for details about a specific topic: competitors, business strategy, management structure, financial loss. Highlight phrases and sections relating to these topics and take notes. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• In the preliminary stages of analyzing a case study, no detail is insignificant. The biggest numbers can often be misleading, and the point of an analysis is often to dig deeper and find otherwise unnoticed variables that drive a situation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you are analyzing a case study for a consulting company interview, be sure to direct your comments towards the matters handled by the company. For example, if the company deals with marketing strategy, focus on the business's successes and failures in marketing; if you are interviewing for a financial consulting job, analyze how well the business keeps their books and their investment strategy. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Do not use impassioned or emphatic language in your analysis. Business case studies are a tool for gauging your business acumen, not your personal beliefs. When assigning blame or identifying flaws in strategy, use a detached, disinterested tone. Thanks Helpful 16 Not Helpful 4

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about business writing, check out our in-depth interview with Sarah Evans .

• ↑ https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/CC3BFEEB-C364-E1A1-A5390F221AC0FD2D/business_case_analysis_gg_final.pdf
• ↑ https://bizfluent.com/12741914/how-to-analyze-a-business-case-study
• ↑ http://www.business-fundas.com/2009/how-to-analyze-business-case-studies/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/writing-case-study-analysis
• http://college.cengage.com/business/resources/casestudies/students/analyzing.htm

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Case Study Research Method in Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Case studies are in-depth investigations of a person, group, event, or community. Typically, data is gathered from various sources using several methods (e.g., observations & interviews).

The case study research method originated in clinical medicine (the case history, i.e., the patient’s personal history). In psychology, case studies are often confined to the study of a particular individual.

The information is mainly biographical and relates to events in the individual’s past (i.e., retrospective), as well as to significant events that are currently occurring in his or her everyday life.

The case study is not a research method, but researchers select methods of data collection and analysis that will generate material suitable for case studies.

Freud (1909a, 1909b) conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.

This makes it clear that the case study is a method that should only be used by a psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist, i.e., someone with a professional qualification.

There is an ethical issue of competence. Only someone qualified to diagnose and treat a person can conduct a formal case study relating to atypical (i.e., abnormal) behavior or atypical development.

 Famous Case Studies

• Anna O – One of the most famous case studies, documenting psychoanalyst Josef Breuer’s treatment of “Anna O” (real name Bertha Pappenheim) for hysteria in the late 1800s using early psychoanalytic theory.
• Little Hans – A child psychoanalysis case study published by Sigmund Freud in 1909 analyzing his five-year-old patient Herbert Graf’s house phobia as related to the Oedipus complex.
• Bruce/Brenda – Gender identity case of the boy (Bruce) whose botched circumcision led psychologist John Money to advise gender reassignment and raise him as a girl (Brenda) in the 1960s.
• Genie Wiley – Linguistics/psychological development case of the victim of extreme isolation abuse who was studied in 1970s California for effects of early language deprivation on acquiring speech later in life.
• Phineas Gage – One of the most famous neuropsychology case studies analyzes personality changes in railroad worker Phineas Gage after an 1848 brain injury involving a tamping iron piercing his skull.

Clinical Case Studies

• Studying the effectiveness of psychotherapy approaches with an individual patient
• Assessing and treating mental illnesses like depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD
• Neuropsychological cases investigating brain injuries or disorders

Child Psychology Case Studies

• Studying psychological development from birth through adolescence
• Cases of learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD
• Effects of trauma, abuse, deprivation on development

Types of Case Studies

• Explanatory case studies : Used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles. Helpful for doing qualitative analysis to explain presumed causal links.
• Exploratory case studies : Used to explore situations where an intervention being evaluated has no clear set of outcomes. It helps define questions and hypotheses for future research.
• Descriptive case studies : Describe an intervention or phenomenon and the real-life context in which it occurred. It is helpful for illustrating certain topics within an evaluation.
• Multiple-case studies : Used to explore differences between cases and replicate findings across cases. Helpful for comparing and contrasting specific cases.
• Intrinsic : Used to gain a better understanding of a particular case. Helpful for capturing the complexity of a single case.
• Collective : Used to explore a general phenomenon using multiple case studies. Helpful for jointly studying a group of cases in order to inquire into the phenomenon.

Where Do You Find Data for a Case Study?

There are several places to find data for a case study. The key is to gather data from multiple sources to get a complete picture of the case and corroborate facts or findings through triangulation of evidence. Most of this information is likely qualitative (i.e., verbal description rather than measurement), but the psychologist might also collect numerical data.

1. Primary sources

• Interviews – Interviewing key people related to the case to get their perspectives and insights. The interview is an extremely effective procedure for obtaining information about an individual, and it may be used to collect comments from the person’s friends, parents, employer, workmates, and others who have a good knowledge of the person, as well as to obtain facts from the person him or herself.
• Observations – Observing behaviors, interactions, processes, etc., related to the case as they unfold in real-time.
• Documents & Records – Reviewing private documents, diaries, public records, correspondence, meeting minutes, etc., relevant to the case.

2. Secondary sources

• News/Media – News coverage of events related to the case study.
• Academic articles – Journal articles, dissertations etc. that discuss the case.
• Government reports – Official data and records related to the case context.
• Books/films – Books, documentaries or films discussing the case.

3. Archival records

Searching historical archives, museum collections and databases to find relevant documents, visual/audio records related to the case history and context.

Public archives like newspapers, organizational records, photographic collections could all include potentially relevant pieces of information to shed light on attitudes, cultural perspectives, common practices and historical contexts related to psychology.

4. Organizational records

Organizational records offer the advantage of often having large datasets collected over time that can reveal or confirm psychological insights.

Of course, privacy and ethical concerns regarding confidential data must be navigated carefully.

However, with proper protocols, organizational records can provide invaluable context and empirical depth to qualitative case studies exploring the intersection of psychology and organizations.

• Organizational/industrial psychology research : Organizational records like employee surveys, turnover/retention data, policies, incident reports etc. may provide insight into topics like job satisfaction, workplace culture and dynamics, leadership issues, employee behaviors etc.
• Clinical psychology : Therapists/hospitals may grant access to anonymized medical records to study aspects like assessments, diagnoses, treatment plans etc. This could shed light on clinical practices.
• School psychology : Studies could utilize anonymized student records like test scores, grades, disciplinary issues, and counseling referrals to study child development, learning barriers, effectiveness of support programs, and more.

How do I Write a Case Study in Psychology?

Follow specified case study guidelines provided by a journal or your psychology tutor. General components of clinical case studies include: background, symptoms, assessments, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. Interpreting the information means the researcher decides what to include or leave out. A good case study should always clarify which information is the factual description and which is an inference or the researcher’s opinion.

1. Introduction

• Provide background on the case context and why it is of interest, presenting background information like demographics, relevant history, and presenting problem.
• Compare briefly to similar published cases if applicable. Clearly state the focus/importance of the case.

2. Case Presentation

• Describe the presenting problem in detail, including symptoms, duration,and impact on daily life.
• Include client demographics like age and gender, information about social relationships, and mental health history.
• Describe all physical, emotional, and/or sensory symptoms reported by the client.
• Use patient quotes to describe the initial complaint verbatim. Follow with full-sentence summaries of relevant history details gathered, including key components that led to a working diagnosis.
• Summarize clinical exam results, namely orthopedic/neurological tests, imaging, lab tests, etc. Note actual results rather than subjective conclusions. Provide images if clearly reproducible/anonymized.
• Clearly state the working diagnosis or clinical impression before transitioning to management.

3. Management and Outcome

• Indicate the total duration of care and number of treatments given over what timeframe. Use specific names/descriptions for any therapies/interventions applied.
• Present the results of the intervention,including any quantitative or qualitative data collected.
• For outcomes, utilize visual analog scales for pain, medication usage logs, etc., if possible. Include patient self-reports of improvement/worsening of symptoms. Note the reason for discharge/end of care.

4. Discussion

• Analyze the case, exploring contributing factors, limitations of the study, and connections to existing research.
• Analyze the effectiveness of the intervention,considering factors like participant adherence, limitations of the study, and potential alternative explanations for the results.
• Identify any questions raised in the case analysis and relate insights to established theories and current research if applicable. Avoid definitive claims about physiological explanations.
• Offer clinical implications, and suggest future research directions.

5. Additional Items

• Thank specific assistants for writing support only. No patient acknowledgments.
• References should directly support any key claims or quotes included.
• Use tables/figures/images only if substantially informative. Include permissions and legends/explanatory notes.
• Provides detailed (rich qualitative) information.
• Provides insight for further research.
• Permitting investigation of otherwise impractical (or unethical) situations.

Case studies allow a researcher to investigate a topic in far more detail than might be possible if they were trying to deal with a large number of research participants (nomothetic approach) with the aim of ‘averaging’.

Because of their in-depth, multi-sided approach, case studies often shed light on aspects of human thinking and behavior that would be unethical or impractical to study in other ways.

Research that only looks into the measurable aspects of human behavior is not likely to give us insights into the subjective dimension of experience, which is important to psychoanalytic and humanistic psychologists.

Case studies are often used in exploratory research. They can help us generate new ideas (that might be tested by other methods). They are an important way of illustrating theories and can help show how different aspects of a person’s life are related to each other.

The method is, therefore, important for psychologists who adopt a holistic point of view (i.e., humanistic psychologists ).

Limitations

• Lacking scientific rigor and providing little basis for generalization of results to the wider population.
• Researchers’ own subjective feelings may influence the case study (researcher bias).
• Difficult to replicate.
• Time-consuming and expensive.
• The volume of data, together with the time restrictions in place, impacted the depth of analysis that was possible within the available resources.

Because a case study deals with only one person/event/group, we can never be sure if the case study investigated is representative of the wider body of “similar” instances. This means the conclusions drawn from a particular case may not be transferable to other settings.

Because case studies are based on the analysis of qualitative (i.e., descriptive) data , a lot depends on the psychologist’s interpretation of the information she has acquired.

This means that there is a lot of scope for Anna O , and it could be that the subjective opinions of the psychologist intrude in the assessment of what the data means.

For example, Freud has been criticized for producing case studies in which the information was sometimes distorted to fit particular behavioral theories (e.g., Little Hans ).

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• Case Study Approach
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• Enhancing the Quality of Case Studies in Health Services Research
• “We do things together” A case study of “couplehood” in dementia
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• Open access
• Published: 27 May 2024

Patients’ satisfaction with cancer pain treatment at adult oncologic centers in Northern Ethiopia; a multi-center cross-sectional study

• Molla Amsalu 1 ,
• Henos Enyew Ashagrie 2 ,
• Amare Belete Getahun 2 &
• Yophtahe Woldegerima Berhe   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0988-7723 2  

BMC Cancer volume  24 , Article number:  647 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

79 Accesses

Metrics details

Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of healthcare. Pain is one of the most common symptoms among cancer patients that needs optimal treatment; rather, it compromises the quality of life of patients.

To assess the levels and associated factors of satisfaction with cancer pain treatment among adult patients at cancer centers found in Northern Ethiopia in 2023.

After obtaining ethical approval, a multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted at four cancer care centers in northern Ethiopia. The data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire that included the Lubeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire (LMSQ). The severity of pain was assessed by a numerical rating scale from 0 to 10 with a pain score of 0 = no pain, 1–3 = mild pain, 4–6 = moderate pain, and 7–10 = severe pain Binary logistic regression analysis was employed, and the strength of association was described in an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval.

A total of 397 cancer patients participated in this study, with a response rate of 98.3%. We found that 70.3% of patients were satisfied with their cancer pain treatment. Being married (AOR = 5.6, CI = 2.6–12, P  < 0.001) and being single (never married) (AOR = 3.5, CI = 1.3–9.7, P  = 0.017) as compared to divorced, receiving adequate pain management (AOR = 2.4, CI = 1.1–5.3, P  = 0.03) as compared to those who didn’t receive it, and having lower pain severity (AOR = 2.6, CI = 1.5–4.8, P  < 0.001) as compared to those who had higher level of pain severity were found to be associated with satisfaction with cancer pain treatment.

The majority of cancer patients were satisfied with cancer pain treatment. Being married, being single (never married), lower pain severity, and receiving adequate pain management were found to be associated with satisfaction with cancer pain treatment. It would be better to enhance the use of multimodal analgesia in combination with strong opioids to ensure adequate pain management and lower pain severity scores.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage [ 1 ]. The prevalence of pain in cancer patients is 44.5-66%. with the prevalence of moderate to severe pain ranging from 30 to 38%, and it can persist in 5-10% of cancer survivors [ 2 ]. Using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer pain management guidelines can effectively reduce cancer-related pain in 70-90% of patients [ 3 , 4 ]. Compared to traditional pain states, the mechanism of cancer-related pain is less understood; however, cancer-specific mechanisms, inflammatory, and neuropathic processes have been identified [ 5 ]. Uncontrolled pain can negatively affect patients’ daily lives, emotional health, social relationships, and adherence to cancer treatment [ 6 ]. Patients with moderate to severe pain have a higher fatigue score, a loss of appetite, and financial difficulties [ 7 ]. Patients fear the pain caused by cancer more than dying from the disease since pain affects their physical and mental aspects of life [ 8 ]. A meta-analysis of 30 studies stated that pain was found to be a significant prognostic factor for short-term survival in cancer patients [ 9 ]. Many cancer patients have a very poor prognosis. However, adequate pain treatment prevents suffering and improves their quality of life. Although the WHO suggested non-opioids for mild pain, weak opioids for moderate pain, and strong opioids for severe pain, pain treatment is not yet adequate in one-third of cancer patients [ 10 ].

Patient satisfaction with pain management is a valuable measure of treatment effectiveness and outcome. It could be used to evaluate the quality of care [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Patient satisfaction affects treatment compliance and adherence [ 12 ]. Studies have reported that 60-76% of patients were satisfied with pain treatment, and a variety of factors were found associated with levels of satisfaction [ 3 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Studies conducted in Ethiopia reported the prevalence of pain ranging from 59.9 to 93.4% [ 17 , 18 ]. These studies indicate that cancer pain is inadequately treated. Assessment of pain treatment satisfaction can help identify appropriate treatment modalities and further its effectiveness. We conducted this study since there was limited research-based evidence on cancer pain management in low-income countries like Ethiopia. Our research questions were: how satisfied are adult cancer patients with pain treatment, and what are the factors associated with the satisfaction of adult cancer patients with pain treatment?

Methodology

Study design, area, period, and population.

A multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted at four cancer care centers in Amhara National Regional State, Northern Ethiopia from March to May 2023. Those cancer care centers were found in the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (UoGCSH), Felege-Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (FHCSH), Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Specialised Hospital (TGCSH) and Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (DCSH). We selected these centers as they were the only institutions providing oncologic care in the region during the study period.

The UoGCSH had 28 beds in its adult oncology ward and serves 450 cancer patients every month. Three specialist oncologists and 12 nurses provide services in the ward. The FHCSH had 22 beds and provides services for 325 cancer patients every month. Two specialist oncologists, two oncologic nurses, and 7 comprehensive nurses provide services. The TGCSH had eight beds and serves 300 cancer patients every month. There were three specialist oncologists and four oncologic nurses at the care center. The cancer care center at DCSH had 10 beds. It serves 350 cancer patients every month. There was one specialist oncologist, three oncologic nurses, and three comprehensive nurses.

All cancer patients who attended those cancer care centers were the source population, and adult (18+) cancer patients who were prescribed pain treatment for a minimum of one month were the study population. Unconscious patients, patients with psychiatric problems, patients with advanced cancer who were unable to cooperate, and patients with oncologic emergencies were excluded from this study.

Variables and operational definitions

The outcome variable was patient satisfaction with cancer pain treatment, which was measured by the Lubeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire. The independent variables were sociodemographic (age, sex, marital status, monthly income, and level of education), clinical (site of tumor, stage of cancer, metastasis), cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), level of pain, and analgesia (type of analgesia, severity of pain, adequacy of pain treatment, adjuvant analgesic).

• Patient satisfaction

perceptions of the patients regarding the outcome of pain management and the extent to which it meets their needs and expectations. It was measured by a 4-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree) using the LMSQ which has 18 items within 6 subscales that have 3 items in each (effectivity, practicality, side-effects, daily life, healthcare providers, and overall satisfaction) [ 19 ]. Final categorization was done by dichotomizing into satisfied and dissatisfied by using the demarcation threshold formula.

\((\frac{\text{T}\text{o}\text{t}\text{a}\text{l}\,\,\text{h}\text{i}\text{g}\text{h}\text{e}\text{s}\text{t}\,\,\text{s}\text{c}\text{o}\text{r}\text{e} - \text{T}\text{o}\text{t}\text{a}\text{l}\,\, \text{l}\text{o}\text{w}\text{e}\text{s}\text{t}\,\, \text{s}\text{c}\text{o}\text{r}\text{e} }{2}\) ) + Total lowest score [ 20 ]. The highest patient satisfaction score was 70 and the lowest satisfaction score was 26. A score < 48 was classified as dissatisfied, and a score ≥ 48 was classified as satisfied.

The Numeric rating scale (NRS) is a validated pain intensity assessment tool that helps to give patients a subjective feeling of pain with a numerical value between 0 and 10, in which 0 = no pain, 1–3 = mild pain, 4–6 = moderate pain, 7–10 = severe pain [ 21 ].

The Adequacy of cancer pain treatment was measured by calculating the Pain Management Index (PMI) according to the recommendations of the WHO pain management guideline [ 22 ]. The PMI was calculated by considering the prescribed most potent analgesic agent and the worst pain reported in the last 24 h [ 23 ]. The prescribed analgesics were scored as follows: 0 = no analgesia, 1 = non-opioid analgesia, 2 = weak opioids, and 3 = strong opioids. The PMI was calculated by subtracting the reported NRS value from the type of most potent analgesics administered. The calculated values of PMI ranged from − 3 (no analgesia therapy for a patient with severe pain) to + 3 (strong opioid for a patient with no pain). Patients with a positive PMI value were considered to be receiving adequate analgesia, whereas those with a negative PMI value were considered to be receiving inadequate analgesia.

Sample size determination and sampling technique

A single population proportion formula was used to determine the sample size by considering 50% satisfaction with cancer pain treatment and a 5% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval (CI). A non-probability (consecutive) sampling technique was employed to attain a sample size within two months of data collection period. After adjusting the proportional allocation for each center and adding 5% none response, a total of 404 study participants were included in the study: 128 from the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, 99 from Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, 92 from Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, and 85 from Tibebe Ghion Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.

Data collection, processing, and analysis

Ethical approval.

was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the School of Medicine at the University of Gondar ( Reference number: CMHS/SM/06/01/4097/2015) . Data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and chart review during outpatient and inpatient hospital visits by four trained data collectors (one for every center). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant after detailed explanations about the study. Informed consent with a fingerprint signature was obtained from patients who could not read or write after detailed explanations by the data collectors as approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the School of Medicine, at the University of Gondar.

Questions to assess the severity of pain and pain relief were taken from the American Pain Society patient outcome questionnaire [ 24 ]. Patients were asked to report the worst and least pain in the past 24 h and the current pain by using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10, with a pain score of 0 = no pain, 1–3 = mild pain, 4–6 = moderate pain, 7–10 = severe pain.

The Pain Management Index (PMI) based on WHO guidelines, was used to quantify pain management by measuring the adequacy of cancer pain treatment [ 25 ]. The following scores were given (0 = no analgesia, 1 = non-opioid analgesia, 2 = weak opioid 3 = strong opioid). Pain Management Index was calculated by subtracting self-reported pain level from the type of analgesia administered and ranges from − 3 (no analgesic therapy for a patient with severe pain) to + 3 (strong opioid for a patient with no pain). The level of pain was defined as 0 with no pain, 1 for mild pain, 2 for moderate pain, and 3 for severe pain. Patients with negative PMI scores received inadequate analgesia.

The pain treatment satisfaction was measured by the Lübeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire (LMSQ) consisting of 18 items [ 19 ]. Lübeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire (LMSQ) has six subclasses each consisting of equally waited and similar context of three items. The subclass includes satisfaction with the effectiveness of pain medication, satisfaction with the practicality or form of pain medication, satisfaction with the side effect profile of pain medication, satisfaction with daily life after receiving pain treatment, satisfaction with healthcare providers, and overall satisfaction. Satisfaction was expressed by a four-point Likert scale (4 = Strongly Agree, 3 = Agree, 2 = Disagree, 1 = Strongly Disagree). The side effect subclass was phrased negatively, marked with Asterix, and reverse-scored in STATA before data analysis.

Data were collected with an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by using 40 pretested participants and the reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha value) of the questionnaire was 91.2%. The collected data was checked for completeness, accuracy, and clarity by the investigators. The cleaned and coded data were entered in Epi-data software version 4.6 and exported to STATA version 17. The Shapiro-Wilk test, variance inflation factor, and Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to assess distribution, multicollinearity, and model fitness, respectively. Descriptive, Chi-square and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the associations between the independent and dependent variables. The independent variables with a p-value < 0.2 in the bivariable binary logistic regression were fitted to the final multivariable binary logistic regression analysis. Variables with p-value < 0.05 in the final analysis were considered to have a statistically significant association. The strength of associations was described in adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at a 95% confidence interval.

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics

A total of 397 patients were involved in this study (response rate of 98.3%). Of the participants, 224 (56.4%) were female, and over half were from rural areas ( n  = 210, 52.9%). The median (IQR) age was 48 (38–59) years [Table  1 ]. The most common type of cancer was gastrointestinal cancer 114 (28.7%). Most of the study participants, 213 (63.7%), were diagnosed with stage II to III cancer. The majority of the participants were taking chemotherapy alone (292 (73.6%)) [Table  2 ]. Over 90% of patients reported pain; 42.3% reported mild pain, 39.8% reported moderate pain, and 10.1% reported severe pain. Pain treatment adequacy was assessed by self-reports from study participants following pain management guidelines, and 17.1% of patients responded to having inadequate pain treatment. The majority of patients, 132 (33.3%), were prescribed combinations of non-opioid and weak opioid analgesics for cancer pain treatment. Only 34 (8.6%) cancer patients used either strong opioids alone or in combination with non-opioid analgesics.

Patients’ satisfaction with cancer pain treatment and correlation among the subscales

Most participants strongly agree (243, (61.2%)) with item LMSQ18 in the “overall satisfaction” subscale and strongly disagree (206, (51.9%)) for item LMSQ2 in the “side-effect” subscale respectively [Table  3 ]. The highest satisfaction score was observed in the side-effect subscale, with a median (IQR) of 10 (9–11) [Table  4 ].

Two hundred and seventy-nine (70.3%) cancer patients were found to be satisfied with cancer pain treatment (CI = 65.6−74.6%). The highest satisfaction rate was observed in the “side-effects” subscale, to which 343 (86.4%) responded satisfied [Fig.  1 ]. A Spearman’s correlation test revealed that there were correlations among the subscales of LMSQ; and the strongest positive correlation was observed between effectivity and healthcare workers subscale (r s = 0.7, p  < 0.0001). The correlation among the subscales is illustrated in a heatmap [Fig.  2 ].

Patient satisfaction with cancer pain treatment with each LMSQ subclass, n  = 397

A heatmap showing the Spearman correlation of each subclass of pain treatment satisfaction, n  = 397

Factors associated with patient satisfaction with cancer pain treatment

In the bivariable binary logistic regression analysis, marital status, stage of cancer, types of cancer treatment, severity of pain in the last 24 h, current pain severity, types of analgesics, and pain management index met the threshold of P-value < 0.2 to be included into the final multivariable binary logistic regression analysis. In the final analysis, marital status, current pain severity, and pain management index were significantly associated with patient satisfaction (P-value < 0.05). Married and single cancer patients had higher odds of being satisfied with cancer pain treatment compared to divorced patients (AOR = 5.6, CI, 2.6–12.0, P  < 0.001), (AOR = 3.5, CI = 1.3–9.7, P  = 0.017), respectively. The odds of being satisfied with cancer pain treatment among patients who received adequate pain management were more than two times greater than those who received inadequate pain management (AOR = 2.4, CI = 1.1–5.3, P  = 0.03). Patients who reported a lesser severity of current pain were nearly three times more likely to be satisfied with cancer pain treatment (AOR = 2.6, CI = 1.5–4.8, P  < 0.001) [Table  5 ].

The objective of the present study was to assess patients’ satisfaction with cancer pain treatment at adult oncologic centers. Our study revealed that most cancer patients (70.3%) have been satisfied with cancer pain treatment. This is consistent with studies done by Kaggwa et al. and Mazzotta et al. [ 16 , 26 ]. Whereas, it is a higher rate of satisfaction compared to other studies that reported 33.0% [ 27 ] and 47.7% [ 28 ] of satisfaction. The differences might be possibly explained by the use of different pain and satisfaction assessment tools, the greater inclusion (about 70%) of patients with advanced stages of cancer, the duration of cancer pain treatment, and the adequacy of pain management. In the current study, only 19.6% of patients have been diagnosed with stage IV cancer: patients should take treatment at least for a month, and over 80% of patients have received adequate pain management according to PMI. However, some studies have reported higher rates of satisfaction with cancer pain treatment [ 15 , 29 ]. The possible reason for the discrepancy might be the greater (over 40%) use of strong opioid analgesics in the previous studies. Strong opioids were prescribed only for 8.6% of patients in our study. Due to the complex pathophysiology, cancer pain involves multiple pain pathways. Hence, multimodal analgesia in combination with strong opioids is vital in cancer pain management [ 30 ]. Furthermore, the use of epidural analgesia could be another reason for higher rates of satisfaction [ 29 ].

Regarding satisfaction with subscales of LMSQ, about 80% of patients were satisfied with the information provided by the healthcare providers [ 27 ]. In our study; 67.8% of patients were satisfied with the education provided by healthcare providers about their disease and treatment. In contrast, a higher proportion of participants were satisfied with information provision in a study conducted by Kharel et al. [ 29 ]. Furthermore, we observed the lowest satisfaction rate in the daily life subscale. About 48% of cancer patients were not satisfied with their daily lives after receiving analgesic treatment for cancer pain.

Married and single (never married) cancer patients were found to have higher odds of being satisfied with cancer pain treatment as compared to divorced cancer patients. These findings could be explained by the presence of better social support from family or loved ones. Better social support can enhance positive coping mechanisms, increase a sense of well-being, and decrease anxiety and depression. It also improves a sense of societal vitality and results in higher patient’ satisfaction [ 31 , 32 ].

Patients who had a lower pain score were satisfied compared to those who reported a higher pain score, and this is supported by multiple previous studies [ 16 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 33 , 34 ]. This could be explained by the negative impacts of pain on physical function, sleep, mood, and wellbeing [ 35 ]. Moreover, higher pain severity scores could increase financial expenses because of unnecessary or avoidable emergency department visits; and has a consequence of dissatisfaction [ 23 ]. On the contrary, there are studies that state pain severity does not affect patients’ satisfaction [ 36 , 37 ].

Positive PMI scores were significantly associated with cancer pain treatment satisfaction. Patients who received adequate pain management were highly likely to be satisfied with cancer pain treatment. This finding is similar to that of a study done in Taiwan [ 38 ]. However, a study conducted by Kaggwa et al. has denied any association between PMI scores and cancer pain satisfaction [ 16 ].

Satisfaction with healthcare workers and effectivity of analgesics

This study showed that there was a moderately positive correlation between satisfaction with healthcare workers and satisfaction with patients’ perceived effectiveness of analgesics. This might be explained by a positive relationship between healthcare professionals and patients receiving cancer pain treatment. Healthcare providers who provide health education regarding the effectiveness of analgesics may improve patients’ adherence to the prescribed analgesic agent and improve patients’ perceived satisfaction with the effectiveness of analgesics. A systematic review showed that the hope and positivity of healthcare professionals were important for patients to cope with cancer and increase satisfaction with care [ 39 ]. Increased patient satisfaction with care provided by healthcare workers may change attitude of patients who accepted cancer pain as God’s wisdom or punishment and create a positive attitude toward the effectiveness of analgesics [ 40 ]. Another study supported this finding and stated that healthcare providers who deliver health education regarding the prevention of drug addiction, side effects of analgesics, timing, and dosage of analgesics improve patient attitude and cancer pain treatment [ 41 ].

Correlation of each subclass of cancer pain treatment satisfaction

A Spearman correlation was run to assess the correlation of each subclass of LMSQ using the total sample. There was strong positive correlation (r s = 0.5–0.64) between most of LMSQ subclass at p  < 0.01.

A cross-sectional study stated that the effectiveness of analgesic, efficacy of medication and patient healthcare provider communication were associated with patient satisfaction [ 42 ]. In this study, 58.2% of patients were satisfied with the practicability of analgesic medications. Comparable to this study, a cross-sectional study stated that patients who were prescribed convenient, fast-acting medications were more satisfied [ 43 ]. Another study stated that 100% of patients who received sufficient information on analgesic treatment and 97.9% of patients who received sufficient information about the side effects of analgesic treatment were satisfied with cancer pain management [ 44 ]. Patients who were satisfied with their pain levels reported statistically lower mean pain scores (2.26 ± 1.70) compared to those not satisfied (4.68 ± 2.07) or not sure (4.21 ± 2.21) [ 27 ]. This may be explained by the impact of pain on daily activity. Patients who report a lower average pain score may have a lower impact of pain on physical activity compared to those who report a higher mean pain score. Another study also supports this evidence and states that patients who reported a severe pain score and lower quality of life had lower satisfaction with the treatment received [ 45 ].

As a secondary outcome, only 16% of patients were diagnosed to have stage I cancer. This finding could indirectly indicate that there were delays in cancer diagnosis at earlier stage. Further studies may be required to underpin this finding.

In this study, baseline pain before analgesic treatment was not assessed and documented. As a cross-sectional study, we could not draw a cause-and-effect conclusion. Since questions that were used to measure oncologic pain treatment satisfaction were self-reported, answers to each question might not be trustful. The expectation and opinion of the interviewer also might affect the result of the study. These could be potential limitations of the study.

Conclusions

Despite the fact that most cancer patients reported moderate to severe pain, there was a high rate of satisfaction with cancer pain treatment. It would be better if hospitals, healthcare professionals, and administrators took measures to enhance the use of multimodal analgesia in combination with strong opioids to ensure adequate pain management, lower pain severity scores, and better daily life. We also urge the arrangement of better social support mechanisms for cancer patients, the improvement of information provision, and the deployment of professionals who have trained in pain management discipline at cancer care centres.

Data availability

Data and materials used in this study are available and can be presented by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Adjusted Odds Ratio

Crude Odds Ratio

Confidence Interval

Dessie Compressive and Specialized Hospital

Felege-Hiwot Compressive and Specialized Hospital

Inter-quartile Range

Lubeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire

Numerical Rating Scale

Pain Management Index

Standard Deviation

Tibebe-Ghion Compressive and Specialized Hospital

University of Gondar Compressive and Specialized Hospital

World health organization

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Felege-Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. We would also want to acknowledge Ludwig Matrisch from the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Universität zu Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany for supporting us on the utilization of the Lübeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire (LMSQ) [email protected],

This study was supported by University of Gondar and Debre Birhan University with no conflict of interest. The support did not include publication charges.

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Department of Anesthesia, Debre Birhan University, Debre Birhan, Ethiopia

Molla Amsalu

Department of Anaesthesia, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Henos Enyew Ashagrie, Amare Belete Getahun & Yophtahe Woldegerima Berhe

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‘’M.A. has conceptualized the study and objectives; and developed the proposal. Y.W.B., H.E.A., and A.B.G. criticized the proposal. All authors had participated in the data management and statistical analyses. Y.W.B, M.A., and H.E.A. have prepared the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.‘’.

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Correspondence to Yophtahe Woldegerima Berhe .

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Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the School of Medicine, at the University of Gondar ( Reference number: CMHS/SM/06/01/4097/2015, Date: March 24, 2023 ). Permission support letters were obtained from FHCSH, TGCSH, and DCSH. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant after detailed explanations about the study. Informed consent with a fingerprint signature was obtained from patients who could not read or write after detailed explanations by the data collectors as approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the School of Medicine, at the University of Gondar.

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Amsalu, M., Ashagrie, H.E., Getahun, A.B. et al. Patients’ satisfaction with cancer pain treatment at adult oncologic centers in Northern Ethiopia; a multi-center cross-sectional study. BMC Cancer 24 , 647 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-024-12359-7

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Received : 17 October 2023

Accepted : 08 May 2024

Published : 27 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-024-12359-7

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