Selecting case study -How to choose a Case Study for your school Project work

Selecting case study -How to choose a Case Study for your school Project work

Selecting case study for a project topic sometimes could pose a challenge but understanding what is required is more important and to a great extent will provide the solution to it. Every student in a tertiary intuition of learning and other levels of learning is often required to write and present a research project work, thesis or dissertation.

This is viewed as one of the most important parts of their learning and carries the most credit units in tertiary institutions. Moreso, when research works are being carried out it is required that the research work is built around a case and carrying out work to build your case covering the scope of the research is called a case study.

However, let’s define what a case study is properly:

A case study is an approach that allows or permits in-depth explorations of issues especially those of high complexity in real-life contexts or real-life settings. It is an approach whose value and importance are recognized vastly in every sphere of enterprise and sphere.

It is useful, particularly in the employment or engaging necessities arising from the urge to have an in-depth appreciation of issues, events, and interests in their natural and real-life context. It aims at rendering calculated methodological considerations for any kind of work.

A man called John Gerring wrote about “the case study” and he defined the approach as an “intensive study of a single unit or a small number of units (or could also be called cases), for the purpose of appreciating a larger class of similar units (an extended or vast community of cases).”

Morse, Gerring argued, that the case study approach would lend itself to an idiographic method of an analysis of what is, wherein quantitative work lends itself to a nomothetic style of analysis. Furthermore, Mr John getting added and I quote “the defining feature of qualitative work is its use of non-comparable observations—observations that pertain to different aspects of a causal or descriptive question even though quantitative observations are comparable”.

Also according to this Mr John Gerring, the crucial element that discerns the case study approach from other techniques of research is the “reliance on evidence drawn from a single case and its attempts, at the same time, to illuminate features of a broader set of cases.” It has been observed that Scholars use case studies to shed light on a “class” of phenomena.

For instance, in business, a case study will or might seek to cover specific areas such as proprietary strategies or a broader range of market events that have a direct relationship with the proprietary enterprise, however, in politics, it might cover narrow political systems and happenings over a time period. Simply put a case study seeks to make emphasis on specific subjects highlighting in the process important occasions and salient points.

Case study types

There are basically 2 types of case studies and they include these:

Cross case research: this is a type of case study research that involved numerous cases embodied into one single topic of discussion or line of thought

Within Case Research: this type of case study research actually deals with where just a single case is being researched or studied within a particular context.

Uses of Case studies

1. It is a fruitful way of coming up with or generating hypothetical theories. Examples include, Douglass North’s economic theory and another powerful example are Darwin’s theory on evolution.
2. It is tested and trusted to frequent use to be vastly useful in the formation of concepts and building up theories.
3. It has contributed largely to the world’s wealth of knowledge through its practice of it.
4. It helps in performing and carrying out quality projects as it highlights and lays emphasis on qualitative components existing within the confines of the subject matter.
5. It is a useful tool in assessing and weighing in on plausible arguments through explained empirical regularities.
6. It specifies casually mechanisms that may be hard to get in larger subject matter studies.

How to select a case study

The practice of picking case studies is driven by the intent to identify cases that are a representation of the sample and has variants related to the dimensions of its theoretical interests. However while selecting, it is more useful for you to select subjects that offer interesting and particularly revealing sets of circumstances so as to produce only in seldom these kinds of insights.

1. Your case study must be relatable to your audience, the goal will be to ensure that your work would show your audience that you’re competent and knowledgeable about the work and that you understand the basic needs in the industry. Hence, you may need to create multiple case studies to connect with different audiences.
2. Your case study must tell a Story. This is a powerful market strategy that allows your readership entrance interestingly into what you’re researching on. Your case study must endeavour to highlight emotional benefits submerged in matrimonial bliss with hard numbers. Consequently, this will give your readership the chance to see that your goal is not only to help with immediate needs but also that you’re consistently in a labour to ensure long-term results.
3. Your Case Study must be Easy to Read, this is because people scarcely read large texts no matter how motivated they might be based on say the information embedded in your research paper but make sure to keep it simple.

Be sure to use good content formatting elements such as headers, images, bulleted lists, bold or, italicized text, etcetera.

4. Make sure to Talk About Specific Strategies in Your Case Study: be specific and not speculative in your rendition. This will help you to become an established brand or an industrial authority. This might mean that you’ll give away some details and numbers of profit but, then it will help show that you know your stuff.
5. Your case study must make an Appeal to Different Types of Learners in today’s world. This would entail that you rebrand your output into various mode types and shapes, such as books, audio, video, animation, 3d, visual representations, etc so as to make maximum impact and appeal to a wider scope of audience. Make your work easy to share, allow it to leave your personal internet space and let it roam through the disbursement of links. Case studies can also be embedded in other types of content — such as an ebook, etcetera.