What is a Case Study?
A Case study is research material aimed at learning about a subject, event , product, service or an organization. Case studies are used frequently in areas like social work, psychology and businesses . A Case study is a process or research in which detailed consideration is given to the development of a particular person, group, or situation over some time.
“ By the time there is a case study about your industry, you are already too late”
– Seth Godin
Subjects of Case Study
A case study addresses different types of subjects on people and groups to individuals and even big organizations.
Individual
This focuses on one individual. This could be for a patient at a psychology clinic or may be a neurology patient. A case study could be focused on a person’s life and their experiences. A good example would be patient reports and diagnosis.
Samples of Medical Studies – Information Collection Sheet
Group
This study is focused on groups. It can be conducted using online forms, physical forms, or by talking to people that meet the particular criteria on which the study is focused.
Area/location
A case study could be focused on an area or location. For example, when a business tries to expand to a newer area they will have to study the new location to try and improve their chances of success.
This is an example on how a location case study is expressed-
Business
This study focuses on Business. It covers the employment, accounts, finances and management of a business. Each part can be focused on or a bigger study could be conducted studying multiple areas of the business. These can be used to show clients and customers the improvements from last year or earlier years.
A Business report could show statistics from a merger, the launch of a new product, reports of profits from last year etc. These could be used to keep clients up-to-date or inform shareholders on how different decisions have affected the company.
Event
Event Case Studies help you manage and improve an event. It could be an exhibition or celebration. The study can help you improve on the mistakes by studying past events. This could range from proper invites to proper spatial management for the guests.
“ My own life is a case study for what I believe in”
– Simon Senik
Types of Case Studies
Illustrative case study
They normally make use of one or more instances of an event to study. Illustrative case studies serve normally to make the ignorant aware of that particular subject without complicating it.
Exploratory Case Study
Exploratory Case Studies are performed before conducting a large-scale investigation. Their primary function is to become aware of basic questions and decide on the types of metrics before starting the investigation.
These are performed for sectors where nothing has been researched or done before and you are entering a new area. In this you will have to learn from what is happening instead of from previous notes or case studies.
Cumulative Case study
These are used to combine information from several sources at different times. The goal of this research is to summarize past research without spending additional time and money on new investigations.
Critical Instance Case Study
The main reason to write this case study is to investigate one or more sources of unique interests and focus on a single instance instead of generalizing the situation.This method particularly answers cause and effect queries about the given instance.You know what could be the biggest problem here? Not enough specific points in the evaluation question.
Descriptive case studies
This is conducted when you have existing research or findings. These are usually different from others studies as these tackle subjects like how certain groups of people will react to something. In a descriptive case study, the researcher will only observe and evaluate, they do not interfere.This study identifies patterns between subject and theory.
Examples would include-
Do the people of district A prefer products from company X or company Y?
How has the stock market changed over the past 10 years?
Intrinsic case studies
An intrinsic case study is interesting or unusual when compared to others. It could be researched when certain students are doing so well and get exceptional results. It usually studies the special few subjects that excel among many.
Conclusion
Case Studies are a tool used by different professionals to study, record and report their findings. They are also used to promote businesses or products as a publicity tool or bridge the gap with potential customers. These findings are then used by the another professional to learn better about the subject and make any improvements they can to further improve that study. Various fields use the various types of case studies to provide a better service on their part, as different types help find which is more suitable for which condition.
Read about How to write a better Case study here – https://internetserves.com/7-steps-to-an-effective-case-study/
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