Chapter 49: CASE STUDY
What is a "case study" and what are its uses? ---
Introduction:
What Is a Case
Study?
Two Formal
Patterns for
Case Studies
Informal
Patterns:
Observing and
Profiling
Standards for
Writing a Case
Study
Conclusion
Samples (on
separate web
page)
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Introduction:
What Is a Case Study?
This chapter briefly presents the "case study." The chapter
offers three styles or methods. The first two are formal methods, each
with a good example in the "Samples"
page. The third is a problem-solving method using a variety of informal or
semi-formal observation or profiling.
A case study is a specialized type of paper used in some social
sciences, medical, legal, and other fields. It often is found especially
in client/patient services settings such as in medical, social services, or
legal work.
A case study usually describes the problem or illness of a
patient or client, and it details a system or therapy for helping that patient.
Even though its specific use is in such fields, it has a more general
application of dealing logically and rationally in a step-by-step manner with
any kind of general problem in most professional workplaces and in many personal
difficulties. In so doing, it follows a common critical-thinking pattern
of examining
(a) the background of a problem
(b) the problem itself
(c) a plan for solving the problem
(d) the application of the solution
(e) the result
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Two Formal Patterns for Case
Studies
Here are two different patterns for a formal case study.
The first is a case study of an individual client or patient. The second
is a research survey. Here is a chart of the basic organizational pattern
for both:
TWO FORMAL CASE STUDY PATTERNS
Case Study
of an
Individual
Brief
Intro
Parag.
-----
-
PATIENT/CLIENT
-
SYMPTOMS:
Problems &
Diagnosis
-
TREATMENT
PLAN:
Components,
Application,
and
Results/Prognosis
-----
Brief
Conc.
Parag.
|
Research
Survey
Brief
Intro
Parag.
-----
- BACKGROUND
- PRESENT STUDY:
Sample,
Instrument,
and
Analysis
- FINDINGS
- CONCLUSIONS
-----
Brief
Conc.
Parag.
|
Case Study of an Individual:
There are many different versions of case studies in different
disciplines and different professions. However, here is a general pattern
that is somewhat typical for developing a case study:
Introduction:
A very brief
introduction
mentioning the
client/patient,
the
clinic/organization
handling
him/her, the
person(s) in
charge of
providing the
examinations and
therapies or
other
assistance, and
the purpose of
the case study
(for medical
records, a
research study,
etc.).
Patient/Client:
A thorough profile—a description—of the client or patient, the aspect he/she
presents at the first meeting(s), and/or the general background. In this
section, use such devices as the five W’s of journalism (who is the patient;
what is he/she; where does she live, work, play, etc.; when; and how or why?);
the five senses (e.g., how a patient looks, sounds, smells, moves, eats/smokes,
etc. is important in psychological profiles); social and family relations, work
and personal history; etc. Do not yet discuss the problem or illness in
this section.
Symptoms/Problem(s) & Diagnosis: A thorough
discussion of the person’s problem, or a set of symptoms and a diagnosis.
Treatment Plan:
Divide this into three subsections sub-subtitled as follows:
COMPONENTS OF TREATMENT—a description of the system
of help, or of the therapeutic method, that you or your organization chose for
the person. Do this in the abstract, relatively or
completely: do not yet discuss how you or others applied the help or therapy.
APPLICATION OF TREATMENT--a description of how the treatment was given and/or
what happened during (not after) the process of treatment.
RESULT/PROGNOSIS—a description of the results after the primary treatment cycle
was completed, and/or what the prognosis--the long-range expectations--is.
Conclusion: a very brief conclusion
reiterating the name of the patient, his/her problem or illness, the assistance,
and the result.
Use these sections to break information about the
client or patient into the appropriate parts.
Research Survey:
There are different versions of the case study called a research survey, as
well. Be sure to talk with your instructor or supervisor about what
categories he or she wants. Here is one type of pattern:
Introduction:
a very brief
introduction
summarizing the
problem or need
for the study,
the background,
the methodology
of the present
study, the
findings, and
what the
findings mean.
You should keep this very brief unless you are
expected to have a more thorough "abstract" (an official long paragraph
summarizing each of the sections of your paper) or "précis" (much the same as an
abstract--but be sure to create a key topic sentence for each section and major
subsection of your paper, and then repeat these topic sentences in your précis).
This abstract or précis then might be either a part of your first paragraph in
the paper, or a separate, longer, one- or two-paragraph section right after a
brief introductory paragraph.
Background:
Provide the research background that prompted your research survey. Why is
it good for the field to have your survey or study? If you are writing a
full research paper, this is one of the points at which you should quote and/or
paraphrase a number of up-to-date, relevant resources to help demonstrate the need for
your study and the particular parameters you are using for your methodology.
Especially with a number of resources named, this section sometimes can be quite
lengthy.
Client/Patient/Client:
a thorough profile—a description—of the client or patient, the aspect he/she
presents at the first meeting(s), and/or the general background. In this
section, use such devices as the five W’s of journalism (who is the patient;
what is he/she; where does she live, work, play, etc.; when; and how or why?);
the five senses (e.g., how a patient looks, sounds, smells, moves, eats/smokes,
etc. is important in psychological profiles); social and family relations, work
and personal history; etc. Do not yet discuss the problem or illness in
this section.
Present Study: Divide this into three subsections
sub-subtitled as follows:
SAMPLE—Describe in detail the group of people you
chose for your survey or study, how you chose them, and why. Provide the
parameters of your choosing so that your readers can see whether and how
scientific you were in your choices.
INSTRUMENT--Similarly, describe in detail the questions or other methodologies
you chose to use on the sample, above, how you chose these questions or
methodologies, and why. Again, provide the details--show the questions or
the methodology--so that readers can see whether and how scientific your choices
were.
ANALYSIS--Report the tabulated results, usually in some kind of statistical
list, chart, or table.
Findings:
Summarize the tabulated results in written form, being sure to include all the
results and their obviously factual meanings.
Conclusions: Discuss the likely
results, meanings, and reasonable interpretations and possibilities presented by
the findings. In addition, you may discuss potential future directions for
useful research and other investigations. This section can in a research
paper--as in the background section--become lengthy with the addition of quoted
and paraphrases resources that help support your interpretations and/or
suggestions for future investigations.
Conclusion: a very brief conclusion restating
the initial problem or need for the research, the present study, and its major
finding(s) and conclusion(s). Again, keep it brief.
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Informal Observation Report or Initial Profile
The third
pattern for case
study writing is
an informal,
rough-draft
method and also
a system for
writing
semi-formal
observation
reports or
initial
case-history
profiles in some
fields.
There are many
versions of it.
The basics of it
come from both
critical-thinking
studies and
storytelling.
The basic
structure is
person (client/patient)
problem (need/request)
solution (diagnosis/outcome)
Do not tell a story in a narrative format. That means you
should not just go from event to event in the order in which they happened.
Instead, break down the information you gather using one or more specific
categories or systems of description. For example, when describing a
patient, client, or employee's past, you might use a series of questions such as
those of the 10 P's
Personal 10 P's:
Portrait
(appearance,
demeanor)
Past
Problems
People
(friends,
family,
others)
Places
(work,
home,
travel)
Plans
(current,
future)
Phases
(daily,
weekly,
yearly
patterns)
Phrases
(use of
language,
speaking)
Pleasures/Passions
Pains
Using a system
of description with specific categories makes your description not only logical
and, often, more thorough. It also makes your descriptions consistent in
their structured content from one observation to the next.
Several systems of description are suggested below. Two of
them that are less known are the use of the five senses and of the 5 W's.
Use of the five senses simply means to describe the patient/client using as many
of the senses as possible by what you, the observer, observers and/or by what
the patient/client himself or herself is observing at the time--sight, sound,
taste, touch, and smell. And use of the journalistic 5 W's means simply,
as would a news writer, to describe by answering the questions "Who?," "What?,"
"Where?," "When," and "Why or How?" Answering these five simple questions
provides the basic details in one of the most common formats known to people in
developed civilization: the news report.
Your own discipline
or professions--or your individual instructor or supervisor--may have one or
more specific or applicable structures for you to use, so be sure to ask.
Here is a chart showing how four different types of professional
fields sometimes use the person-problem-solution format in rough draft writing
or in semi-formal or initial observations or profiles:
INFORMAL OBSERVATION OR PROFILE
Profession |
Description
of Person |
Description
of
Problem |
Description
of
Solution |
Psychological,
Psychiatric,
or
Nursing
Services: |
Physical/medical
description,
& 5 W's
description
of patient |
Description
of mental
and
emotional
problems, &
diagnosis |
Treatment
plan &
projected
results |
Social Work: |
Marital,
work,
financial, &
support
history of
applicant |
Description
of
financial,
housing,
food,
medical,
&/or
counseling
needs/problems |
Plan for
various
assistance
programs &
projected
results |
Legal Client
File: |
Client--5
W's &
relevant
past history |
Description
of legal
need,
situation,
or charge |
Several
possible
legal
actions &
resulting
resolutions |
Police Case
File: |
Complainant
or
Suspect--5
W's, 5
senses, &
past
criminal
history |
Description
of crime--5
W's & 5
senses |
5 W's of
projected
action plan,
charges,
and/or other
resolution
|
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Standards for
Writing a Case Study
Use of Verb Tense, Tone or Voice, and Style: Case studies usually are written
in the past tenseafter the patient or client has already been seen and helped
and there is a result to the assistance. The tone should be quite logical;
in some settings, it also should be cool and distance, whereas in others a tone
of warmth is allowed or even encouraged. In any case, a case study
of any kind is a scientific document, so it should be written as such.
Being
Logical, Inclusive, and Thorough: As mentioned above, all case studies are
scientific forms of writing and thinking. Therefore, even if they are
informal observations, they should not include mere opinion (unless it is a
thoroughly documented argument). Rather, they are documents that must meet
several important scientific standards.
First, they must be logical: that don't use
supposition or guesswork but rather careful logic in making observations.
For this reason, they must only report what is observed, not the assumptions
that might flow from it: for example, one should write, "The client was observed
entering the hospital, stumbling, and holding a vodka bottle upside down with
both hands cradling it to his chest"; one should not write, "Client was observed
walking drunk." Do not write conclusions (except formal ones in a formal
paper, based on careful diagnosis); rather, write the facts.
A second important scientific standard is that a
document must be inclusive. This means that you should not observe just
what is convenient or what you first see. Rather, you must observe as a
scientist does, looking for and including including any kind of detail that
might apply. For example, if you wrote the above observation example, "The
client was observed entering the hospital, stumbling, and holding a vodka bottle
upside down with both hands cradling it to his chest," you should add anything
else at all that might be relevant, especially anything possibly contradictory,
such as "Patient was wearing a well pressed, unwrinkled and clean suit and had a
bloody gash on his head, with blood slowly dripping into one eye. He was
blinking his eyes rapidly and was accompanied by a woman following behind him,
who said she was his wife." Include as many relevant facts, even those
that may not seem relevant at that point in time.
A third important scientific standard is to be
thorough. Do not simply write what you happen to see. Learn to look
harder. Learn to use a variety of senses--sight, sound, touch, taste, and
smell--and a variety of ways of finding out more information when it is
appropriate--asking questions of the patient or client, asking questions of
those with whom he or she has had interaction, checking his or her background,
living, and work conditions, et al. The more information you can find, the
more likely your understanding of the problem or situation is likely to be
accurate. Act like a thorough professional, not a quick, judgmental
amateur.
Conclusion
As mentioned previously, other patterns and types of
papers in the field of social and medical sciences also exist. Especially
if you are writing a science or lab report of some kind, you may want to see the
chapter in this section called "IMRaD." Always be
sure to ask your instructor, academic advisor for your major or senior project,
or your supervisor exactly what he or she wants. Also ask for sample
papers or other books on how to write the kind of paper he or she wants to see.
There are not a large number of textbooks on writing in the social sciences, but
good ones do exist if you look.
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Samples (on separate web page)
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