case study template

case study template

The Importance of Case Study Templates

1. Introduction

Case studies are stories. They present realistic, complex, and contextually rich situations and often involve a dilemma, conflict, or problem that one or more of the characters in the case must negotiate. A good case study, according to Professor Paul Lawrence, is: “the vehicle by which a chunk of reality is brought into the classroom to be worked over by the class and the instructor. A good case keeps the class discussion grounded upon some of the stubborn facts that must be faced in real life situations.” Although they have been used most extensively in the teaching of medicine, law, and business, case studies can be an effective teaching tool in any number of disciplines. As an instructional strategy, case studies have a number of virtues. They are “short,” they provide relevant information, and they often have a clear “beginning,” “middle,” and “end.” This makes them fairly easy to assemble and facilitate.

2. Benefits of Using Case Study Templates

Standardized format. This is the most key benefit seen in case study templates. Often a case study will be written in such a way that the data is spread throughout the page, making it difficult to discern between the important details and results. Sometimes, the case may be written with too much information, causing any specific details to be lost amidst non-relevant information. A template will help to lead the writer in a specific direction and will make it easier to know what information the end user is looking for. This will prevent the case study from being an inconsistent data dump. Ease of use: a template helps make the work of writing a case study a little less arduous. It will give a clear direction of what to do with each section of the case so that the writer doesn’t have to spend extra time trying to figure out what is the best way to present their information. This can be especially useful in time-restricted environments.

3. Key Components of a Case Study Template

There are some particular key components of a case study template. They are quite important in carrying out the task of case study writing. There should be an issue-focused title to emphasize the problem which the main body of the case study is addressing. This will make the reader understand what they are going into. There should be an author’s name and the date of preparation to indicate who has written the case study and when it was done. For easier future reference if someone else wants to use the case study to teach a class or for future research and for accreditation purposes. Usually, a case study includes an introduction to the problem followed by the scenarios, options, and solution which are the parts of its main body and finally a conclusion which sums up what the case study writer feels. It is very useful to add a table of contents on the case study providing direct access to all the subheadings. In this way, the reader will be able to access any necessary information and will not have to read the whole case study. The table of contents also helps in giving a structured look to the case study. So if it is necessary to obtain information quickly, this feature is quite useful. There should be a summary or an abstract of the case study that was written. The next part is important; the writer should specify what the case study is aiming at, i.e., what are the questions in the mind of the case study writer and what is he trying to explain. This helps in connecting the reader to the case study and also indicating the targeted audience. An intended readership can also be specified.

4. How to Create an Effective Case Study Template

First step is to identify the research to be documented. This is the most important step, as it is very easy to get lost in a case study. Using a previous example is a great way to start, as it will give the researcher a template to which the case should be documented. You don’t want to be learning new techniques when there are old ones which are often better, this is a widespread error in research which wastes time and resource. The research should be written as a list of steps. At any given point there are a number of tool steps being used, this is very easy to get muddled up and go off course in the case study. Having the steps documented will provide a clear understanding of what is to be documented. A good technique is to use the case study as a tutorial for someone else or future self who may need to do similar research. A tutorial is always better where you can follow a clear set of instructions and lists of tips and tricks.

A key to remember is that a case study is a piece of research for a particular company for a long period of time. So what is a case study template? Essentially, a case study template is a set types and styles of font in which the researcher applies to the case study. Whilst it is a very basic definition, the template is the glue for the entire case study. It is the difference between a case study with a cohesive effective story that the reader can follow, learn from and repeat and a case study which is thrown together with no real direction. The ultimate goal of the template is to help the researcher in obtaining the best possible results from the case study, in the most efficient possible way. This will save time and money in trial and error of which different techniques work best. Often the case study can be a simple visual aid, which will mean that the researcher will not need to spend time reading through your research trying to figure out all the steps. It will need to be thorough and effective in a clear and organised way, citing the method, techniques and tools. The case study is solely for the case itself, and should not be confused with the rest of the research. This should be documented separately for the case study to create the best possible results.

5. Conclusion

Although the case study template was designed as a kit, it rather becomes a framework for conducting a marketing analysis. It has been designed in such a way as to allow a marketing analyst to ascertain what information is relevant and what is irrelevant, and how a marketing problem can be resolved no matter what type of marketing case is being examined. The actual case study template has certain affordances and limitations that are specific to the case being analyzed. However, certain important features in the case study template are able to narrow down specific problems in a case to come to a clean resolution to the problem. An example of this would be using subproblems and stated problems to come to the underlying problem. This is important because when a SWOT analysis is then conducted, and the decision problems need to be addressed so that the right issues are being compared when making the decision. The template allows the analyst to come back to the case and edit it with a good visibility of what the problem is trying to resolve. Another example would be noting the case result and connecting it back to the decision problems, this makes it easier to compare the before and after state of a case when a decision is made.