Gaining Skills With the Case Method

The case method is an excellent way for students to learn new cognitive skills, as well as improve their analysis and evaluation skills. Here is a list of the skills that can be improved, and how the case method helps this process.

Knowledge - This is the student's ability to remember information, and to recall it.

Comprehension - This is the student's ability to understand what they are learning. The case method helps this by using examples in a real-world context.

Application - This is the student's ability to use their knowledge in new ways. This could mean new rules, ideas, or theories. The case method helps students understand how these ideas and theories are used in the real world.

Analysis - This is the student's ability to break down information so it can be better understood. Since analysis is the basis of the case method, this skill is greatly improved.

Synthesis - This is the student's ability to form new ideas. Case studies help this skill by requiring them to identify new information and concepts. This is developed during group activities and discussions.

Evaluation - This is the student's ability to judge information for a particular reason. Again, this skill is a hallmark of the case study method, and the use of cases will help improve the student's evaluation skills.



Case Method Advantages

The largest advantage of the case study method is that students must actively and openly discuss the principals of the study. This helps develop their skills in:

• Problem solving


• Analysis, both quantitative and qualitative


• Decision making


• Dealing with ambiguities

1. Students often fight for airtime, and may not fully think through their thoughts. Many students want to be first, and place more importance in that, than being right. This results in analysis that is superficial and not well thought-out.


2. Students in business management courses don't always have the same background experience, and this can contribute to issues with experience.


3. The background information provided for the case analysis is often limited to whatever was supplied with the case.


4. If cases are too old, they may no longer be relevant. Cases that are older than 10 years shouldn't be used, if possible. This is particularly the case with business studies, since changes occur quite frequently in the business world. For example, case studies that detail companies before the Internet are often out of date. You wouldn't want to study Barnes & Noble without knowing how eBooks affected their bottom line.


5. The case study method is not a good way to learn the technicals of finance and accounting. Not every MBA student has a strong background in accounting or finance, and vice versa. Furthermore, students don't always attend business school at the same time in their careers. Many students get their MBAs while in their 20s, while other students wait until they are in their 30s or 40s.


6. With the case method, there isn't a right or wrong answer. This can cause students to leave the lesson without key takeaways. In addition, this method cannot work for areas that have unique answers; this is why the case method would never work in physics or mathematics.
   
   Those who disagree with the total case method teaching method believe the best alternative is a balance between cases and lectures.
   
   The most recent iteration is a combination of both. They offer lectures to learn the fundamentals, and cases to determine whether or not the students understand the fundamentals enough to apply them to real-world situation.