What is a Case Study?
A case study is an in-depth study of a singular situation, person, or event.
What does this mean?
In most disciplines, studies are required to prove a hypothesis. These studies are usually very large in nature, with the goal of proving a hypothesis. With a case study, a narrow topic is chosen that can prove (or disprove) an idea, question, or hypothesis. Often, case studies are used alongside a larger formal study, or are used on their own.
Key Term!
Hypothesis - An idea or theory that hasn't been proven but has scientific merit and is worthy of a study to prove whether it is true or false.
Case studies are used in most disciplines that use, or require, statistical or informational data. For example, a well-known case study in the field of psychology is the case of "Genie," a feral child.
Obviously, researchers cannot lock up a child for a decade, and do research on the results. So, when a child was discovered locked up for 13 years, it was a perfect opportunity to do research and try to discover what the effect was of a child being isolated its entire life.
Think!
What information could be garnered from the "Genie" case study? How could the case study be used to help children (or adults) under care today?
Case studies are also commonly used in the business world. For example, one of the most well-known business case studies is the Tylenol cyanide scandal. A quick refresher: In 1982 seven people died after ingesting Tylenol tablets laced with cyanide.
Almost immediately, Tylenol's market share dropped from 37 percent to 7 percent. Johnson & Johnson, the parent company, had to work quickly to save the product. They reintroduced the product with tamper resistant packaging and a large media campaign.
Johnson & Johnson was successful. The Tylenol brand recovered and regained customer trust.
The Tylenol Scandal case study details everything that happened from beginning to end. It also details each step J&J took when turning the scandal around -- both positive and negative steps.
This case study is now used in business, marketing, crisis management, and other disciplines to help them solve their own problems. They can look at what J&J did to solve their problems, and use that information to fix their own issues.
Who Uses Case Studies?
What makes a case study so valuable is that it is a real-life situation or problem. Dealing with hypothetical issues can be helpful, but using actual historical information and data is often a much better way to learn and fix an organization's problems.
Case studies are used in most disciplines, as well as education, where they are becoming more prevalent. In fact, some of the best universities, such as Harvard Business School, use the case method to educate its students.
Think about it -- what better way to learn about a subject than to study real-life examples of similar situations?
Case studies are used in just about every discipline. For this course, case studies will belong to one of the following five groups.
- Arts, Design, Media, and Humanities
- Business, Hospitality, Law, Sports, and Tourism
- Interdisciplinary
- Education, Social and Environmental Sciences
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
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