Guide to Make Applied Case Studies

Guide to make Applied Case Studies

The use of applied case studies at NSPL RTC can therefore be a very effective training technique. They can be used in any discipline when faculties want students to explore how what they have learned applies to real world situations.

Advantages to the use of case studies

Steps for creating Case Studies

An innovative approach to case analysis might be to have students role-play the part of the people involved in the case. This not only actively engages students, but forces them to really understand the perspectives of case characters.

Videos or even field trips showing the venue in which the case is situated can help students to visualize the situation that they need to analyze.
Case assignments can be done individually or in teams so that the students can brainstorm solutions and share the work load.

Step 1 : Understand the Objective

To understand the objective, read and examine the project or case thoroughly and about the organization and follow the steps given below:

• Take notes, highlight relevant facts, underline key problems
• What is the context of the problem?
• Identify two to five key problems
• Why do they exist?
• What key facts should be considered?
• How do they impact the organization?
• What services are provided by that organization?
• Who is responsible for them?
• What is the goal of the analysis?

Common Case Elements

Most cases have these common elements:

• A decision-maker who is struggling with some question or problem that needs to be solved.
• A description of the problem’s context.
• Supporting data, this can range from data tables to links to URLs, quoted statements or testimony, supporting documents, images, video, or audio.

Step 2 : Knowledge

To solve that problem use different tools, technologies and uncover possible solutions:

• Review course readings
• Provided references
• Discussions
• Outside research
• Your experience

Accompanying Readings

Case studies can be especially effective if they are paired with a reading assignment that introduces or explains a concept or analytical method that applies to the case. The amount of emphasis placed on the use of the reading during the case discussion depends on the complexity of the concept or method. If it is straightforward, the focus of the discussion can be placed on the use of the analytical results. If the method is more complex, the instructor may need to walk students through its application and the interpretation of the results.

Step 3 : Select the best solution of the problem/task

• Implement your knowledge to find solution
• Consider strong supporting evidence, pros, and cons: is this solution realistic?
• Consult Case Study Guide

Step 4 : Documented Case Study

Write a case study in a proper format.

Case Study Format

The formats of these cases can vary. They can be standard written cases, movies or movie clips, or even TV or news stories. Regardless of the type of case, they all:

General Text Requirements for Case Studies

• All case studies must be prepared in English and free of grammatical, spelling and/or punctuation errors. Please make sure your files are thoroughly edited and proof read before submission.


• Do not include author details and/or information that can identify the author in any of the files submitted for the Case Study Competition. This should be done in order to enable the blind review of the case studies.


• Case studies should be single spaced, Times New Roman, font size 10pt, including tables, figures and references.


• Please use the lead author's last name as the file name.


• Specifications:
  • Prepare your paper using Microsoft Word for Windows or higher only.
  • Set the page margins to 2.54cm or 1in (top and bottom) and 3.17cm or 1.25in (left and right).
  • Indent the first sentence of each paragraph with 1/2 inch and align text left.
  • Single-spaced within each paragraph but double-spaced between paragraphs. Do not number the pages but make sure the pages are in the correct order. Pages will be numbered by the editors.
  • Use Times New Roman, font size 10pt.
  • If the files do not follow these specifications, they will be automatically rejected and returned to its author!

Whether your case study is primarily written or visual, we recommend focusing on the seven-part outline, below.

• Title : Keep it short. Focus on highlighting the most compelling accomplishment.


• Executive Summary : A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.


• About the Subject : An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a business profile or client website.


• Challenges and Objectives : A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, prior to using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.


• Your method : A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.


• Results : A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service specifically benefited the person or company, and helped achieve its goals. Include numbers to quantify your contributions.


• Supporting Visuals or Quotes : Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are telling.

Step 5 : Present or publish a case study

Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it as PowerPoint presentations. Here are a couple of things in mind during publishing a case study:
During presentation, you have to explain your case study in an interesting way and catch the attention of audience’s as well as team will give you suggestion to make changes in your case study.

Leading the Case Discussion and Evaluating Performance

Decision cases are more interesting than descriptive ones. In order to start the discussion in class, the instructor can start with an easy, noncontroversial question that all the students should be able to answer readily. However, some of the best case discussions start by forcing the students to take a stand. Some instructors will ask a student to do a formal “open” of the case, outlining his or her entire analysis. Others may choose to guide discussion with questions that move students from problem identification to solutions. A skilled instructor steers questions and discussion to keep the class on track and moving at a reasonable pace.
In order to motivate the students to complete the assignment before class as well as to stimulate attentiveness during the class, the instructor should grade the participation—quantity and especially quality—during the discussion of the case. This might be a simple check, check-plus, check-minus or zero. The instructor should involve as many students as possible. In order to engage all the students, the instructor can divide them into groups, give each group several minutes to discuss how to answer a question related to the case, and then ask a randomly selected person in each group to present the group’s answer and reasoning. Random selection can be accomplished through rolling of dice, shuffled index cards, each with one student’s name, etc.