Case Study Writing – Things to Consider

A case study is a method to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system used to overcome an issue.

It includes the issue description, strategic planning, and the method used to resolve the issue.

However, it is not limited up to these three points but there are many folded layers that unfolded during the process.

A case study is a systematic action that emphasizes several observations, the method, the intensity of research, and the naturalism involved in the research.

Generally, a case study is an effective research approach to study a specific issue.

It can be anything like medical, business, or politics. A case study is an in-depth, up-close, and detailed examination of a particular case or cases.

It is not a mandate that a case study has one observation but it can have many observations at a time.

Importance of case study:

When something goes wrong, for an organization, it is essential to go to the root of the problem and solve it.

Just solving the problem is not going to help but studying deeply and avoid the reoccurrence in the future is also equally valued.

A case study is the method of a systematic approach to resolve a problem and document it for ready referral in the future.

A case study cannot be done by sticking to a single observation or single template.

There are usually, four types of case studies that can be applied according to the problem.

A real-life case study is most effective as those who study it can experience and collect information.

The main aim of the case study is to analyze issues with some limitations, conditions, or environment.

Types of case study:

The following categories can be explained based on the design –

• Exploratory case study

Before the large-scale investigation, an exploratory case study is performed.

It can be described as a primary project which is the first step of a full-fledge case study.

This type of case study is generally performed in social sciences and mainly focuses on real-time content and conditions.

As the name suggests, it is used to explore the possibilities and to try to reach to information questions.

These questions are noted and used to find out answers in the detailed study.

• Illustrative case study

Illustrative case study, as the name suggests, is a descriptive case study method.

In this type, a similar situation is examined to find out the outcome.

As mentioned, this is a descriptive method adapted in research methodology to help others to understand it.

Usually, one or more instances are used to experience the situation.

• Critical instance case study

This is a detailed type of case study to find out the reasons and impact of an instance.

In this type of case study, one or more sources with similar interest or no interest are examined.

They are investigated to confirm a question of general assertion.

• Cumulative case study

This is one of the main types used in qualitative research case studies. The information from different sources at different times is collected while using this type.

This study is based on saving time and money on new investigations by summarizing the past studies.

These are general types of the case study; however, your case study will also include a lot of data collection, analysis, and qualitative research questions so it depends on you to select the right format for your case study.

Types of subjects of case study:-

There are five types of subjects for four types of case studies in general.

Each case study, be it exploratory, cumulative, illustrative, or critical instance, fits into the following subject categories –

• Person

This type of study revolves around one subject or individual and uses different research methods to get the result.

• Group

This type of study involves a group of individuals such as friends, co-workers, or family.

• Location

The place will be focused on this type of study and this will talk about how and why people used the place.

• Organization

In this type main focus is on the organization or company.

This study can include company employees or those who work in an event at the organization.

• Event

This type of study is focused on a specific event. This can be a social or cultural event and study is on its effect on the surrounding.

Case studies are used in colleges and universities for students to understand more about the topic.

Writing a case study can be complicated at times and is a skill that can be demonstrated only by experts.

There is a systematic approach to write a case study to get a better knowledge of sequences and solutions attended.

If the case study paper is not written in a proper way it would be equal to waste time and money spent on the investigation.

A professionally written case study paper will help students to understand easily.

If you want to get your case study paper written properly, there are some basics that you need to stick to.

We will study the systematic 7 steps of how to write a case study –

1. Identify your topic and angle:

While attempting to write any case study, first decide which results, outcomes, challenges, and solutions you want to highlight.

Your values and impact of work should be strongly focused on in the writing.

Be specific about one or two topics that will give an overall idea.

Take care that you do not feed unwanted details to your reader by sticking to the ‘one client-one case study’ principle.

While targeting the clients ask yourself –

• How much the customer uses your product or service

• What is the outcome of the usage

• Whether they preferred you over a competitor

With the help of your information resources try to get the above information.

2. Seek permission to publish the data:

If you are writing about past clients, you are not authorized to use data without their permission.

Case study writing about the past customers must accompany their permission on ethical grounds.

You just can’t publish a collated data without informing them.

You can prepare an official permission letter which must include

• The correct subject matter of the case study

• Details about the case study format you are using

• What they would get from the case study.

One can also opt for a legal release form that will allow you to use the client’s information or data.

Consider a legal expert’s help should you decide to go for this option.

3. Prepare the introductory questions:

The introductory questions will help you to get desired information as the basics of writing a case study paper.

Try to introduce elaborative and open-ended questions which will encourage your client to answer in detail.

One can include the following interview questions at the opening of the paper –

• What was/were the problems you faced before using our product/service?

• Why did you select our product/service?

• How was your problem solved when you used our product/service?

• What are the goals of your organization or business?

• Are you willing to share the data and success metrics?

The questions can be re-arranged based on the target client and you can try to get maximum output from the answers which can boost your paper.

4. Write your interview question:

The information is very critical in writing a case study paper.

You have to choose the right questions to get valuable information for your writing.

To avoid irritating clients with rounds of questions, wisely select only a few questions that can extract more information.

Based on the initial response from your client you can select the set of questions –

• What is your company dealing with?

• How long you use our product/service?

• Can you tell me your work process?

• How many team members do you have?

• What are the goals of your team?

If your client is from the business category it is obvious that they were facing some problem so you can arrange questions accordingly like –

• When was first the problem located?

• Which solutions did you try on your end?

• Was the problem sudden or over time?

• When it was decided to take third-party help?

• What would be probable reasons the problem occurred?

If you want to get information from the client about why they approached you, the questions can look like this –

• Through which source you decided to hire us?

• What were your needs while trying to solve the problem?

• What other sources did you look for?

• What made you decide to take our help?

Once you work with your client and help them resolve the issue you can get further information through the questions like –

• Which product/service solved your problem?

• How much time did you save?

• What was the best task our product/service did for you?

• What was replaced with our product/service in your current work process?

• What things our product/service made easy in your process?

If you want more adaptability or flexibility of your product/service then you can ask the following question to get feedback from the client –

• How was our product/service helpful?

• What difficulties do you face in the transition process?

• How easy it was for your team to adapt our product/service?

• Which process did you use to switch over to our product?

• What advice do you want to give to those who use our product?

Results matter the most. You have to grab the opportunity of your client talking your data. This will grow your business. Include the following questions about the results your client got –

• How did we help you achieve your goals?

• What positive results do you found out?

• How fast you are getting results from our product?

• Have you collated significant data from our product?

• How was your productivity change after using our product?

The set of above questions will let you collect ample information from a specific client which you can write in a case study.

5. Set up an interview appointment:

Once you are ready with your set of questions, you can ask the client suitable date and sufficient time for an interview.

You can plan the interview in the following 3 ways as suitable to you and the client both.

Face-to-face meeting – This is an easy and better option for a local client. The meeting can be more converses and the outcome immediate.

Video call – One can fix an appointment over a suitable meeting app where you can record the meeting.

Phone call – If you are calling over the phone, you can opt to record the call for your case study writing.

6. Collate all data in one place:

Once the interview is over you now have all the data available to you. Make sure you are storing all information in one place and not scattered.

Title

The next major part is to accommodate the data in the case study format you chose. First you need to select an attractive and descriptive title. Select a title that consists of the problem attended, the company involved, and how it was solved, in few words.

Executive summary

The executive summary should be of 2-3 sentences covering the company’s mission, the problem, how the company solved the problem.

What is a case study about?

In a paragraph summarize about case study as –

• What industry they are in?

• What services are offered?

• How long they are working with your organization or product?

Problems faced

In this section, you have to write the top 2 or 3 problems your client was facing. Consider a potential client who is thinking about himself while he is reading your case study paper. You must provide some background challenges you faced.

• What client used to do before your collaboration?

• Use three to four sentences to explain their previous strategy.

• What were their goals with previous tactics?

The way you helped them –

You can elaborate on how your product or service helped the client to solve their problems. You can state this in 3-4 sentences, link your website, and add screenshots of the product in use.

Progress and results –

This final section will conclude your case study writing. You have to share the progress made by the client after using your product/service. This you can present in 2-3 bullet points along with graphical presentation.

7. Design and develop your case study:

All the data has to be correctly put in a format and designed well. A presentation may be more effective than the actual results.

Case study writing is much complex than exercising the case study.

You may be strong in the on-field job but you have to be smart enough in presenting the good work you have done so the above things must be exercised to accomplish a case study writing.