| Table of Contents |
|---|
Life in college is full of academic events and responsibilities that must be fulfilled within the right time. The assignment writing process requires a student to be very prepared to achieve whatever goal he has in mind. When it comes to writing a case study, students must understand that in as much as it is a daunting task, it is achievable. You need to invest in time and quality research. Sometimes this assignment can be frustrating for many reasons, some of which can be easily overcome. Assignments are for every student whether you are full-time or part-time.
When writing a case study, you need to have an adequate investigation of every problem, examining the available alternative solutions and provide the recommendations of the most effective solution that anchors on evidence. If you want the case of study writing to be successful, ensure that you have all the relevant materials for this assignment.
When formal research methods come in to play, the produce case studies. These are likely to appear in journals as opposed to popular works. Case studies have been utilized in research. The ‘case’ can be a person, action, organization or an event that exists in a given period. When a case is in the abstract sense, like in a claim or argument, it can be subjected to different research methods. Such a case study may be qualitative or quantitative methods of research. A single case study research can be the anchor of a statistical outline for the interpretation from a qualitative case study data.
When writing a case study, you first need to understand which type of it you are dealing with. Case studies come in different forms, which range from academic research and the corporate provision of proof points. There are four types of case studies, which include:
- An illustrative case study that deals with the description of events
- Exploratory case studies which simply are investigative
- Cumulative case studies that have collective information comparisons
- Critical case studies that examine a specific subject with cause and effect outcomes
Having understood these types, case study writing becomes much easier when you look at the steps involved in the writing process. Let us now delve into the whole idea of writing a case study assignment.
This is how you kick off the writing process of a good case study.
Determine the type of case study, style, or design that suits your target audience.
When writing a case study, you have to determine the one that you want to write. Sometimes corporations can opt for an illustrative case study method to show what has been done for a client, educators, schools, and students may want an investigative case study for purposes no factual evidence. Whatever the type that you choose, you have to analyze the situation or the case to reveal factors or information that has been ignored. These can be about companies, entire countries, or individuals. It can also be about abstract things, like programs or practices. In other words, if you can dream it, then it is possible for you to write a case study about it.
Choose the topic of your case study
This is a crucial step in the prices of writing a case study assignment. You need to have established an angle already before you even determine the topic that you are going to deal with in your assignment. This will help you to know what your research will be about and where I am going to take place. Consider what you have talked about in class and find out if you have questions during your reading. Your research can start at the library or the internet as you begin to immerse yourself in the problem. After narrowing down your research to a specific problem, find every information that you can about the problem using different sources. You can use books, journals, websites, magazines, DVDs and so on. As you peruse through these sources, ensure you take notes to help you in finding information easily later on.
Look for case studies that have been published on the same subject matter
When writing a case study paper or preparing to do so, you need to look for case studies that have been written previously on the subject. You can consult your professors, g to the library, surf the web and so on. The idea is not to replicate the research but to see what others fund out on the matter. You have to read important articles about the situation of your case. This will help you t find an existing problem that needs a solution, or you may also find out that you have to formulate a fascinating idea that may or may not work in your case situation. You have to review case studies that are closely similar in style and scope to have an idea of format and composition too.
Selecting the participants that you will interview for your case study
If you want to have the best information when writing a case study paper, you can look for experts in a given field of study or customers that have implemented services or a tool that is within the confines on your case study subject. Ensure that you have knowledgeable interviewees who do not necessarily need to be your style. However, they must be active or in the past got involved directly. Ascertain whether you are going to interview an individual or a group or individuals to serve as examples in your case study. It may be beneficial for the participants to be in a group and provide a collective insight. If you are dealing with a personal subject matter when writing a case study, it is best to conduct personal interviews. Obtain as much evidence on the subject as you cannot help you in developing interviews and activities that will result in getting the most helpful information for your case study.
Draft a list of interview questions and decide how you will conduct the interview
Remember that you are getting ready to engage in writing a case study paper and a compelling one for that matter. As such, once you have your questions at hand, you can decide to have in-person group interview and activities, persona; interviews or phone interviews. Sometimes you can also do an email interview. When interviewing your respondents, ask them questions that will help in a better understanding of their opinions. More so, ensure you have questions that will bring out facts that may not be available on an article. The idea is to make your case study writing unique and purposeful.
Set up your interview with the experts
Now that you are in the interview stage ensure that all your informants are aware of what you are doing. They have to be fully informed, and the questions must be appropriate and not controversial.
For you to do excellent case study writing, you must obtain relevant data. This is achieved by doing the following:
Conducting interviews
When conducting interviews ensure that you ask similar questions of all subjects involved to get a different perspective on the same subject or service. When you ask open-ended questions, you will get more information. The idea here is to get the respondent to tell you whatever he or she knows and thinks regardless of knowing o not knowing what to expect before asking the question. Ensure that all your questions are open-ended. In other words, they should not elicit a ‘res’ or ‘no’’ answer.
When preparing for the process of writing a case study, and during the interview process, you can request for materials and data from subjects that are applicable and adds credibility to your findings as well as future presentations of your case study assignment. You can have clients provide statistics about the usage of a tool or product that is new, and the participants can provide photos and quotes that show evidence of findings supporting the case.
Collect and analyze all relevant data
This data can be obtained from archival records, observations, artifacts, as well as documents. When preparing to engage in case study writing, you have to organize your data in one place so that you have easy access to all information and materials as you continue writing a case study paper. However, you cannot include in all, and as such, you need to think of how to sort it taking out the excess and arraigning it so that the situation at the case site will be understandable to the audience. Before doing this, you have to obtain and put the information together where you can see it and analyze it exhaustively.
Formulate the problem in one or two sentences
While going through your data, think of how you can put your findings into a thesis-like statement. Consider the patterns that have been brought about by your subject. This allows you to concentrate on the most important material. You will receive information from participants that ought to be included, although solely on the periphery. You have to organize your material like this.
Now that you have everything in place, it is time to put pen to paper.
Base your writing a case study on the data obtained during your preparation
In the process of writing a case study paper, you need to have a least four sections in your case study. These are the introduction, background information with reasons as to why the case study was formulated, presentation of findings and a conclusion.
Introduction
When writing a case study introduction, you have to set the stage. You can start by asking a question or quoting someone that you interviewed.
Background information
In case study writing, you have to include background information and why your interviewees are a good sample, and why you want to provide a panoramic view of the problem
Presentation of the data
Now that you are writing a case study, you have to present your data. You can include customer quotes and data if possible. This adds a personal touch and credibility on the case that you are presenting. Let the reader know what you learned from the interview and about the problem, its development, existing solutions, the feelings, and thoughts of those in it.
Possible solutions
When writing a case study, you can provide possible solutions even though you do not have to solve the case itself. You may find yourself refereeing to some of the statements by the respondents. However, you need to let the reader leave with a full understanding of the problem. You can also leave them with a question to let them think on their own. If you have a good case, they will have adequate information to understand the situation and have a lively and engaging discussion.
Since this is an academic paper, you need to reference your sources. When writing a case study, references help in making the work more credible. Having any information that relates to the study but would have interrupted the follow of the body demands you to include it in the appendices. This also takes in the terms that would be hard for some audiences to understand. This is why appendices become very important.
When you are almost done with writing a case study paper, you will notice that your work changes into something that you did not expect. If this is the case, you can make additions and deletions as necessary. You may find that information you once deemed important in not as such, and vice versa. Go through the paper section by section and as a whole.
After you have finished writing a case study, you have to edit and proofread your paper. Correct any grammar mistakes, spelling inconsistencies, and punctuation errors. More so, keep an eye on the flow and transition of your ideas.
Recent Comments