Case Studies: Glossary
This glossary contains terms used in and around discussions about case studies. Please send suggestions and corrections to cases@vt.edu.
case
To call something a case is to make a theoretical claim. It argues that the story, event, or text is an instance of a larger class, an example of a broader category. In a word, it is a "case-of-something" and therefore merits more serious consideration than a simple anecdote or vignette. It implies an underlying taxonomy or typology, however intuitive or informal, to which a given case belongs...To call something a case, therefore, is to treat it as a member of a class of events and to call our attention to its value in helping us appreciate more than the particularities of the case narrative itself.1
case materials
Case materials are the raw data from which cases are constructed, whether by the original author or by a third party. They are diaries, personal letters, student work samples, videotapes, observer's notes, and so on.1
case report
Case reports are first-person accounts, reports written by someone who is reporting her own experiences, activities, and interpretations. When the author is the protagonist of the narrative, we are "eading a case report.1
case study
Case studies are third-person accounts--the anthropologist's write-up of a native ritual, the psychologist's portrayal of a classroom episode, the teacher's presentation of the story of a child, etc.1
teaching cases
Teaching cases are original accounts, case reports, or case studies that have been written or edited for teaching purposes. Teaching cases can vary enormously in length, from the quite brief vignettes (a paragraph or two) used in teaching medical problem solving through the lengthier narratives (2 or 3 pages) employed in ethics courses, to the extended and often multichapter accounts used in business schools (as much as 50 pages or more). They are usually based on fact but in some fields, such as ethics, can be fictitious vignettes constructed to illustrate a vexing ethical dilemma.1
case methods of teaching
Case methods of teaching are nearly independent of the types of cases used. They are the methods of pedagogy employed in conjunction with teaching cases.1
casebooks
Casebooks are collections of case reports, case studies, or teaching cases selected, sequenced, organized, and glossed for particular educational purposes.1
case-based curriculum
Case-based curriculum describes courses or whole programs built around the use of cases and/or casebooks.1
1. Shulman, Lee S. Toward a Pedagogy of Cases. in Shulman, J.H. ed. Case Methods in Teacher Education, Teachers College Press, New York, 1992.
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