professional case study definition

professional case study definition

The Importance and Impact of Professional Case Studies in Research and Practice

1. Introduction to Professional Case Studies

A professional case study is an account of an activity, event, or issue compiled from actual circumstances and used in problem-solving, teaching, and analysis. It includes a discussion of a real, imaginary, or complicated situation and a discussion of the subjects’ activity within that environment. This is useful for an individual or a business (educational, societal, and government). A case study is a task starter, and it can shape the start of an observation or assignment that the class will pursue to a greater degree. It introduces documents and maps students through protocols and tasks.

Professional case studies, particularly in business schools, have a long history and have been used widely. This interest has grown in the past, thanks mostly to the development of case-based teaching in areas like law and healthcare. While the roots of the case approach can be traced back to Harvard Law School following the Irish potato famine (the Christopher Robson case study), this type of case analysis has evolved into its own research method. In this essay, I will discuss the development, objectives, scoring, case compilation, and ethics and the specifics of teaching business school case studies. Professional case studies are definitely a complicated idea, but the reality of their creation and use isn’t realistically any more unconventional than any other tool used in teaching and research. A large number of case studies are currently held in libraries or supplied for free (or at a relatively small cost) by publishers including the Case Centre, Emerald Insight, and quite a few more journal publishers.

2. Methodology and Approaches in Conducting Professional Case Studies

The case study is an instructional approach of investigation which seeks to describe, explicate, predict and/or control the boundary phenomenon of an individual, family or professional, in the light of a formal analytical process. Case studies, accordingly, offer a micro or close-up understanding of an issue, phenomenon or area of interest. There are many different approaches to case study research, with Yin, Eisenhardt, Merriam, Stake, Baxter and Jack in particular deploying specific methodologies and approaches in their research practice. At the same time, authors also bring their unique processual and part-processual approaches to case study work. Some researchers use a combination of methodological techniques. Some of these include static and dynamic case studies which primarily differ in terms of the time dimension encapsulated in the case analysis.

Case studies in the professional and practice management area have used a variety of criteria in selecting their studies. This section describes some of the approaches taken to select studies in recent time, some of the data collection and analytical methods which have been adopted, and some of the benefits and constraints of the different methodological choices. The various approaches and methodologies identified in the contemporary professional studies are now discussed. Each research design includes a number of potential strengths and constraints, and is done to achieve a concrete purpose in the area of inquiry.

3. The Benefits and Applications of Professional Case Studies

Being real-world phenomena, professional case studies provide their readers with practical implications. The findings of a well-structured professional case study can help experts and managers alike in understanding the factors or determinants of success (or failure) for a wide variety of companies or organizations, explain or predict things about a given case and/or advise on ‘what to do about it’. This, in turn, facilitates more informed decisions and choice options. Pragmatic literature (e.g., problem-solving theory) contains many references to the value of illustrative case examples in relation to theory and practice. For the researcher – perhaps the primary audience for professional case study research – the case study method will reveal context-based issues and insights that may help to formulate new research frameworks, theories, or models.

In practice, professional case studies have been (and can be) published as educational resources in any academic field such as Business, Law, Medicine, Health, Nursing, Dentistry, Science, Engineering, Sociology, Social Policy, Political Science, and Public Administration, among others. Newly developed teaching materials can guide students in resolving ‘realistic’ problems from the business and practice world. Case teaching is a recognized and effective pedagogical technique. Indeed, case competition events such as Master The Hague, which pitches international students from prestigious business schools against one another in fast-paced 24-hour case writing and solving bashes, have sprouted up across the developed world. Some business schools have also set up their own student case publishing houses and youth case associations to support talented students in professional case writing.

4. Challenges and Ethical Considerations in Professional Case Study Research

Like all research, professional case studies are not without associated challenges or ethical considerations. From the practitioner-researcher’s perspective, case studies have the potential to inspire and contribute to professional practice. They may also help with theorizing and practical problem-solving, and may reward participants through insight and learning. Practitioner-based studies may also convey importance and inspire confidence when used as a marketing tool. From the researcher’s perspective, using case studies as evidence of impact and credibility, as well as practical challenges concerned with issues of confidentiality, consent, and not causing harm by being involved in the process, are also known. Case studies thus encourage methodological reflection.

Like all research methods, case study poses challenges in terms of design and involves issues of ethics and trust. Consequently, when designing a case study, there may be issues of generalization or transferability. Alongside these challenges, emotional and psychological impacts on the researcher(s), and ethical problems could also result from long-term involvement in the case. Like other qualitative research strategies, the potential to develop a supportive and trustful relationship with participants, and to avoid a predefined set of questions, and to remain flexible to the case, is essential to maintain the case. However, the maintenance of objectivity and bridge-building, or ‘bricolage’ methods, to produce a precise account and maintain validity among participants are important. Learning to cope with these challenges, and the potential to reconceptualize change and avoid measuring by developing emotional micro-perspectives and personalizing the case are also recognized.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions in Professional Case Study Development

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

Throughout this essay, we have highlighted the various methods of creating research-informed professional case studies and discussed how these case studies can benefit researchers, educators, students, and practitioners. We have drawn from the literature, field-specific characteristics, and our own experiences to introduce some state-of-the-art case study construction methods being used in management and organization research. Our interdisciplinary, critical, and qualitative discussions and analyses pave the way for future directions concerning the development of professional case studies and their (cumulative) impact on research and practice.

Our review and analysis of professional case studies revealed that they function as method integrators: not all research designs can or should solely use professional case studies. In contrast, though, professional case studies can be nestled within almost any research design, offering unobtrusive overviews of multiple processes, practices, concepts, phenomena, conditions, actors, power relations, and emotions. Professional case studies reveal differences in how participants make sense of or manage aspects of topics relevant to one or more focal field. By exploring metadata and devising additional tools that enable swift and more generic overviews of the use, performance, and relevance of case studies across topics and fields, we can identify how professional case studies function, constrain, and open avenues for integrating and specializing research methods. Additionally, scholars can use this overview of professional case studies and generic case studies as a first instance of a line of inquiry into rigorous and accountable aggregation protocols for different types of professional case studies.