Researchers use a mix of tools to gather evidence in support of their findings. One of the most common means of proving outcomes is through the strategic use of case studies, especially when theoretical ideas are on the table.
In order to have relevance and legitimacy, case studies must be strong enough to stand on their own under the toughest scrutiny, or they can’t be used to support the researcher’s conclusions as intended. For this strength to exist, there are specific characteristics that have to be included in a case study.
Academic experts use a framework that guides them in breaking down a case study into integral pieces to make sure they’re using enriched information that will actively increase their reporting quality, resulting in a higher overall impact from the final outcome.
How Case Studies Can Improve Research Evidence
When research using case studies has been analyzed systematically, a consistent pattern emerges. Those projects that led with a focus on frameworks that guide them to use enriched case studies have higher impact ratings than other, less strategically designed research.
Through these systematic analyses, different benefits have been proven to exist from the outcomes of the researcher’s work, including:
● Intermediate findings that advocated for changes in policies and procedures or were able to be used to develop new foundations of knowledge, create tools to move forward in solving a problem, or resulted in innovative technology being designed
● Long-term societal impacts were instituted through research that resulted in new knowledge used to reform health or economic industries
● Stakeholder needs were impacted, determining that research performed through high quality case studies were more likely to have better involvement in all parties, less of a conflict of interest possible, and a higher rating of ethics and legalities demonstrated
These are all quality factors that lend the research itself to a greater reporting quality, and therefore increase the scholar’s reputation by default.
Factors Inherent in a Quality Case Study
There are three main factors inherent in a quality case study. When a researcher chooses a study to use, these elements must be visible and subject to scrutiny:
● A clear, compelling relationship is established through linking words that designate the cause and effect of the case study to the results, or link the research and the impact together. The most impactful case studies typically include phrases that can demonstrate the information’s relevance, cite the source it came from, explain to the reader how the cause and effect are intricately interwoven, and connect it to the focus of the effect.
● There is a significant amount of documentation that shows how the case study was able to benefit the target audience of the research outcome. The impact does not have to be widespread, but it does have to be meaningful to the researcher’s scope and be able to be traced from the study to the end result.
● Case studies must not be written in scientific terminology. Rather, they should be easy to comprehend in a language that is readable to the average person, since they may be used to reach a wide audience of the general public.
While every case study is unique, they are not intended to be academic. They’re to be used by anyone who requires the knowledge gained from the study itself. However, they must be professional and include these three main elements.
Strategies to Improve Case Study Research
To ensure your research uses case studies to their ultimate potential for greater reporting quality, keep these ideas in mind as you determine the necessity of using them and the study you choose to support your work:
● Determine the purpose and rationale for the use of the case study in your research. Not all projects require qualitative case studies as evidence.
● Match the study’s effect with your desired outcome and come up with research questions that could be answered using the case study.
● Decide how you will approach data collection and compare your data to the case study.
● Link your analysis to the purpose of the study and vice versa.
● Keep your analysis unbiased based on the initial purpose and rationale and use your research questions to ground you back to the intent of your project.
● Look at the results through both a case and disciplinary perspective, and consider using cross-case comparison if that is relevant in your study.
● Ensure you’re using an unbiased perspective in your writing, including full credibility, transferability, transparency, dependability, and confirmability.
With these factors guiding your work, you can turn your research into highly impactful, quality submissions using case studies as your evidence.
Turn Your Case Study Analysis Into Research Reports With Impactio
When you’re ready to submit your findings, you need a reliable tool to demonstrate your research accomplishments. Experts around the world depend on Impactio to do this part of their research job.
Impactio is a platform designed for academic scholars to put together their text into premade templates and layouts, turn their citation data into charts, graphs, and tables, and finish the product off into professional PDF documents and web pages.
You have done the hard work already, connecting your research to quality case studies and finding outcomes that may change someone’s world. Now, let Impactio do the rest by giving you the tools you need to put everything together into one impressive finished product ready for publishing.