How to Make a Case Analysis

A case analysis is a portrait of an individual or group and its functions, either from an inside (emic) or outside (etic) perspective. Case analysis is a useful tool for studying individuals or groups to determine such things as illness and patterns of illness, adaptations to local environment, the origins and expression of religious beliefs, child rearing techniques, political and ideological attitudes and actions, and sexual mores.Case analysis is a qualitative method of organizing data according to its usefulness in explaining and predicting the behavior of a group and the likelihood that a given individual member will also display that behavior. It is used to identify current practices and to shape future responses.Case analysis is used by doctors, anthropologists, politicians, survey companies and even insurance agencies. Explanations are provided for data gathered, making the information useful for predicting future behavior, identifying potential disease outbreaks, starting and tracking trends in entertainment and advertising to make campaigns more effective, and by various agencies to decide how and where to deploy resources to their best advantage.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Camera
• Voice activated tape recorder
• File cards
• Computer
• Spreadsheet program

Instructions

1. Identify the individual or group you plan to observe. The larger your sample population, the more likely you will be to predict trends and behavior using the data you gather. You may decide to observe one of your own groups: your fellow church members, your bowling league, the people at your job or your child's softball team. Observing a group to which you already belong is working from an "emic" or insider's perspective. If there is something your group does that is distinctly different from what other groups do, you will be able to provide an explanation for it. Observing a group to which you do not already belong is an "etic" or outsider's perspective. The advantage of an "etic" perspective is the ability to be objective. You will be more likely to simply report on your observations without allowing your personal feelings, mores or biases to shade the outcome of the study.

2. Take notes on everything you see and hear relating to your chosen group. Find a way to observe group behavior without letting members know you are watching, in order to encourage them to show their true selves. This might involve setting up hidden cameras or doing covert interviews using a voice activated recorder. As much as possible, though, be sure to let the group you are observing know what you are doing to prevent any tension from building and getting you into trouble.Conduct observations on more than one day, with various combinations of group members. The most useful and accurate studies of a given group are conducted over as long a period of time as possible, with as many group members as possible. Data are also correlated between studies of similar groups at similar times conducted by multiple observers. Studies conducted over long periods of time are called "longitudinal studies," and are typically used to affirm the accuracy and interpretation of data already gathered.

3. Organize the data you collected. You may choose to use file cards, with one observation on each card. You may also decide to use a computer spreadsheet. Assign a particular piece of data to a category and add up the occurrences. Do your best to figure out what other factors occur along with that one, and use both to make a frequency chart.

4. Chart your data. Create a data base which will allow you to cross correlate each piece of data with other pieces. Once your data base has been created, you will be able to sort data by name of individual, and in the case of clinic or hospital patients each of the various behaviors displayed or any symptoms verbalized or observed.Case analysis for doctors is a little more specific than case analysis for anthropological or political studies. A doctor always works from an "etic" or outsider's perspective. Doctors use case analysis as a diagnostic tool. They want to identify a problem, theorize the reason for the problem's existence, match symptoms to a problem, then generate a set of possible solutions. Doctors then typically try each solution in turn, creating protocols for treatment which address the most likely and common problem first, gradually working toward the more unusual and uncommon.

5. Make predictions based upon your data. Observe to see if your predictions are accurate. If they are not, go back and look at the data again to see if it has been miscategorized. Ask the individual members of the group for their thoughts and observations and incorporate that information into your case analysis.

Tips & Warnings

• Work from an insider's or an outsider's viewpoint.

• Gather data from the largest sample possible for the greatest accuracy.

• Interview individual group members and use the information from those interviews to validate your observations.

Resources

• Qualitative Analysis
• Database of Longitudinal Studies
• Emic/Etic Distinctions
• Randon Sampling
• Statistical Errors