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What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 22, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

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In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Normal distribution
Degrees of freedom
Null hypothesis
Discourse analysis
Control groups
Mixed methods research
Non-probability sampling
Quantitative research
Ecological validity

Research bias

Rosenthal effect
Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Selection bias
Negativity bias
Status quo bias

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Education and Communications

How to Analyse a Case Study

Last Updated: October 10, 2022 Fact Checked

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 19 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 405,360 times. Learn more...

Case studies are used in many professional education programs, primarily in business school, to present real-world situations to students and to assess their ability to parse out the important aspects of a given dilemma. In general, a case study should include, in order: background on the business environment, description of the given business, identification of a key problem or issue, steps taken to address the issue, your assessment of that response, and suggestions for better business strategy. The steps below will guide you through the process of analyzing a business case study in this way.

Step 1 Examine and describe the business environment relevant to the case study.

Describe the nature of the organization under consideration and its competitors. Provide general information about the market and customer base. Indicate any significant changes in the business environment or any new endeavors upon which the business is embarking.

Step 2 Describe the structure and size of the main business under consideration.

Analyze its management structure, employee base, and financial history. Describe annual revenues and profit. Provide figures on employment. Include details about private ownership, public ownership, and investment holdings. Provide a brief overview of the business's leaders and command chain.

Step 3 Identify the key issue or problem in the case study.

In all likelihood, there will be several different factors at play. Decide which is the main concern of the case study by examining what most of the data talks about, the main problems facing the business, and the conclusions at the end of the study. Examples might include expansion into a new market, response to a competitor's marketing campaign, or a changing customer base. [4] X Research source

Step 4 Describe how the business responds to these issues or problems.

Draw on the information you gathered and trace a chronological progression of steps taken (or not taken). Cite data included in the case study , such as increased marketing spending, purchasing of new property, changed revenue streams, etc.

Step 5 Identify the successful aspects of this response as well as its failures.

Indicate whether or not each aspect of the response met its goal and whether the response overall was well-crafted. Use numerical benchmarks, like a desired customer share, to show whether goals were met; analyze broader issues, like employee management policies, to talk about the response as a whole. [5] X Research source

Step 6 Point to successes, failures, unforeseen results, and inadequate measures.

Suggest alternative or improved measures that could have been taken by the business, using specific examples and backing up your suggestions with data and calculations.

Community Q&A

Always read a case study several times. At first, you should read just for the basic details. On each subsequent reading, look for details about a specific topic: competitors, business strategy, management structure, financial loss. Highlight phrases and sections relating to these topics and take notes. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
In the preliminary stages of analyzing a case study, no detail is insignificant. The biggest numbers can often be misleading, and the point of an analysis is often to dig deeper and find otherwise unnoticed variables that drive a situation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
If you are analyzing a case study for a consulting company interview, be sure to direct your comments towards the matters handled by the company. For example, if the company deals with marketing strategy, focus on the business's successes and failures in marketing; if you are interviewing for a financial consulting job, analyze how well the business keeps their books and their investment strategy. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0

Do not use impassioned or emphatic language in your analysis. Business case studies are a tool for gauging your business acumen, not your personal beliefs. When assigning blame or identifying flaws in strategy, use a detached, disinterested tone. Thanks Helpful 15 Not Helpful 4

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Acknowledgments

A case study research paper examines a person, place, event, condition, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate key themes and results that help predict future trends, illuminate previously hidden issues that can be applied to practice, and/or provide a means for understanding an important research problem with greater clarity. A case study research paper usually examines a single subject of analysis, but case study papers can also be designed as a comparative investigation that shows relationships between two or more subjects. The methods used to study a case can rest within a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method investigative paradigm.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010 ; “What is a Case Study?” In Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London: SAGE, 2010.

How to Approach Writing a Case Study Research Paper

General information about how to choose a topic to investigate can be found under the " Choosing a Research Problem " tab in the Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper writing guide. Review this page because it may help you identify a subject of analysis that can be investigated using a case study design.

However, identifying a case to investigate involves more than choosing the research problem . A case study encompasses a problem contextualized around the application of in-depth analysis, interpretation, and discussion, often resulting in specific recommendations for action or for improving existing conditions. As Seawright and Gerring note, practical considerations such as time and access to information can influence case selection, but these issues should not be the sole factors used in describing the methodological justification for identifying a particular case to study. Given this, selecting a case includes considering the following:

The case represents an unusual or atypical example of a research problem that requires more in-depth analysis? Cases often represent a topic that rests on the fringes of prior investigations because the case may provide new ways of understanding the research problem. For example, if the research problem is to identify strategies to improve policies that support girl's access to secondary education in predominantly Muslim nations, you could consider using Azerbaijan as a case study rather than selecting a more obvious nation in the Middle East. Doing so may reveal important new insights into recommending how governments in other predominantly Muslim nations can formulate policies that support improved access to education for girls.
The case provides important insight or illuminate a previously hidden problem? In-depth analysis of a case can be based on the hypothesis that the case study will reveal trends or issues that have not been exposed in prior research or will reveal new and important implications for practice. For example, anecdotal evidence may suggest drug use among homeless veterans is related to their patterns of travel throughout the day. Assuming prior studies have not looked at individual travel choices as a way to study access to illicit drug use, a case study that observes a homeless veteran could reveal how issues of personal mobility choices facilitate regular access to illicit drugs. Note that it is important to conduct a thorough literature review to ensure that your assumption about the need to reveal new insights or previously hidden problems is valid and evidence-based.
The case challenges and offers a counter-point to prevailing assumptions? Over time, research on any given topic can fall into a trap of developing assumptions based on outdated studies that are still applied to new or changing conditions or the idea that something should simply be accepted as "common sense," even though the issue has not been thoroughly tested in current practice. A case study analysis may offer an opportunity to gather evidence that challenges prevailing assumptions about a research problem and provide a new set of recommendations applied to practice that have not been tested previously. For example, perhaps there has been a long practice among scholars to apply a particular theory in explaining the relationship between two subjects of analysis. Your case could challenge this assumption by applying an innovative theoretical framework [perhaps borrowed from another discipline] to explore whether this approach offers new ways of understanding the research problem. Taking a contrarian stance is one of the most important ways that new knowledge and understanding develops from existing literature.
The case provides an opportunity to pursue action leading to the resolution of a problem? Another way to think about choosing a case to study is to consider how the results from investigating a particular case may result in findings that reveal ways in which to resolve an existing or emerging problem. For example, studying the case of an unforeseen incident, such as a fatal accident at a railroad crossing, can reveal hidden issues that could be applied to preventative measures that contribute to reducing the chance of accidents in the future. In this example, a case study investigating the accident could lead to a better understanding of where to strategically locate additional signals at other railroad crossings so as to better warn drivers of an approaching train, particularly when visibility is hindered by heavy rain, fog, or at night.
The case offers a new direction in future research? A case study can be used as a tool for an exploratory investigation that highlights the need for further research about the problem. A case can be used when there are few studies that help predict an outcome or that establish a clear understanding about how best to proceed in addressing a problem. For example, after conducting a thorough literature review [very important!], you discover that little research exists showing the ways in which women contribute to promoting water conservation in rural communities of east central Africa. A case study of how women contribute to saving water in a rural village of Uganda can lay the foundation for understanding the need for more thorough research that documents how women in their roles as cooks and family caregivers think about water as a valuable resource within their community. This example of a case study could also point to the need for scholars to build new theoretical frameworks around the topic [e.g., applying feminist theories of work and family to the issue of water conservation].

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (October 1989): 532-550; Emmel, Nick. Sampling and Choosing Cases in Qualitative Research: A Realist Approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2013; Gerring, John. “What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political Science Review 98 (May 2004): 341-354; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Seawright, Jason and John Gerring. "Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research." Political Research Quarterly 61 (June 2008): 294-308.

Structure and Writing Style

The purpose of a paper in the social sciences designed around a case study is to thoroughly investigate a subject of analysis in order to reveal a new understanding about the research problem and, in so doing, contributing new knowledge to what is already known from previous studies. In applied social sciences disciplines [e.g., education, social work, public administration, etc.], case studies may also be used to reveal best practices, highlight key programs, or investigate interesting aspects of professional work.

In general, the structure of a case study research paper is not all that different from a standard college-level research paper. However, there are subtle differences you should be aware of. Here are the key elements to organizing and writing a case study research paper.

I. Introduction

As with any research paper, your introduction should serve as a roadmap for your readers to ascertain the scope and purpose of your study . The introduction to a case study research paper, however, should not only describe the research problem and its significance, but you should also succinctly describe why the case is being used and how it relates to addressing the problem. The two elements should be linked. With this in mind, a good introduction answers these four questions:

What is being studied? Describe the research problem and describe the subject of analysis [the case] you have chosen to address the problem. Explain how they are linked and what elements of the case will help to expand knowledge and understanding about the problem.
Why is this topic important to investigate? Describe the significance of the research problem and state why a case study design and the subject of analysis that the paper is designed around is appropriate in addressing the problem.
What did we know about this topic before I did this study? Provide background that helps lead the reader into the more in-depth literature review to follow. If applicable, summarize prior case study research applied to the research problem and why it fails to adequately address the problem. Describe why your case will be useful. If no prior case studies have been used to address the research problem, explain why you have selected this subject of analysis.
How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding? Explain why your case study will be suitable in helping to expand knowledge and understanding about the research problem.

Each of these questions should be addressed in no more than a few paragraphs. Exceptions to this can be when you are addressing a complex research problem or subject of analysis that requires more in-depth background information.

II. Literature Review

The literature review for a case study research paper is generally structured the same as it is for any college-level research paper. The difference, however, is that the literature review is focused on providing background information and enabling historical interpretation of the subject of analysis in relation to the research problem the case is intended to address . This includes synthesizing studies that help to:

Place relevant works in the context of their contribution to understanding the case study being investigated . This would involve summarizing studies that have used a similar subject of analysis to investigate the research problem. If there is literature using the same or a very similar case to study, you need to explain why duplicating past research is important [e.g., conditions have changed; prior studies were conducted long ago, etc.].
Describe the relationship each work has to the others under consideration that informs the reader why this case is applicable . Your literature review should include a description of any works that support using the case to investigate the research problem and the underlying research questions.
Identify new ways to interpret prior research using the case study . If applicable, review any research that has examined the research problem using a different research design. Explain how your use of a case study design may reveal new knowledge or a new perspective or that can redirect research in an important new direction.
Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies . This refers to synthesizing any literature that points to unresolved issues of concern about the research problem and describing how the subject of analysis that forms the case study can help resolve these existing contradictions.
Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research . Your review should examine any literature that lays a foundation for understanding why your case study design and the subject of analysis around which you have designed your study may reveal a new way of approaching the research problem or offer a perspective that points to the need for additional research.
Expose any gaps that exist in the literature that the case study could help to fill . Summarize any literature that not only shows how your subject of analysis contributes to understanding the research problem, but how your case contributes to a new way of understanding the problem that prior research has failed to do.
Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important!] . Collectively, your literature review should always place your case study within the larger domain of prior research about the problem. The overarching purpose of reviewing pertinent literature in a case study paper is to demonstrate that you have thoroughly identified and synthesized prior studies in relation to explaining the relevance of the case in addressing the research problem.

III. Method

In this section, you explain why you selected a particular case [i.e., subject of analysis] and the strategy you used to identify and ultimately decide that your case was appropriate in addressing the research problem. The way you describe the methods used varies depending on the type of subject of analysis that constitutes your case study.

If your subject of analysis is an incident or event . In the social and behavioral sciences, the event or incident that represents the case to be studied is usually bounded by time and place, with a clear beginning and end and with an identifiable location or position relative to its surroundings. The subject of analysis can be a rare or critical event or it can focus on a typical or regular event. The purpose of studying a rare event is to illuminate new ways of thinking about the broader research problem or to test a hypothesis. Critical incident case studies must describe the method by which you identified the event and explain the process by which you determined the validity of this case to inform broader perspectives about the research problem or to reveal new findings. However, the event does not have to be a rare or uniquely significant to support new thinking about the research problem or to challenge an existing hypothesis. For example, Walo, Bull, and Breen conducted a case study to identify and evaluate the direct and indirect economic benefits and costs of a local sports event in the City of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of their study was to provide new insights from measuring the impact of a typical local sports event that prior studies could not measure well because they focused on large "mega-events." Whether the event is rare or not, the methods section should include an explanation of the following characteristics of the event: a) when did it take place; b) what were the underlying circumstances leading to the event; and, c) what were the consequences of the event in relation to the research problem.

If your subject of analysis is a person. Explain why you selected this particular individual to be studied and describe what experiences they have had that provide an opportunity to advance new understandings about the research problem. Mention any background about this person which might help the reader understand the significance of their experiences that make them worthy of study. This includes describing the relationships this person has had with other people, institutions, and/or events that support using them as the subject for a case study research paper. It is particularly important to differentiate the person as the subject of analysis from others and to succinctly explain how the person relates to examining the research problem [e.g., why is one politician in a particular local election used to show an increase in voter turnout from any other candidate running in the election]. Note that these issues apply to a specific group of people used as a case study unit of analysis [e.g., a classroom of students].

If your subject of analysis is a place. In general, a case study that investigates a place suggests a subject of analysis that is unique or special in some way and that this uniqueness can be used to build new understanding or knowledge about the research problem. A case study of a place must not only describe its various attributes relevant to the research problem [e.g., physical, social, historical, cultural, economic, political], but you must state the method by which you determined that this place will illuminate new understandings about the research problem. It is also important to articulate why a particular place as the case for study is being used if similar places also exist [i.e., if you are studying patterns of homeless encampments of veterans in open spaces, explain why you are studying Echo Park in Los Angeles rather than Griffith Park?]. If applicable, describe what type of human activity involving this place makes it a good choice to study [e.g., prior research suggests Echo Park has more homeless veterans].

If your subject of analysis is a phenomenon. A phenomenon refers to a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be studied or observed but with the cause or explanation to be in question. In this sense, a phenomenon that forms your subject of analysis can encompass anything that can be observed or presumed to exist but is not fully understood. In the social and behavioral sciences, the case usually focuses on human interaction within a complex physical, social, economic, cultural, or political system. For example, the phenomenon could be the observation that many vehicles used by ISIS fighters are small trucks with English language advertisements on them. The research problem could be that ISIS fighters are difficult to combat because they are highly mobile. The research questions could be how and by what means are these vehicles used by ISIS being supplied to the militants and how might supply lines to these vehicles be cut off? How might knowing the suppliers of these trucks reveal larger networks of collaborators and financial support? A case study of a phenomenon most often encompasses an in-depth analysis of a cause and effect that is grounded in an interactive relationship between people and their environment in some way.

NOTE: The choice of the case or set of cases to study cannot appear random. Evidence that supports the method by which you identified and chose your subject of analysis should clearly support investigation of the research problem and linked to key findings from your literature review. Be sure to cite any studies that helped you determine that the case you chose was appropriate for examining the problem.

IV. Discussion

The main elements of your discussion section are generally the same as any research paper, but centered around interpreting and drawing conclusions about the key findings from your analysis of the case study. Note that a general social sciences research paper may contain a separate section to report findings. However, in a paper designed around a case study, it is common to combine a description of the results with the discussion about their implications. The objectives of your discussion section should include the following:

Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings Briefly reiterate the research problem you are investigating and explain why the subject of analysis around which you designed the case study were used. You should then describe the findings revealed from your study of the case using direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results. Highlight any findings that were unexpected or especially profound.

Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important Systematically explain the meaning of your case study findings and why you believe they are important. Begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most important or surprising finding first, then systematically review each finding. Be sure to thoroughly extrapolate what your analysis of the case can tell the reader about situations or conditions beyond the actual case that was studied while, at the same time, being careful not to misconstrue or conflate a finding that undermines the external validity of your conclusions.

Relate the Findings to Similar Studies No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. The discussion section should relate your case study results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for choosing your subject of analysis. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your case study design and the subject of analysis differs from prior research about the topic.

Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings Remember that the purpose of social science research is to discover and not to prove. When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations revealed by the case study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. Be alert to what the in-depth analysis of the case may reveal about the research problem, including offering a contrarian perspective to what scholars have stated in prior research if that is how the findings can be interpreted from your case.

Acknowledge the Study's Limitations You can state the study's limitations in the conclusion section of your paper but describing the limitations of your subject of analysis in the discussion section provides an opportunity to identify the limitations and explain why they are not significant. This part of the discussion section should also note any unanswered questions or issues your case study could not address. More detailed information about how to document any limitations to your research can be found here .

Suggest Areas for Further Research Although your case study may offer important insights about the research problem, there are likely additional questions related to the problem that remain unanswered or findings that unexpectedly revealed themselves as a result of your in-depth analysis of the case. Be sure that the recommendations for further research are linked to the research problem and that you explain why your recommendations are valid in other contexts and based on the original assumptions of your study.

V. Conclusion

As with any research paper, you should summarize your conclusion in clear, simple language; emphasize how the findings from your case study differs from or supports prior research and why. Do not simply reiterate the discussion section. Provide a synthesis of key findings presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem. If you haven't already done so in the discussion section, be sure to document the limitations of your case study and any need for further research.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to: 1) reiterate the main argument supported by the findings from your case study; 2) state clearly the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem using a case study design in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found from reviewing the literature; and, 3) provide a place to persuasively and succinctly restate the significance of your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with in-depth information about the topic.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize these points for your reader.
If prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the conclusion of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration of the case study's findings that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from your case study findings.

Note that, depending on the discipline you are writing in or the preferences of your professor, the concluding paragraph may contain your final reflections on the evidence presented as it applies to practice or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the subject of analysis you have investigated will depend on whether you are explicitly asked to express your observations in this way.

Problems to Avoid

Overgeneralization One of the goals of a case study is to lay a foundation for understanding broader trends and issues applied to similar circumstances. However, be careful when drawing conclusions from your case study. They must be evidence-based and grounded in the results of the study; otherwise, it is merely speculation. Looking at a prior example, it would be incorrect to state that a factor in improving girls access to education in Azerbaijan and the policy implications this may have for improving access in other Muslim nations is due to girls access to social media if there is no documentary evidence from your case study to indicate this. There may be anecdotal evidence that retention rates were better for girls who were engaged with social media, but this observation would only point to the need for further research and would not be a definitive finding if this was not a part of your original research agenda.

Failure to Document Limitations No case is going to reveal all that needs to be understood about a research problem. Therefore, just as you have to clearly state the limitations of a general research study , you must describe the specific limitations inherent in the subject of analysis. For example, the case of studying how women conceptualize the need for water conservation in a village in Uganda could have limited application in other cultural contexts or in areas where fresh water from rivers or lakes is plentiful and, therefore, conservation is understood more in terms of managing access rather than preserving access to a scarce resource.

Failure to Extrapolate All Possible Implications Just as you don't want to over-generalize from your case study findings, you also have to be thorough in the consideration of all possible outcomes or recommendations derived from your findings. If you do not, your reader may question the validity of your analysis, particularly if you failed to document an obvious outcome from your case study research. For example, in the case of studying the accident at the railroad crossing to evaluate where and what types of warning signals should be located, you failed to take into consideration speed limit signage as well as warning signals. When designing your case study, be sure you have thoroughly addressed all aspects of the problem and do not leave gaps in your analysis that leave the reader questioning the results.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Gerring, John. Case Study Research: Principles and Practices . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education . Rev. ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998; Miller, Lisa L. “The Use of Case Studies in Law and Social Science Research.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14 (2018): TBD; Mills, Albert J., Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Putney, LeAnn Grogan. "Case Study." In Encyclopedia of Research Design , Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010), pp. 116-120; Simons, Helen. Case Study Research in Practice . London: SAGE Publications, 2009; Kratochwill, Thomas R. and Joel R. Levin, editors. Single-Case Research Design and Analysis: New Development for Psychology and Education . Hilldsale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992; Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London : SAGE, 2010; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Los Angeles, CA, SAGE Publications, 2014; Walo, Maree, Adrian Bull, and Helen Breen. “Achieving Economic Benefits at Local Events: A Case Study of a Local Sports Event.” Festival Management and Event Tourism 4 (1996): 95-106.

Writing Tip

At Least Five Misconceptions about Case Study Research

Social science case studies are often perceived as limited in their ability to create new knowledge because they are not randomly selected and findings cannot be generalized to larger populations. Flyvbjerg examines five misunderstandings about case study research and systematically "corrects" each one. To quote, these are:

Misunderstanding 1 : General, theoretical [context-independent] knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical [context-dependent] knowledge. Misunderstanding 2 : One cannot generalize on the basis of an individual case; therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development. Misunderstanding 3 : The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses; that is, in the first stage of a total research process, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building. Misunderstanding 4 : The case study contains a bias toward verification, that is, a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions. Misunderstanding 5 : It is often difficult to summarize and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies [p. 221].

While writing your paper, think introspectively about how you addressed these misconceptions because to do so can help you strengthen the validity and reliability of your research by clarifying issues of case selection, the testing and challenging of existing assumptions, the interpretation of key findings, and the summation of case outcomes. Think of a case study research paper as a complete, in-depth narrative about the specific properties and key characteristics of your subject of analysis applied to the research problem.

Flyvbjerg, Bent. “Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (April 2006): 219-245.

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Case Study | Definition, Examples & Methods

Case Study | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on 5 May 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 30 January 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organisation, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating, and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyse the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
Open up new directions for future research

Unlike quantitative or experimental research, a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

If you find yourself aiming to simultaneously investigate and solve an issue, consider conducting action research . As its name suggests, action research conducts research and takes action at the same time, and is highly iterative and flexible.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience, or phenomenon.

Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews, observations, and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data .

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis, with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results , and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyse its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

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Case Studies: How to analyse a case study

What are Case Studies?
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Case Studies A useful Cengage Learning guide to analyzing and writing case studies.
How to Analyze a Case Study By Pearson Prentice Hall.
Guide to Case Analysis By McGraw Hill College Division.
Case Study Analysis from About.com

Case Study Analysis

MBA Depot - Guide to Case Analysis
University of Auckland Library case study guide
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Once you have identified a case study that you wish to analyze, the sources listed below can help you analyze the case materials.

Cengage Learning - Case Studies Explains how to effectively analyze cases and write a case study analysis. Provides a checklist and explanation of areas to consider, suggested research tools, and tips on financial analysis.
Framework for Case Analysis Free online guide on case analysis from the College of Management at UMass Boston.
Guide to case analysis From the publisher McGraw Hill. Includes sections on objectives of case analysis, preparing a case for class discussion, preparing a written case analysis and the Ten Commandments of Case Analysis.
How to analyze a case study From the publisher Prentice Hall: "This Hands-on Guide presents a structured framework to help you analyze case studies."

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How to Analyze a Case

By: William Ellet

A case is a text that refuses to explain itself. How do you construct a meaning for it? This chapter discusses in depth a case situation approach that identifies features of a case that can be…

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A case is a text that refuses to explain itself. How do you construct a meaning for it? This chapter discusses in depth a case situation approach that identifies features of a case that can be helpful to its analysis and encourages active reading.

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What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

Nitin Nohria

Seven meta-skills that stick even if the cases fade from memory.

It’s been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self-confidence.

During my decade as dean of Harvard Business School, I spent hundreds of hours talking with our alumni. To enliven these conversations, I relied on a favorite question: “What was the most important thing you learned from your time in our MBA program?”

Nitin Nohria is a professor and former dean at Harvard Business School and the chairman of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm based in New York.

What Is a Case Study?

An in-depth study of one person, group, or event

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

Verywell / Colleen Tighe

Benefits and Limitations

Types of case studies, how to write a case study.

A case study is an in-depth study of one person, group, or event. In a case study, nearly every aspect of the subject's life and history is analyzed to seek patterns and causes of behavior. Case studies can be used in various fields, including psychology, medicine, education, anthropology, political science, and social work.

The purpose of a case study is to learn as much as possible about an individual or group so that the information can be generalized to many others. Unfortunately, case studies tend to be highly subjective, and it is sometimes difficult to generalize results to a larger population.

While case studies focus on a single individual or group, they follow a format similar to other types of psychology writing. If you are writing a case study, it is important to follow the rules of APA format .

A case study can have both strengths and weaknesses. Researchers must consider these pros and cons before deciding if this type of study is appropriate for their needs.

One of the greatest advantages of a case study is that it allows researchers to investigate things that are often difficult to impossible to replicate in a lab. Some other benefits of a case study:

Allows researchers to collect a great deal of information
Give researchers the chance to collect information on rare or unusual cases
Permits researchers to develop hypotheses that can be explored in experimental research

On the negative side, a case study:

Cannot necessarily be generalized to the larger population
Cannot demonstrate cause and effect
May not be scientifically rigorous
Can lead to bias

Researchers may choose to perform a case study if they are interested in exploring a unique or recently discovered phenomenon. The insights gained from such research can help the researchers develop additional ideas and study questions that might be explored in future studies.

However, it is important to remember that the insights gained from case studies cannot be used to determine cause and effect relationships between variables. However, case studies may be used to develop hypotheses that can then be addressed in experimental research.

Case Study Examples

There have been a number of notable case studies in the history of psychology. Much of Freud's work and theories were developed through the use of individual case studies. Some great examples of case studies in psychology include:

Anna O : Anna O. was a pseudonym of a woman named Bertha Pappenheim, a patient of a physician named Josef Breuer. While she was never a patient of Freud's, Freud and Breuer discussed her case extensively. The woman was experiencing symptoms of a condition that was then known as hysteria and found that talking about her problems helped relieve her symptoms. Her case played an important part in the development of talk therapy as an approach to mental health treatment.
Phineas Gage : Phineas Gage was a railroad employee who experienced a terrible accident in which an explosion sent a metal rod through his skull, damaging important portions of his brain. Gage recovered from his accident but was left with serious changes in both personality and behavior.
Genie : Genie was a young girl subjected to horrific abuse and isolation. The case study of Genie allowed researchers to study whether language could be taught even after critical periods for language development had been missed. Her case also served as an example of how scientific research may interfere with treatment and lead to further abuse of vulnerable individuals.

Such cases demonstrate how case research can be used to study things that researchers could not replicate in experimental settings. In Genie's case, her horrific abuse had denied her the opportunity to learn language at critical points in her development.

This is clearly not something that researchers could ethically replicate, but conducting a case study on Genie allowed researchers the chance to study phenomena that are otherwise impossible to reproduce.

There are a few different types of case studies that psychologists and other researchers might utilize:

Collective case studies : These involve studying a group of individuals. Researchers might study a group of people in a certain setting or look at an entire community. For example, psychologists might explore how access to resources in a community has affected the collective mental well-being of those living there.
Descriptive case studies : These involve starting with a descriptive theory. The subjects are then observed, and the information gathered is compared to the pre-existing theory.
Explanatory case studies : These are often used to do causal investigations. In other words, researchers are interested in looking at factors that may have caused certain things to occur.
Exploratory case studies : These are sometimes used as a prelude to further, more in-depth research. This allows researchers to gather more information before developing their research questions and hypotheses .
Instrumental case studies : These occur when the individual or group allows researchers to understand more than what is initially obvious to observers.
Intrinsic case studies : This type of case study is when the researcher has a personal interest in the case. Jean Piaget's observations of his own children are good examples of how an intrinsic cast study can contribute to the development of a psychological theory.

The three main case study types often used are intrinsic, instrumental, and collective. Intrinsic case studies are useful for learning about unique cases. Instrumental case studies help look at an individual to learn more about a broader issue. A collective case study can be useful for looking at several cases simultaneously.

The type of case study that psychology researchers utilize depends on the unique characteristics of the situation as well as the case itself.

There are also different methods that can be used to conduct a case study, including prospective and retrospective case study methods.

Prospective case study methods are those in which an individual or group of people is observed in order to determine outcomes. For example, a group of individuals might be watched over an extended period of time to observe the progression of a particular disease.

Retrospective case study methods involve looking at historical information. For example, researchers might start with an outcome, such as a disease, and then work their way backward to look at information about the individual's life to determine risk factors that may have contributed to the onset of the illness.

Where to Find Data

There are a number of different sources and methods that researchers can use to gather information about an individual or group. Six major sources that have been identified by researchers are:

Archival records : Census records, survey records, and name lists are examples of archival records.
Direct observation : This strategy involves observing the subject, often in a natural setting . While an individual observer is sometimes used, it is more common to utilize a group of observers.
Documents : Letters, newspaper articles, administrative records, etc., are the types of documents often used as sources.
Interviews : Interviews are one of the most important methods for gathering information in case studies. An interview can involve structured survey questions or more open-ended questions.
Participant observation : When the researcher serves as a participant in events and observes the actions and outcomes, it is called participant observation.
Physical artifacts : Tools, objects, instruments, and other artifacts are often observed during a direct observation of the subject.

Section 1: A Case History

This section will have the following structure and content:

Background information : The first section of your paper will present your client's background. Include factors such as age, gender, work, health status, family mental health history, family and social relationships, drug and alcohol history, life difficulties, goals, and coping skills and weaknesses.

Description of the presenting problem : In the next section of your case study, you will describe the problem or symptoms that the client presented with.

Describe any physical, emotional, or sensory symptoms reported by the client. Thoughts, feelings, and perceptions related to the symptoms should also be noted. Any screening or diagnostic assessments that are used should also be described in detail and all scores reported.

Your diagnosis : Provide your diagnosis and give the appropriate Diagnostic and Statistical Manual code. Explain how you reached your diagnosis, how the client's symptoms fit the diagnostic criteria for the disorder(s), or any possible difficulties in reaching a diagnosis.

Section 2: Treatment Plan

This portion of the paper will address the chosen treatment for the condition. This might also include the theoretical basis for the chosen treatment or any other evidence that might exist to support why this approach was chosen.

Cognitive behavioral approach : Explain how a cognitive behavioral therapist would approach treatment. Offer background information on cognitive behavioral therapy and describe the treatment sessions, client response, and outcome of this type of treatment. Make note of any difficulties or successes encountered by your client during treatment.
Humanistic approach : Describe a humanistic approach that could be used to treat your client, such as client-centered therapy . Provide information on the type of treatment you chose, the client's reaction to the treatment, and the end result of this approach. Explain why the treatment was successful or unsuccessful.
Psychoanalytic approach : Describe how a psychoanalytic therapist would view the client's problem. Provide some background on the psychoanalytic approach and cite relevant references. Explain how psychoanalytic therapy would be used to treat the client, how the client would respond to therapy, and the effectiveness of this treatment approach.
Pharmacological approach : If treatment primarily involves the use of medications, explain which medications were used and why. Provide background on the effectiveness of these medications and how monotherapy may compare with an approach that combines medications with therapy or other treatments.

This section of a case study should also include information about the treatment goals, process, and outcomes.

When you are writing a case study, you should also include a section where you discuss the case study itself, including the strengths and limitiations of the study. You should note how the findings of your case study might support previous research.

In your discussion section, you should also describe some of the implications of your case study. What ideas or findings might require further exploration? How might researchers go about exploring some of these questions in additional studies?

Here are a few additional pointers to keep in mind when formatting your case study:

Never refer to the subject of your case study as "the client." Instead, their name or a pseudonym.
Read examples of case studies to gain an idea about the style and format.
Remember to use APA format when citing references .

A Word From Verywell

Case studies can be a useful research tool, but they need to be used wisely. In many cases, they are best utilized in situations where conducting an experiment would be difficult or impossible. They are helpful for looking at unique situations and allow researchers to gather a great deal of information about a specific individual or group of people.

If you have been directed to write a case study for a psychology course, be sure to check with your instructor for any specific guidelines that you are required to follow. If you are writing your case study for professional publication, be sure to check with the publisher for their specific guidelines for submitting a case study.

Simply Psychology. Case Study Method .

Crowe S, Cresswell K, Robertson A, Huby G, Avery A, Sheikh A. The case study approach . BMC Med Res Methodol . 2011 Jun 27;11:100. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-11-100

Gagnon, Yves-Chantal. The Case Study as Research Method: A Practical Handbook . Canada, Chicago Review Press Incorporated DBA Independent Pub Group, 2010.

Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods . United States, SAGE Publications, 2017.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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How to Write a Case Study Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide

Tue Aug 31 2021 09:35

5 minutes Read

If you are in college, you will likely be asked to write a case study analysis at some point. A case study analysis is a comprehensive examination of a real-life business situation or problem.

A case study is a research design that observes and records the behavior of an individual or group over time. It can be used to examine, for example, how a medical treatment affects an individual's life. Case studies are qualitative in nature and rely on personal interviews, observations, and data collection from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

This blog post will provide you with tips on how to write a comprehensive case study analysis!

When writing a case study analysis, you must first summarize the case. This should include the main points of the story and what is being studied.

Next, you will need to identify the key issues or problems in the case.

After that, you will need to analyze these issues and provide solutions.

Finally, you will need to recommend actions based on your analysis.

As you can see, writing a case study is very different from other types of research reports and analyses!

If at any point in time you feel overwhelmed or confused with the process, don't hesitate to ask someone for help.

Case studies are used by many professionals such as psychologists, lawyers, and market researchers; thus they will be more than happy to assist you.

After writing the summary of your case study, you should then list all relevant information. This would include what was observed during data collection and any other significant aspects that relate to the problem at hand.

You will need to set up a table in order to effectively organize this type of research report.

The following are some examples:

The first column lists important events or behaviors,

while the second column details how these affected an individual's life (or group).

The third column specifies why it is considered problematic, followed by recommendations on how to solve said problems in the final section!

If needed, use bullet points for each point made; however, do not number them as numbers can appear too formal when presenting ideas orally within written documentation such as resumes and essays.

Difference between Research Paper and Case Study

A research paper is a document that presents the findings of a research study. It is typically written in APA style and includes a title page, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and references.

A research paper is typically longer than a case study, and it includes more information about the methodology used in the study.

Types of Case Studies

There are three types of case studies:

Exploratory case studies: These are used to explore a problem or issue that is not well understood.
Explanatory case studies: These are used to explain the causes of a problem or issue.
Evaluative case studies: These are used to evaluate the effectiveness of a program, policy, or treatment.

Case Study Examples

Below are five case study examples to help you better understand how to write a case study analysis.

Example 1: A case study on the effects of a new medical treatment

Example 2: A case study on the effects of social media on teenage behavior

Example 3: A case study on the effects of marketing strategies on consumer behavior

Example 4: A case study of a company's new product launch campaign

Example 5: A case study of an advertising agency trying to increase brand awareness.

Writing a Case Study Draft

Now that you know what a case study is and how to write a case study analysis, it's time to start writing your draft! As you write your draft, be sure to:

1. Summarize the case: This should include the main points of the story and what is being studied.

2. Identify the key issues or problems in the case: After reading the case, you should be able to identify the key issues or problems that need to be addressed.

3. Analyze these issues and provide solutions: This is where you will need to use your critical thinking skills to analyze the issues and provide possible solutions.

4. Recommend actions based on your analysis: Finally, you will need to recommend actions based on your analysis. These can be short or long-term solutions depending on the case study.

Writing an awesome case study is not easy, but with this guide, you should have all of the tools necessary to write a great one! If at any point in time you feel overwhelmed or confused about how to write a case study, don't hesitate to reach out and ask someone for help .

How to Format a Case Study

When formatting a case study, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Formatting should be consistent throughout the document.

2. Use double-spacing, a 12-point font, and 1-inch margins.

3. The title page should include the case study title, author's name, and institutional affiliation.

4. The introduction should provide a brief overview of the case study and identify the key issues or problems that will be addressed.

5. The body of the case study should include a summary of the case, an analysis of the key issues or problems, and possible solutions.

6. The conclusion should summarize the findings of the case study and recommend what actions should be taken.

How to Write a Case Study Outline

A case study outline is a helpful way to organize your thoughts before you start writing your case study. It can also be helpful to have a template to follow when formatting your case study.

Introduction
Case Summary
Key Issues or Problems
Analysis of Issues and Solutions
Recommendations

How to Write a Case Study

A case study is a type of analysis that is used to examine a particular problem or issue.

Case studies are often used in the social sciences, but can be applied to any field. In order to write a case study, you will need to:

Summarize the case: This should include the main points of the story and what is being studied. It is important to include all of the relevant information in the summary so that the reader can understand the case. Be sure to focus on the key issues or problems that are being addressed in the case study. Case study summaries are typically between 100 and 300 words.
Analyze the key issues or problems: After reading the case, you should be able to identify the key issues or problems that need to be addressed. This is where you will need to use your critical thinking skills to analyze the issues and provide possible solutions.

When analyzing the key issues or problems in a case study, it is important to consider all of the relevant information. You should ask yourself the following questions:

What are the main points of the case?
What is being studied?
What are the key issues or problems that need to be addressed?
What is the analysis of the key issues or problems?
What are the possible solutions?
Which solutions are most feasible and practical?
What are the potential consequences of implementing these solutions?

3. Recommend actions based on your analysis: Finally, you will need to recommend actions based on your analysis. These can be short or long-term solutions depending on the severity of the issue.

When analyzing a case study, there are certain factors that need to be taken into account. These factors include the history of the company, the current situation, and potential solutions. When making recommendations, it is important to consider all of these factors to ensure that the best solution is proposed.

The case study outline is a helpful way to organize your thoughts before you start writing. It can also be helpful to have a template to follow when formatting your case study.

A good summary should include the main points of the story and what is being studied, as well as analyzing key issues or problems that need resolution. When analyzing these key issues or problems it's important to consider all of the relevant information in order to provide possible solutions for them with an understanding of their consequences on company history, current situation, and potential solutions by considering factors such as the history of the company which includes how it has been performing recently along with its current state and any other relevant details pertaining to problem-solving.

Once you've determined a solution based on an analysis of said factors then a plan of action should be put into place detailing how the solution will be implemented.

Vikas Hooda is an experienced content writer. He has been writing for over 10 years. His writing is clear, concise, and highly informative, making him a perfect choice for writing educational content.

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Case Study Analysis: Examples + How-to Guide & Writing Tips

A case study analysis is a typical assignment in business management courses. The task aims to show high school and college students how to analyze a current situation, determine what problems exist, and develop the best possible strategy to achieve the desired outcome.

Our specialists will write a custom essay on any topic for 13.00 10.40/page

Many students feel anxious about writing case analyses because being told to analyze a case study and provide a solution can seem like a big task. That is especially so when working with real-life scenarios. However, you can rest assured writing a case analysis paper is easier than you think. Just keep reading this article and you will find case study examples for students and the advice provided by Custom-writing experts!

👣 Main Steps
🕵 Preparing the Case

🔬 Analyzing the Case

📑 Format & Structure
🙅 Things to Avoid
🏁 Conclusion

🔗 References

👣 writing a case study analysis: main steps.

Business management is built on case analysis. Every single economic result shows that the methods and instruments employed were either well-timed and expedient, in the event of success, or not, in case of failure. These two options indicate whether the strategy is efficient (and should be followed) or requires corrections (or complete change). Such an approach to the case study will make your writing piece more proficient and valuable for the reader. The following steps will direct your plan for writing a case study analysis.

Step 1: Preliminary work

Make notes and highlight the numbers and ideas that could be quoted.
Single out as many problems as you can, and briefly mark their underlying issues. Then make a note of those responsible. In the report, you will use two to five of the problems, so you will have a selection to choose from.
Outline a possible solution to each of the problems you found. Course readings and outside research shall be used here. Highlight your best and worst solution for further reference.

Case Study Analysis Includes Three Main Steps: Preparing the Case, Drafring the Case, and Finalizing the Case.

Step 2: Drafting the Case

Provide a general description of the situation and its history.
Name all the problems you are going to discuss.
Specify the theory used for the analysis.
Present the assumptions that emerged during the analysis, if any.
Describe the detected problems in more detail.
Indicate their link to, and effect on, the general situation.
Explain why the problems emerged and persist.
List realistic and feasible solutions to the problems you outlined, in the order of importance.
Specify your predicted results of such changes.
Support your choice with reliable evidence (i.e., textbook readings, the experience of famous companies, and other external research).
Define the strategies required to fulfill your proposed solution.
Indicate the responsible people and the realistic terms for its implementation.
Recommend the issues for further analysis and supervision.

Step 3: Finalizing the Case

Like any other piece of writing, a case analysis requires post-editing. Carefully read it through, looking for inconsistencies and gaps in meaning. Your purpose is to make it look complete, precise, and convincing.

🕵 Preparing a Case for Analysis

Your professor might give you various case study examples from which to choose, or they may just assign you a particular case study. To conduct a thorough data analysis, you must first read the case study. This might appear to be obvious. However, you’d be surprised at how many students don’t take adequate time to complete this part.

Read the case study very thoroughly, preferably several times. Highlight, underline, flag key information, and make notes to refer to later when you are writing your analysis report.

If you don’t have a complete knowledge of the case study your professor has assigned, you won’t conduct a proper analysis of it. Even if you make use of a business case study template or refer to a sample analysis, it won’t help if you aren’t intimately familiar with your case study.

You will also have to conduct research. When it comes to research, you will need to do the following:

Gather hard, quantitative data (e.g. 67% of the staff participated in the meeting).
Design research tools , such as questionnaires and surveys (this will aid in gathering data).
Determine and suggest the best specific, workable solutions.

It would be best if you also learned how to analyze a case study. Once you have read through the case study, you need to determine the focus of your analysis. You can do this by doing the following:

Compare your chosen solutions to the solutions offered by the experts who analyzed the case study you were given or to online assignments for students who were dealing with a similar task. The experts’ solutions will probably be more advanced than yours simply because these people are more experienced. However, don’t let this discourage you; the whole point of doing this analysis is to learn. Use the opportunity to learn from others’ valuable experience, and your results will be better next time.

If you are still in doubt, the University of South Carolina offers a great guide on forming a case study analysis.

Receive a plagiarism-free paper tailored to your instructions.

📑 Case Analysis Format & Structure

When you are learning how to write a case study analysis, it is important to get the format of your analysis right. Understanding the case study format is vital for both the professor and the student. The person planning and handing out such an assignment should ensure that the student doesn’t have to use any external sources .

In turn, students have to remember that a well-written case analysis provides all the data, making it unnecessary for the reader to go elsewhere for information.

Regardless of whether you use a case study template, you will need to follow a clear and concise format when writing your analysis report. There are some possible case study frameworks available. Still, a case study should contain eight sections laid out in the following format:

Describe the purpose of the current case study;
Provide a summary of the company;
Briefly introduce the problems and issues found in the case study
Discuss the theory you will be using in the analysis;
Present the key points of the study and present any assumptions made during the analysis.
Present each problem you have singled out;
Justify your inclusion of each problem by providing supporting evidence from the case study and by discussing relevant theory and what you have learned from your course content;
Divide the section (and following sections) into subsections, one for each of your selected problems.
Present a summary of each problem you have identified;
Present plausible solutions for each of the problems, keeping in mind that each problem will likely have more than one possible solution;
Provide the pros and cons of each solution in a way that is practical.
Conclusion . This is a summary of your findings and discussion.
Decide which solution best fits each of the issues you identified;
Explain why you chose this solution and how it will effectively solve the problem;
Be persuasive when you write this section so that you can drive your point home;
Be sure to bring together theory and what you have learned throughout your course to support your recommendations.
Provide an explanation of what must be done, who should take action, and when the solution should be carried out;
Where relevant, you should provide an estimate of the cost in implementing the solution, including both the financial investment and the cost in terms of time.
References. While you generally do not need to refer to many external sources when writing a case study analysis, you might use a few. When you do, you will need to properly reference these sources, which is most often done in one of the main citation styles, including APA, MLA, or Harvard. There is plenty of help when citing references, and you can follow these APA guidelines , these MLA guidelines , or these Harvard guidelines .
Appendices. This is the section you include after your case study analysis if you used any original data in the report. These data, presented as charts, graphs, and tables, are included here because to present them in the main body of the analysis would be disruptive to the reader. The University of Southern California provides a great description of appendices and when to make use of them.

When you’ve finished your first draft, be sure to proofread it. Look not only for potential grammar and spelling errors but also for discrepancies or holes in your argument.

You should also know what you need to avoid when writing your analysis.

Just 13.00 10.40/page , and you can get an custom-written academic paper according to your instructions

🙅 Things to Avoid in Case Analysis

Whenever you deal with a case study, remember that there are some pitfalls to avoid! Beware of the following mistakes:

Excessive use of colloquial language . Even though it is a study of an actual case, it should sound formal.
Lack of statistical data . Give all the important data, both in percentages and in numbers.
Excessive details. State only the most significant facts, rather than drowning the reader in every fact you find.
Inconsistency in the methods you have used . In a case study, theory plays a relatively small part, so you must develop a specific case study research methodology.
Trivial means of research . It is critical that you design your own case study research method in whatever form best suits your analysis, such as questionnaires and surveys.

It is useful to see a few examples of case analysis papers. After all, a sample case study report can provide you with some context so you can see how to approach each aspect of your paper.

👀 Case Study Examples for Students

It might be easier to understand how a case study analysis works if you have an example to look at. Fortunately, examples of case studies are easy to come by. Take a look at this video for a sample case study analysis for the Coca-Cola Company.

If you want another example, then take a look at the one below!

Business Case Analysis: Example

CRM’s primary focus is customers and customer perception of the brand or the company. The focus may shift depending on customers’ needs. The main points that Center Parcs should consider are an increase in customer satisfaction and its market share. Both of these points will enhance customer perception of the product as a product of value. Increased customer satisfaction will indicate that the company provides quality services, and increased market share can reduce the number of switching (or leaving) customers, thus fostering customer loyalty.

Case Study Topics

Equifax case study: the importance of cybersecurity measures .
Study a case illustrating ethical issues of medical research.
Examine the case describing the complications connected with nursing and residential care.
Analyze the competitive strategy of Delta Airlines .
Present a case study of an ethical dilemma showing the conflict between the spirit and the letter of the law.
Explore the aspects of Starbucks’ marketing strategyin a case study.
Research a case of community-based clinic organization and development.
Customer service of United Airlines: a case study .
Analyze a specific schizophrenia case and provide your recommendations.
Provide a case study of a patient with hyperglycemia.
Examine the growth strategy of United Healthcare.
Present a case study demonstrating ethical issues in business .
Study a case of the 5% shareholding rule application and its impact on the company.
Case study of post-traumatic stress disorder .
Analyze a case examining the issues of cross-cultural management .
Write a case study exploring the ethical issues the finance manager of a long-term care facility can face and the possible reaction to them.
Write a case study analyzing the aspects of a new president of a firm election.
Discuss the specifics of supply chain management in the case of Tehindo company.
Study a case of a life crisis in a family and the ways to cope with it.
Case study of Tea Leaves and More: supply chain issues .
Explore the case of ketogenic diet implementation among sportspeople.
Analyze the case of Webster Jewelry shop and suggest some changes.
Examine the unique aspects of Tea and More brand management .
Adidas case study: an ethical dilemma .
Research the challenges of Brazos Valley Food Bank and suggest possible solutions.
Describe the case of dark web monitoring for business.
Study a case of permissive parenting style .
Case study of Starbucks employees .
Analyze a case of workplace discrimination and suggest a strategy to avoid it.
Examine a case of the consumer decision-making process and define the factors that influence it.
Present a case study of Netflix illustrating the crucial role of management innovation for company development.
Discuss a case describing a workplace ethical issue and propose ways to resolve it.
Case study of the 2008 financial crisis: Graham’s value investing principles in the modern economic climate.
Write a case study analyzing the harmful consequences of communication issues in a virtual team .
Analyze a case that highlights the importance of a proper functional currency choice.
Examine the case of Hitachi Power Systems management.
Present a case study of medication research in a healthcare facility.
Study the case of Fiji Water and the challenges the brand faces.
Research a social problem case and suggest a solution.
Analyze a case that reveals the connection between alcohol use and borderline personality disorder .
Transglobal Airline case study: break-even analysis.
Examine the case of Chiquita Brands International from the moral and business ethics points of view.
Present a case study of applying for Social Security benefits.
Study the case of a mass hacker attack on Microsoft clients and suggest possible ways to prevent future attacks.
Case study of leadership effectiveness .
Analyze a case presenting a clinical moral dilemma and propose ways to resolve it.
Describe the case of Cowbell Brewing Company and discuss the strategy that made them successful.
Write a case study of WeWork company and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of its strategy.
Case study of medical ethical decision-making.
Study the case of The Georges hotel and suggest ways to overcome its managerial issues.

🏁 Concluding Remarks

Writing a case study analysis can seem incredibly overwhelming, especially if you have never done it before. Just remember, you can do it provided you follow a plan, keep to the format described here, and study at least one case analysis example.

If you still need help analyzing a case study, your professor is always available to answer your questions and point you in the right direction. You can also get help with any aspect of the project from a custom writing company. Just tackle the research and hand over the writing, write a rough draft and have it checked by a professional, or completely hand the project off to an expert writer.

Regardless of the path you choose, you will turn in something of which you can be proud!

✏️ Case Study Analysis FAQ

Students (especially those who study business) often need to write a case study analysis. It is a kind of report that describes a business case. It includes multiple aspects, for example, the problems that exist, possible solutions, forecasts, etc.

There should be 3 main points covered in a case study analysis:

The challenge(s) description,
Possible solutions,
Outcomes (real and/or foreseen).

Firstly, study some examples available online and in the library. Case study analysis should be a well-structured paper with all the integral components in place. Thus, you might want to use a template and/or an outline to start correctly.

A case study analysis is a popular task for business students. They typically hand it in the format of a paper with several integral components:

Description of the problem
Possible ways out
Results and/or forecasts

Students sometimes tell about the outcome of their research within an oral presentation.

Case Study: Academia
Windows of vulnerability: a case study analysis (IEEE)
A (Very) Brief Refresher on the Case Study Method: SAGE
The case study approach: Medical Research Methodology
Strengths and Limitations of Case Studies: Stanford University
A Sample APA Paper: Radford University
How to Write a Case Study APA Style: Seattle PI
The Case Analysis: GVSU
How to Outline: Purdue OWL
Incorporating Interview Data: UW-Madison Writing Center
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Quite an impressive piece The steps and procedures outlined here are well detailed and the examples facilitates understanding.

Thank you for the great feedback, Collins!

it was very helpful. I have an assessment to write where in I need to mention different effective components that are needed to compile a high quality case study assessment.

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It is very important and helpful.

Thanks for the feedback, Abraham! Your opinion is very important for us!

Thanks a lot. A knowledge shared with a structured template. Stay the course

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for this valuable knowledge.I loved this. keep sharing. to know more about click Air India Case Study – Why Air India failed ?

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This is going to be a great help in my monthly analysis requirements for my subject. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for this insightful guidelines… It has really been a great tool for writing my project. Thanks once again.

We are so glad to hear that! Thank you for your feedback!

This article was very helpful, even though I’ll have a clearer mind only after I do the case study myself but I felt very much motivated after reading this, as now I can at least have a plan of what to do compared to the clueless me I was before I read it. I hope if I have any questions or doubts about doing a case study I can clear it out here.

Sarmistha, I’m happy you found the article helpful 🙂

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How to Write a Case Study | Examples & Methods

What is a case study?

A case study is a research approach that provides an in-depth examination of a particular phenomenon, event, organization, or individual. It involves analyzing and interpreting data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject under investigation.

Case studies can be used in various disciplines, including business, social sciences, medicine ( clinical case report ), engineering, and education. The aim of a case study is to provide an in-depth exploration of a specific subject, often with the goal of generating new insights into the phenomena being studied.

When to write a case study

Case studies are often written to present the findings of an empirical investigation or to illustrate a particular point or theory. They are useful when researchers want to gain an in-depth understanding of a specific phenomenon or when they are interested in exploring new areas of inquiry.

Case studies are also useful when the subject of the research is rare or when the research question is complex and requires an in-depth examination. A case study can be a good fit for a thesis or dissertation as well.

Case study examples

Below are some examples of case studies with their research questions:

These examples demonstrate the diversity of research questions and case studies that can be explored. From studying small businesses in Ghana to the ethical issues in supply chains, case studies can be used to explore a wide range of phenomena.

Outlying cases vs. representative cases

An outlying case stud y refers to a case that is unusual or deviates significantly from the norm. An example of an outlying case study could be a small, family-run bed and breakfast that was able to survive and even thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, while other larger hotels struggled to stay afloat.

On the other hand, a representative case study refers to a case that is typical of the phenomenon being studied. An example of a representative case study could be a hotel chain that operates in multiple locations that faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as reduced demand for hotel rooms, increased safety and health protocols, and supply chain disruptions. The hotel chain case could be representative of the broader hospitality industry during the pandemic, and thus provides an insight into the typical challenges that businesses in the industry faced.

Steps for Writing a Case Study

As with any academic paper, writing a case study requires careful preparation and research before a single word of the document is ever written. Follow these basic steps to ensure that you don’t miss any crucial details when composing your case study.

Step 1: Select a case to analyze

After you have developed your statement of the problem and research question , the first step in writing a case study is to select a case that is representative of the phenomenon being investigated or that provides an outlier. For example, if a researcher wants to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry, they could select a representative case, such as a hotel chain that operates in multiple locations, or an outlying case, such as a small bed and breakfast that was able to pivot their business model to survive during the pandemic. Selecting the appropriate case is critical in ensuring the research question is adequately explored.

Step 2: Create a theoretical framework

Theoretical frameworks are used to guide the analysis and interpretation of data in a case study. The framework should provide a clear explanation of the key concepts, variables, and relationships that are relevant to the research question. The theoretical framework can be drawn from existing literature, or the researcher can develop their own framework based on the data collected. The theoretical framework should be developed early in the research process to guide the data collection and analysis.

To give your case analysis a strong theoretical grounding, be sure to include a literature review of references and sources relating to your topic and develop a clear theoretical framework. Your case study does not simply stand on its own but interacts with other studies related to your topic. Your case study can do one of the following:

Demonstrate a theory by showing how it explains the case being investigated
Broaden a theory by identifying additional concepts and ideas that can be incorporated to strengthen it
Confront a theory via an outlier case that does not conform to established conclusions or assumptions

Step 3: Collect data for your case study

Data collection can involve a variety of research methods , including interviews, surveys, observations, and document analyses, and it can include both primary and secondary sources . It is essential to ensure that the data collected is relevant to the research question and that it is collected in a systematic and ethical manner. Data collection methods should be chosen based on the research question and the availability of data. It is essential to plan data collection carefully to ensure that the data collected is of high quality

Step 4: Describe the case and analyze the details

The final step is to describe the case in detail and analyze the data collected. This involves identifying patterns and themes that emerge from the data and drawing conclusions that are relevant to the research question. It is essential to ensure that the analysis is supported by the data and that any limitations or alternative explanations are acknowledged.

The manner in which you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard academic paper, with separate sections or chapters for the methods section , results section , and discussion section , while others are structured more like a standalone literature review.

Regardless of the topic you choose to pursue, writing a case study requires a systematic and rigorous approach to data collection and analysis. By following the steps outlined above and using examples from existing literature, researchers can create a comprehensive and insightful case study that contributes to the understanding of a particular phenomenon.

Preparing Your Case Study for Publication

After completing the draft of your case study, be sure to revise and edit your work for any mistakes, including grammatical errors , punctuation errors , spelling mistakes, and awkward sentence structure . Ensure that your case study is well-structured and that your arguments are well-supported with language that follows the conventions of academic writing . To ensure your work is polished for style and free of errors, get English editing services from Wordvice, including our paper editing services and manuscript editing services . Let our academic subject experts enhance the style and flow of your academic work so you can submit your case study with confidence.

How to write a case study — examples, templates, and tools

It’s a marketer’s job to communicate the effectiveness of a product or service to potential and current customers to convince them to buy and keep business moving. One of the best methods for doing this is to share success stories that are relatable to prospects and customers based on their pain points, experiences, and overall needs.

That’s where case studies come in. Case studies are an essential part of a content marketing plan. These in-depth stories of customer experiences are some of the most effective at demonstrating the value of a product or service. Yet many marketers don’t use them, whether because of their regimented formats or the process of customer involvement and approval.

A case study is a powerful tool for showcasing your hard work and the success your customer achieved. But writing a great case study can be difficult if you’ve never done it before or if it’s been a while. This guide will show you how to write an effective case study and provide real-world examples and templates that will keep readers engaged and support your business.

In this article, you’ll learn:

What is a case study?

How to write a case study, case study templates, case study examples, case study tools.

A case study is the detailed story of a customer’s experience with a product or service that demonstrates their success and often includes measurable outcomes. Case studies are used in a range of fields and for various reasons, from business to academic research. They’re especially impactful in marketing as brands work to convince and convert consumers with relatable, real-world stories of actual customer experiences.

The best case studies tell the story of a customer’s success, including the steps they took, the results they achieved, and the support they received from a brand along the way. To write a great case study, you need to:

Celebrate the customer and make them — not a product or service — the star of the story.
Craft the story with specific audiences or target segments in mind so that the story of one customer will be viewed as relatable and actionable for another customer.
Write copy that is easy to read and engaging so that readers will gain the insights and messages intended.
Follow a standardized format that includes all of the essentials a potential customer would find interesting and useful.
Support all of the claims for success made in the story with data in the forms of hard numbers and customer statements.

Case studies are a type of review but more in depth, aiming to show — rather than just tell — the positive experiences that customers have with a brand. Notably, 89% of consumers read reviews before deciding to buy, and 79% view case study content as part of their purchasing process. When it comes to B2B sales, 52% of buyers rank case studies as an important part of their evaluation process.

Telling a brand story through the experience of a tried-and-true customer matters. The story is relatable to potential new customers as they imagine themselves in the shoes of the company or individual featured in the case study. Showcasing previous customers can help new ones see themselves engaging with your brand in the ways that are most meaningful to them.

Besides sharing the perspective of another customer, case studies stand out from other content marketing forms because they are based on evidence. Whether pulling from client testimonials or data-driven results, case studies tend to have more impact on new business because the story contains information that is both objective (data) and subjective (customer experience) — and the brand doesn’t sound too self-promotional.

89% of consumers read reviews before buying, 79% view case studies, and 52% of B2B buyers prioritize case studies in the evaluation process.

Case studies are unique in that there’s a fairly standardized format for telling a customer’s story. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for creativity. It’s all about making sure that teams are clear on the goals for the case study — along with strategies for supporting content and channels — and understanding how the story fits within the framework of the company’s overall marketing goals.

Here are the basic steps to writing a good case study.

1. Identify your goal

Start by defining exactly who your case study will be designed to help. Case studies are about specific instances where a company works with a customer to achieve a goal. Identify which customers are likely to have these goals, as well as other needs the story should cover to appeal to them.

The answer is often found in one of the buyer personas that have been constructed as part of your larger marketing strategy. This can include anything from new leads generated by the marketing team to long-term customers that are being pressed for cross-sell opportunities. In all of these cases, demonstrating value through a relatable customer success story can be part of the solution to conversion.

2. Choose your client or subject

Who you highlight matters. Case studies tie brands together that might otherwise not cross paths. A writer will want to ensure that the highlighted customer aligns with their own company’s brand identity and offerings. Look for a customer with positive name recognition who has had great success with a product or service and is willing to be an advocate.

The client should also match up with the identified target audience. Whichever company or individual is selected should be a reflection of other potential customers who can see themselves in similar circumstances, having the same problems and possible solutions.

Some of the most compelling case studies feature customers who:

Switch from one product or service to another while naming competitors that missed the mark.
Experience measurable results that are relatable to others in a specific industry.
Represent well-known brands and recognizable names that are likely to compel action.
Advocate for a product or service as a champion and are well-versed in its advantages.

Whoever or whatever customer is selected, marketers must ensure they have the permission of the company involved before getting started. Some brands have strict review and approval procedures for any official marketing or promotional materials that include their name. Acquiring those approvals in advance will prevent any miscommunication or wasted effort if there is an issue with their legal or compliance teams.

3. Conduct research and compile data

Substantiating the claims made in a case study — either by the marketing team or customers themselves — adds validity to the story. To do this, include data and feedback from the client that defines what success looks like. This can be anything from demonstrating return on investment (ROI) to a specific metric the customer was striving to improve. Case studies should prove how an outcome was achieved and show tangible results that indicate to the customer that your solution is the right one.

This step could also include customer interviews. Make sure that the people being interviewed are key stakeholders in the purchase decision or deployment and use of the product or service that is being highlighted. Content writers should work off a set list of questions prepared in advance. It can be helpful to share these with the interviewees beforehand so they have time to consider and craft their responses. One of the best interview tactics to keep in mind is to ask questions where yes and no are not natural answers. This way, your subject will provide more open-ended responses that produce more meaningful content.

Whether pulling from client testimonials or data-driven results, case studies tend to have more impact on new business because the story contains information that is both objective (data) and subjective (customer experience) — and the brand doesn’t sound too self-promotional.

4. Choose the right format

There are a number of different ways to format a case study. Depending on what you hope to achieve, one style will be better than another. However, there are some common elements to include, such as:

An engaging headline
A subject and customer introduction
The unique challenge or challenges the customer faced
The solution the customer used to solve the problem
The results achieved
Data and statistics to back up claims of success
A strong call to action (CTA) to engage with the vendor

It’s also important to note that while case studies are traditionally written as stories, they don’t have to be in a written format. Some companies choose to get more creative with their case studies and produce multimedia content, depending on their audience and objectives. Case study formats can include traditional print stories, interactive web or social content, data-heavy infographics, professionally shot videos, podcasts, and more.

5. Write your case study

We’ll go into more detail later about how exactly to write a case study, including templates and examples. Generally speaking, though, there are a few things to keep in mind when writing your case study.

Be clear and concise. Readers want to get to the point of the story quickly and easily, and they’ll be looking to see themselves reflected in the story right from the start.
Provide a big picture. Always make sure to explain who the client is, their goals, and how they achieved success in a short introduction to engage the reader.
Construct a clear narrative. Stick to the story from the perspective of the customer and what they needed to solve instead of just listing product features or benefits.
Leverage graphics. Incorporating infographics, charts, and sidebars can be a more engaging and eye-catching way to share key statistics and data in readable ways.
Offer the right amount of detail. Most case studies are one or two pages with clear sections that a reader can skim to find the information most important to them.
Include data to support claims. Show real results — both facts and figures and customer quotes — to demonstrate credibility and prove the solution works.

6. Promote your story

Marketers have a number of options for distribution of a freshly minted case study. Many brands choose to publish case studies on their website and post them on social media. This can help support SEO and organic content strategies while also boosting company credibility and trust as visitors see that other businesses have used the product or service.

Marketers are always looking for quality content they can use for lead generation. Consider offering a case study as gated content behind a form on a landing page or as an offer in an email message. One great way to do this is to summarize the content and tease the full story available for download after the user takes an action.

Sales teams can also leverage case studies, so be sure they are aware that the assets exist once they’re published. Especially when it comes to larger B2B sales, companies often ask for examples of similar customer challenges that have been solved.

Case studies are a vital tool for any marketing team as they enable you to demonstrate the value of your company’s products and services to others.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about case studies and what they should include, you may be wondering how to start creating great customer story content. Here are a couple of templates you can use to structure your case study.

Template 1 — Challenge-solution-result format

Start with an engaging title. This should be fewer than 70 characters long for SEO best practices. One of the best ways to approach the title is to include the customer’s name and a hint at the challenge they overcame in the end.
Create an introduction. Lead with an explanation as to who the customer is, the need they had, and the opportunity they found with a specific product or solution. Writers can also suggest the success the customer experienced with the solution they chose.
Present the challenge. This should be several paragraphs long and explain the problem the customer faced and the issues they were trying to solve. Details should tie into the company’s products and services naturally. This section needs to be the most relatable to the reader so they can picture themselves in a similar situation.
Share the solution. Explain which product or service offered was the ideal fit for the customer and why. Feel free to delve into their experience setting up, purchasing, and onboarding the solution.
Explain the results. Demonstrate the impact of the solution they chose by backing up their positive experience with data. Fill in with customer quotes and tangible, measurable results that show the effect of their choice.
Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that invites readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to nurture them further in the marketing pipeline. What you ask of the reader should tie directly into the goals that were established for the case study in the first place.

Template 2 — Data-driven format

Start with an engaging title. Be sure to include a statistic or data point in the first 70 characters. Again, it’s best to include the customer’s name as part of the title.
Create an overview. Share the customer’s background and a short version of the challenge they faced. Present the reason a particular product or service was chosen, and feel free to include quotes from the customer about their selection process.
Present data point 1. Isolate the first metric that the customer used to define success and explain how the product or solution helped to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
Present data point 2. Isolate the second metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
Present data point 3. Isolate the final metric that the customer used to define success and explain what the product or solution did to achieve this goal. Provide data points and quotes to substantiate the claim that success was achieved.
Summarize the results. Reiterate the fact that the customer was able to achieve success thanks to a specific product or service. Include quotes and statements that reflect customer satisfaction and suggest they plan to continue using the solution.
Ask for action. Include a CTA at the end of the case study that asks readers to reach out for more information, try a demo, or learn more — to further nurture them in the marketing pipeline. Again, remember that this is where marketers can look to convert their content into action with the customer.

While templates are helpful, seeing a case study in action can also be a great way to learn. Here are some examples of how Adobe customers have experienced success.

Juniper Networks

One example is the Adobe and Juniper Networks case study , which puts the reader in the customer’s shoes. The beginning of the story quickly orients the reader so that they know exactly who the article is about and what they were trying to achieve. Solutions are outlined in a way that shows Adobe Experience Manager is the best choice and a natural fit for the customer. Along the way, quotes from the client are incorporated to help add validity to the statements. The results in the case study are conveyed with clear evidence of scale and volume using tangible data.

The story of Lenovo’s journey with Adobe is one that spans years of planning, implementation, and rollout. The Lenovo case study does a great job of consolidating all of this into a relatable journey that other enterprise organizations can see themselves taking, despite the project size. This case study also features descriptive headers and compelling visual elements that engage the reader and strengthen the content.

Tata Consulting

When it comes to using data to show customer results, this case study does an excellent job of conveying details and numbers in an easy-to-digest manner. Bullet points at the start break up the content while also helping the reader understand exactly what the case study will be about. Tata Consulting used Adobe to deliver elevated, engaging content experiences for a large telecommunications client of its own — an objective that’s relatable for a lot of companies.

Case studies are a vital tool for any marketing team as they enable you to demonstrate the value of your company’s products and services to others. They help marketers do their job and add credibility to a brand trying to promote its solutions by using the experiences and stories of real customers.

When you’re ready to get started with a case study:

Think about a few goals you’d like to accomplish with your content.
Make a list of successful clients that would be strong candidates for a case study.
Reach out to the client to get their approval and conduct an interview.
Gather the data to present an engaging and effective customer story.

Adobe can help

There are several Adobe products that can help you craft compelling case studies. Adobe Experience Platform helps you collect data and deliver great customer experiences across every channel. Once you’ve created your case studies, Experience Platform will help you deliver the right information to the right customer at the right time for maximum impact.

To learn more, watch the Adobe Experience Platform story .

Keep in mind that the best case studies are backed by data. That’s where Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform and Adobe Analytics come into play. With Real-Time CDP, you can gather the data you need to build a great case study and target specific customers to deliver the content to the right audience at the perfect moment.

Watch the Real-Time CDP overview video to learn more.

Finally, Adobe Analytics turns real-time data into real-time insights. It helps your business collect and synthesize data from multiple platforms to make more informed decisions and create the best case study possible.

Request a demo to learn more about Adobe Analytics.

https://business.adobe.com/blog/perspectives/b2b-ecommerce-10-case-studies-inspire-you

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/business-case

https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/what-is-real-time-analytics

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Main Tips On How To Write Case Study Analysis

29 Apr 2022

Quick Navigation

❔What is a Case Study Analysis?

☝️Types of Case Studies

📃Case Study Examples

✏️Writing a Case Study Draft

📝How to Format a Case Study

✍️How to Write an Outline

📌How to Write a Case Study

📑Creating a Title Page and Citing

Many students struggle with how to do a case study analysis. Writing such an assignment is always daunting, as it requires you to analyze something and form conclusions based on your research.

It usually focuses on phenomena you can't study in a typical way. Therefore, when writing such a text, you have to prepare thoughtfully. In the PapersOwl article, you will find out what this academic writing is and how to write a case analysis.

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What is a Case Study Analysis?

A case study analysis is a form of writing that analyzes a specific situation, event, object, person, or even place. The said analysis should be written and structured to lead to a conclusion. Typically, you cannot analyze the subject of this essay via quantitative methods.

Note that such studies can be used in various fields and require the use of many theories that can give you a unique approach to the matter. For example, you can write a paper like this about social sciences, business, medicine, and many other fields. Each of these will require a particular approach.

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Difference Between Research Paper and Case Study

Like all papers share similarities, these two are no different. Hence, knowing these parallels and distinctions, you will be able to learn how to write a case study assignment correctly.

A case study introduction can present the topic but does not require a citation of other similar works or the writer's opinion. On the other hand, research papers do not need a complete introduction about the general topic, but need citation since you will be using other people's works.

In addition, a writer must present their thoughts and views about the case they research. Finally, the most significant difference is that the research papers make the readers focus on a specific issue. On the contrary, the case study goes more into the matter and shifts the focus to all the details.

Types of Case Studies

When it comes to writing case study analysis, there are five types you must learn to differentiate. That is important because whether you get such an assignment, you will have to understand the task first and then start with the writing.

Here are the types of case studies which you will encounter most often:

Problem-oriented - this type focuses on real-life situations or theoretical issues and aims to solve them. For example, "World Hunger."

The second type is critical, also known as innate. The goal is to investigate a specific case, particularly its effects and what causes them - "Why Toys Remain Gender Stereotyped."

Historical case studies papers focus on events from our past. The text should contain information about a specific historical period of this type. Your goal will be to provide different perspectives of an event and parallel them to current-day issues. An example of such a topic is "Racism During Ancient Times - Roman Empire."

The illustrative or Instrumental type focuses on describing a particular event. Here you have to explain the event's outcome and what you have learned from it. A sample of such a topic is "The Effects of Dance Therapy in Depressed Adolescents."

Collective case studies are the fifth type. They include a collection of data about a specific case you will use to compare. E.g., "The Management Leadership at Work."

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Case Study Title Examples

When writing a case study analysis, titles usually point out that the text is a study. Thus, most of them contain "case study" in the header. Here are some case study analysis examples:

Santander's Expansion in Canada: Case Study Analysis
Case Study on the Effects of Art Therapy on Children with ADHD
The National Health Service's Treatment of People with Learning Disabilities, Case Study Analysis
Toxicological Case Study of The Mississippi River
Reading Development in Remote Areas of Nigeria: A Case Study
Case Study on the Growth of Veganism in Berlin

Writing a Case Study Draft

Creating a rough draft is the foremost step to take while writing such a paper. It is an essential step you must take, no matter how experienced you are. By doing it, you will be able to get more creative. In addition, you can explore options and decide on what to focus on more precisely, which will eventually result in a higher grade for your work.

So, sit down in a quiet place, bring an old-fashioned pen and paper, and start drafting ideas. Read them briefly while sipping on your tea and edit. After you have decided where your focus will lay, you have to develop these ideas and thoughts a bit more, then pick the best one.

How to Format a Case Study

Knowing how a case study analysis format should look is crucial. Therefore, you must know what the text structure should look like. The standard one contains about eight sections:

Introduction/The Executive Summary: As the first part here, you have to hook the reader's attention, so the introduction of the case study is the most important part of the writing. Then present them with a brief overview of your case study analyses and their findings. Make sure to form a good thesis statement , as this is the pivotal point of your work.
Literary Review/Background information: Similarly to other papers, in this part, you have to write your most important facts or findings while identifying the case issue.
Method/Findings/Discussion: This section can be written separately based on how your text flows. Here you will have to explore more about the case and its findings. Allow yourself to go into more detail instead of just briefly covering them.
Solutions/Recommendations/Implementation Part: You have to discuss the answers you came up with. Basically, you say why they are fit to solve the case and how you think they can be used in practice. Note that you must write only realistic and practical solutions for the problem. It's possible to write testable evidence that can support your recommendations.
Conclusion: Here, you are supposed to cover your whole paper briefly and even repeat the thesis (rephrased). Make sure to highlight the critical points of your case study.
References or Bibliography: This section must include the sources from which you collected data or whom you consulted. Usually, this part is on a separate page, and the listing should be according to your academic institution's requirements.
Appendices (include only if applicable): It is usual for some parts of your materials to be too lengthy or unfit for the other sections of the case study. Therefore, you have to include them here. That can be pictures, raw data of statistics, graphs, notes, etc. The appendix section is strictly for subsidiary materials, do not put the most relevant ones here.
Author Note: Remember that all educational institutions have their requirement for a case study format. The abovementioned is an example; thus, you may see a section or another is missing, or there are additional ones.

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How to Write a Case Study Outline

To write a case study outline, you have first to conduct research. The best way to do so is by accessing academic search engines like Google Scholar or by using old-fashioned books and published works. From there, you should understand how to structure and what key points to form your text. Then, construct your thesis statement around the idea you picked.

The outline for your case study paper is essential to your writing process. It helps you organize your thoughts and ideas in order to present a comprehensive, well-structured paper. Furthermore, it allows your professor to evaluate your understanding of the subject, the correct formatting and structure, and to identify any potential issues with your paper. Having an outline serves as a guide for both you and your professor, making it easier to plan and write your paper . With the help of a well-crafted outline, your professor can navigate your paper more easily and spot any issues before they arise. Writing a case study paper can be daunting, but the outline helps make it easier.

A case study outline will most likely consist of the following sections and information:

Case study title;
Student’s name;
Educational instructor's name;
Course name.

Introduction/Summary

It briefly overviews your case study, thesis statement, and essential findings.

Main Body Paragraphs - usually three to five

Literature Review/Background Information;
Method/Findings;
Discussion/Solutions/Recommendations.
Repeat a paraphrased version of your thesis;
Summarize your case study key points;
Finish with a statement that can recommend the audience to read further by giving them thoughts to contemplate and develop new ideas.

Reference List or Bibliography

List all the sources of evidence used to create your case study in your educational organization's required citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Turabian, etc.).

How to Write a Case Study

The way to write a case study is by strictly following the main idea of your thesis. You already know that a study's main body consists of an introduction, literature review, method, discussion, and conclusion sections. Thus, all that is left is to focus on these parts and understand how to make them perfect.

The Introduction/Summary: The introduction of a case study should start with a solid first sentence that will hook the reader. Afterward, you must explain the question you will be answering and why you are doing it. You should include some of the topic's relevant history and details here. Also, you should explain how your case study will enrich the available information. Also, briefly summarize your literature review, which your findings will use as a base. Try to finish positively and make the reader see the benefits of reading your work.
Background Information/Literature Review: ‍Structure and present the data from your academic sources . This section will show the reader how vital your work is and the basis for it.
Method/Findings: This part aims to explain the case you selected, how it connects to the issue, and why you chose them. You can also add what methods you use. Here you must note that the data collection methods are qualitative, not quantitative, for case studies. That means the data is not random but well-structured and chronically taken from interviews, focus groups, and other sources.
Discussion/Solutions: Restate your thesis but rephrase it, then draw your conclusions from what you have discovered via your research and link to your statement. Inform the audience of your main findings and define why the results are relevant to the field. Think about the following questions:

Were the results unexpected? Why/Why not?

How do your findings compare to previous similar case studies in your literature review?

Do your findings correlate to previous results, or do they contradict them?

Are your findings helpful in deepening the current understanding of the topic?

Next, explore possible alternative explanations or interpretations of your findings. Be subjective and explain your paper's limitations. End with some suggestions for further exploration based on the limits of your work. ‍

Conclusion: Inform the reader precisely why your case study and findings are relevant, and restate your thesis and main results. Give a summary of previous studies you reviewed and how you contributed to expanding current knowledge. The final should explain how your work can be helpful and implemented in future research.

Your instructor should have an excellent example they can show you, so feel free to ask. They will surely want to help you learn how to write a case study!

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How to Create a Title Page and Cite a Case Study

A case study in APA format for students can differ from one institution to another. So, knowing your college or school requirements is crucial before you start writing. Nonetheless, the general one should look like this:

Title - A header no longer than nine words has "Case Study" and reflects the content and the idea behind it yet is engaging to read;
Write your full name;
The name of your course/class;
Next is your professor or instructor name;
The university/school name;
The date of submission.

When citing in your paper, you must ensure it is done accurately and in your academic style. If you are unsure how to do it, research the requirements and google "How to do a case study analysis in Harvard", for example. Note that short citations can be in your text, but longer ones should be in the bibliography section.

Hruby, A. (2018). Hruby, A., & Hu, F. B. (2015). The epidemiology of obesity: a big picture. Pharmacoeconomics, 33(7), 673-689. www.sciepub.com. http://www.sciepub.com/reference/254744

Case studies strive to analyze an event, location, case, or person. They can be similar to research papers, so you must pay close attention to the structure and what your professor has requested from you.

Finally, the process of writing can be overwhelming due to the many sections. However, if you take the process step by step and do your preparations properly, you will have an easy time writing the paper. You can also look for assistance online - many services offer to order case study online help . With the right kind of assistance, you can be sure that your paper is of high quality and is due on time!

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Title: improving cardiovascular disease prediction through comparative analysis of machine learning models: a case study on myocardial infarction.

Abstract: Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of mortality in the contemporary world. Its association with smoking, elevated blood pressure, and cholesterol levels underscores the significance of these risk factors. This study addresses the challenge of predicting myocardial illness, a formidable task in medical research. Accurate predictions are pivotal for refining healthcare strategies. This investigation conducts a comparative analysis of six distinct machine learning models: Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Bagging, XGBoost, and LightGBM. The attained outcomes exhibit promise, with accuracy rates as follows: Logistic Regression (81.00%), Support Vector Machine (75.01%), XGBoost (92.72%), LightGBM (90.60%), Decision Tree (82.30%), and Bagging (83.01%). Notably, XGBoost emerges as the top-performing model. These findings underscore its potential to enhance predictive precision for coronary infarction. As the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors persists, incorporating advanced machine learning techniques holds the potential to refine proactive medical interventions.

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Published: 02 November 2023

The impact of geo-political socio-economic factors on vaccine dissemination trends: a case-study on COVID-19 vaccination strategies

Ritu Chauhan 1 ,
Gatha Varma 2 ,
Eiad Yafi 3 &
Megat F. Zuhairi 4

BMC Public Health volume 23 , Article number: 2142 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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The world in recent years has seen a pandemic of global scale. To counter the widespread loss of life and severe repercussions, researchers developed vaccinations at a fast pace to immunize the population. While the vaccines were developed and tested through extensive human trials, historically vaccines have been known to evoke mixed sentiments among the generic demographics. In the proposed study, we aim to reveal the impact of political and socio-economic factors on SARS-Cov-2 vaccination trends observed in two hundred and seventeen countries spread across the six continents.

The study had hypothesized that the citizens who have lower trust in their government would be less inclined towards vaccination programs. To test this hypothesis, vaccination trends of nations under authoritarian rule were compared against democratic nations. Further, the study was synthesized with Cov-2 vaccination data which was sourced from Our World Data repository, which was sampled among 217 countries spread across the 6 continents. The study was analyzed with exploratory data analysis and proposed with relevance and impacting factor that was considered for vaccine dissemination in comparison with the literacy rate of the nations. Another impacting factor the study focused on for the vaccination dissemination trends was the health expenses of different nations. The study has been synthesized on political and socio-economic factors where the features were ardently study in retrospect of varied socio- economic features which may include country wise literacy rate, overall GDP rate, further we substantiated the work to address the political factors which are discussed as the country status of democratic or having other status.

The comparison of trends showed that dissemination of SARS-Cov-2 vaccines had been comparable between the two-opposing types of governance. The major impact factor behind the wide acceptance of the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine was the expenditure done by a country on healthcare. These nations used a large number of vaccines to administer to their population and the trends showed positive growth. The overall percentage of vaccine utilized by countries in quantitative terms are Pfizer/BioNTech (17.55%), Sputnik V (7.08%), Sinovac (6.98%), Sinopharm/Beijing (10.04%), Oxford/AstraZeneca (19.56%), CanSino (2.85%), Moderna (12.05%), Covaxin (3.28%), JohnsonandJohnson (10.89%), Sputnik Light (3.07%), Novavax (3.49%). While the nations with the lowest healthcare expenses failed to keep up with the demand and depended on vaccines donated by other countries to protect their population.

Conclusions

The analysis revealed strong indicators that the nations which spend more on healthcare were the ones that had the best SARS-Cov-2 vaccination rollout. To further support decision-making in the future, countries should address the trust and sentiment of their citizens towards vaccination. For this, expenses need to be made to develop and promote vaccines and project them as positive health tools.

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Introduction

The global stance, in the current scenario of the pandemic, has imposed a substantial burden on healthcare practitioners. The ultimate aim of researchers and scientists worldwide is to fight the ongoing situation and discover significant vaccines which can reduce the mortality rate among society. As we know, the decisive way to overcome the ongoing situation is to immunize the population. Moreover, the existing circumstances infer that, if we need to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, then immunization would play an imperative role.

Certainly, COVID-19 has imprudently created several challenges among young researchers, scientists, and healthcare practitioners around the globe [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. To address the key challenges, the interdisciplinary research areas such as education, healthcare, industrial, stock market, food and beverage were examined to determine the factors i.e. socio, behavioral, economical parameters in the vaccine strategy which can directly or indirectly influence the study [ 2 , 3 ]. Hence, the trial of studies was performed at varying stages which included the clinical trials, spatial parameters of the spread of disease, factors corresponding to disease patients, and others. To discuss the overall impact of studies conducted, the challenge is to disseminate the data and predict information from big databases [ 5 , 6 ].

To address the vital issues of real-world data complexity, several adoptive technologies such as computer vision, Tele health was need of time and assistive technologies implemented such as visualization-based models to assist the need of the patients also several communication modules were implemented to assist with the work from home and support the overall population to best fit the current scenario [ 7 ]. Also, we can say that to curb the spread of COVID 19, Machine learning (ML)and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are well-known techniques, which are deployed to discover hidden information from varied databases. The global network of clinicians, scientists, and healthcare practitioners are trying to accelerate the research programs while utilizing AI and ML to develop an effective and efficient COVID -19 vaccine that can benefit the human population among all age groups [ 8 , 9 ]. Usually, ML and AI are evolved to develop a prediction-based tool or decision making, which can outline the future adverts of healthcare outcomes [ 10 ].

We can say that the healthcare organizations are explicitly searching for appropriate technology which can track the epidemiological synchronization or cofactors which can relate to pandemic spread [ 9 , 10 ]. However, cofactors can easily studied with AI and ML which can set vulnerable benefits of diagnosis while measuring the effectiveness of the drug, spread of COVID 19, and detecting the co-vital features associated with the disease [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Further, we can say that AI and ML-based technology are the decision-making platforms which can assist healthcare practitioners to fight the battle of COVID -19 while giving a recommendation, medical features extractions, patient-assisted control, and other services which we can think of.

Further, the utilization of ML and AI has flourished their advances in the pandemic era, victoriously in several application domains which include military organizations, healthcare, business analytics, and other technological intervention while gaining momentum and success stories [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. For example, the chest CT scan images were applied with medical imaging analysis using ML and AI-based algorithms to detect the prognosis of the disease in a short period, as well as citing the drug discovery module which can benefit the patient [ 14 , 15 ]. In addition, ML and AI-based studies were applied to study the societal and behavioral implications of patients and develop intelligent models which can benefit the post-Covid era of patients [ 16 ]. Moreover, several human transmission models were also generated to identify and predict the outbreak of disease and other severities aligned with spread [ 16 , 17 ].

Further, considering the relative global impact of vaccination with vital features such as literacy rate, disabilities, older generation and many other factors in retrospect of the citizens and certain formulation suggested that users those have lower trust in their government were less inclined towards vaccination programs [ 17 ]. In accordance, to the previous work we tried to determine the vaccination trends among varied nations under authoritarian rule as well as comparison was strategized against democratic nations [ 17 , 18 ]. The comparison of trends showed that dissemination of the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine had been comparable between the two-opposing types of governance. Further, the study was proposed with relevance and impacting factor that was considered for vaccine dissemination in comparison with the literacy rate of the nations. The correlated factor was referred to as the country's literacy rate, which is an indicator of its economy and living standards [ 14 ]. In agreement with the above problem, the vaccination trends were represented, with vital features of lesser literacy rates having extremely low and flat growth curves for vaccination numbers [ 15 ]. In similar, another impacting factor that the study focused on was the vaccination dissemination trends in comparison with the health expenses of different nations. The curves were strong indicators that the nations that spend more on healthcare were the ones that had the best SARS-Cov-2 vaccination rollout [ 16 ]. These nations used a large number of vaccines to administer to their population and the trends were positive growth [ 17 ]. While the nations with the lowest healthcare expenses failed to keep up with the demand and depended on vaccines donated by other countries to protect their population [ 18 ].

In the proposed study, we aim to reveal the impact of political and socio-economic factors on SARS-Cov-2 vaccination trends in different countries. The study has been synthesized on political and socio-economic factors where the features were ardently study in retrospect of varied socio- economic features which may include country wise literacy rate, overall GDP rate, further we substantiated the work to address the political factors which are discussed as the country status of democratic or having other status which are discussed elaborated in methodology section.

Literature review

Data science can be discussed as a vibrant tool for developing and supporting vaccine dissemination. The major role is to discover the protein structure which can enable the clinicians and data scientists to discover the patterns for future research repositories and identification of drug discovery. We can say that vaccine is the only possibility that can control the dissemination of COVID 19 cases around the globe [ 18 ]. However, the statistics represents that few vaccines have received permission to use, as in case of emergency conditions that can benefit the healthcare practitioners and others. In context, several vaccination programs are laid into the process to assure the wellbeing, safety, and control of the blowout of the COVID-19 [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Hence, we can say that earlier vaccine development was a trivial task, but the advent technology introduced has the ability to identify the protein structure and develop a new drug for a deeper understanding of the virus. Google with integrated technology of AI launched the Alphafold tool, which tends to be an automatic and specialized tool that can predict the new vital 3D protein structure while input as the genetic sequence [ 21 ]. The above cited approached focused on detection of the untreated proteins which regulate the SARS-COV-2 virus and generate a protein structure [ 17 , 22 ].

The concept of reverse vaccinology (RV) with ML tools was utilized to forecast and develop a vaccine for COVID -19. The RV was applied to discover the pathogen using genomes. The study prevailed to discover the proteins which were responsible for the virus which includes SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-229E, and others where were discovered from Uniprot proteins. Moreover, they have exploited the ML techniques Vaxign-ML to detect and discover the signal behavior of the proteome of the virus, to forecast the relevance of biological signals [ 23 ]. Further, the Vaxign-ML model was formulated using classifier Random Forest, structural and vector proximity, the context of modeling which was based on ML and RC, was applied to determine the protein and its correspondence level [ 23 ].

In similar, the control and spread of any communicable disease depend upon the vaccine instantiated. Certainly, the development of these vaccines is not an easy task, moreover, several challenges and barriers exist to determine the effective and efficient drug which can handle the generic data. In the past several studies are introduced by researchers and health care practitioners to study the overall effect of the vaccine [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Comparably, a study was proposed to discuss the encounters of the vaccine in context with structural and attitudinal patterns in the US population [ 24 , 25 ]. Where the structural barriers were discussed as the service which was not accessible such as transportation services, or going out and acquiring public services. Further, attitudinal barriers refer to the fact the beliefs which a person acquires the fear of communicable disease or his unwillingness to accept the facts due to perception of the mind. Moreover, in the context of vaccination, it may be discussed as the barrier which develops as the aftermaths or present vaccination programs and determines the risks associated with same. Similar outcomes can be controlled by several recommendation programs, where the effectiveness and importance of COVID- 19 can help them reduce the barriers among the population, which an individual acquires due to rational information [ 24 , 25 ].

Method and materials

COVID 19 has substantially worn the world upside down which has created several inhibitions to detect hidden patterns and information from large scale databases. However, the current study of approach focuses on vaccine dissemination patterns around the globe. The study was based on databases generated from public domain repository of United Nations World Population Prospect, where the datasets compromise of subnational locations such as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and others [ 26 ]. Also, the overall estimation was calculated on the basis of total vaccinations conducted with doses administrated at each level in correspondence people fully vaccinated with per hundred million. The dataset was analyzed to measure the potential factors in context with impact of political and socio-economic factors on SARS-Cov-2 vaccination trends in different countries. The study has been synthesized on political and socio-economic factors where the features were ardently study in retrospect of varied socio- economic features which may include country wise literacy rate, overall GDP rate [ 27 , 28 ]. Further, we have utilized the secondary data extracted to explore the international trends of vaccination. The current study of approach was focused to provide appropriate geographical coverage of vaccination with stratified sampling and exploratory data analysis.

The exploratory data analysis (EDA) is conducted among the databases to detect hidden patterns, information and knowledge from the data. The data investigated was preprocessed for null values, missing values and inconsistent values to measure the exploratory features summarization. The proposed study was implemented using python 3.9.0 version using NumPy package, Matplotlib library and pandas to explore the complex patterns among the data. Further, data was explored with graphs and distribution curves to synthesize and identify the potential outlines in the data. The analysis also included varied statistics such as mean, median, standard deviation for varied features in the datasets.

Additionally, the study was categorized with relevance and impacting factor which were considered for vaccine dissemination in comparison with the literacy rate of the nations. Also. Target features were considered for the vaccination dissemination trends for calculating the health expenses of different nations. The study has been synthesized on political and socio-economic factors where the features were ardently study in retrospect of varied socio- economic features which may include country wise literacy rate, overall GDP rate, further we substantiated the work to address the political factors which are discussed as the country status of democratic or having other status.

Descriptive analysis

Vaccines have been one of the biggest preventive measures that were developed over the past century to tackle dreaded diseases. However, the major diseases which tends to cured with vaccination is smallpox and rinderpest which has substantially outcasted the population with their rendered threats. While Covid-19 vaccinations have once again raised the debate about a population's trust in various aspects of this process, studies were done before the pandemic also helped in understanding the factors that drive acceptance rates [ 29 , 30 ].

A study done by Larson et al. in 2016 [ 17 ] had analyzed trust in vaccinations in terms of four factors, namely its importance, its safety, its effectiveness, and religious compatibility. Respondents from sixty-seven countries were surveyed for their confidence in vaccines. The survey gauged sentiment on a five-point Likert scale, where answers were discrete values of strongly agree, tend to agree, do not know, tend to disagree, strongly disagree. After the removal of the neutral answer of 'do not know', the countries were ranked based on low confidence. The countries that showed the most negative sentiment towards vaccination before the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in terms of the four different factors are listed in Table 1 .

As can be seen from the rankings, European and Western Pacific nations were least confident of vaccinations. Developed nations like Japan and France were unexpected entries. The distrust of the population of France can be attributed to the vaccine-related controversies that plagued the nation in the past two decades [ 31 ]. Japan is known to be a risk-averse nation and therefore the population shows a major concern in vaccine safety to fully trust them [ 32 ]. Table 2 lists the top ten countries that displayed positive sentiment towards vaccines.

While the countries with positive sentiment towards vaccination are a mix of developed and developing nations, the latter were more accepting. It should also be noted that religious fundamentalism might impede vaccine acceptance, but it cannot be linked to a certain faith type, as shown by the presence of Saudi Arabia which has a majorly Muslim population [ 33 ].

The SARS-Cov-2 vaccination data was sourced from Our World in Data repository hosted on Github [ 22 ]. This dataset is comprised of two hundred and seventeen countries spread across the six continents. Table 3 lists the attributes of the data that was accessed till July 2021.

The data repository also contained information on Covid vaccines that were administered till the time of this study. These were Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm/Beijing, Sinovac, SputnikV, JohnsonandJohnson, Moderna, Covaxin, CanSino, Sinopharm/Wuhan, Abdala, Soberana02, QazVac, Sinopharm/HayatVax, EpiVacCorona, RBD-Dimer [ 22 ]. Their usage breakdown is shown in Table 4 . The three vaccines that have been administered in the majority are Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Moderna.

Our analysis also aimed to discern the effect of a nation's political regime on the SARS-Cov2 vaccination dissemination. While Authoritarian governments are associated with strict implementation of policies among the residents, democracies offer a choice to its residents. The said choice may take stricter forms in case of emergencies like a pandemic. Therefore, some democracies also saw strict regulations regarding the SARS-Cov2 vaccination dissemination. Nonetheless, we combined the political regimes of different nations [ 26 ] for this particular analysis. The dataset contained political regime values as Polity 2 Measure ranges from -10, which corresponded to autocracy, to + 10 for full democracy. For the ease of analysis, the Polity indices were categorized as Authoritarian where the measure ranged between -10 to -6, Limited Authoritarian for Polity measures of -5 to -1, Limited Democracy for 0 to 5, None for non-specified values, and finally Democracy for values 5 to 10. The conversion helped in converting the feature to a categorical distribution.

Results and discussion

The proposed analysis aimed to reveal the impact of political and socio-economic factors on SARS-Cov-2 vaccination trends in different countries. The political regimes of different nations were fetched from Our World in Data repository [ 26 ] to discern the distribution of regimes and the vaccination trends. The dataset contained political regime values as Polity 2 Measure ranges from -10, which corresponded to autocracy, to + 10 for full democracy. For ease of analysis, the Polity indices were categorized as Authoritarian where the measure ranged between -10 to -6, Limited Authoritarian for Polity measures of -5 to -1, Limited Democracy for 0 to 5, None for non-specified values, and finally Democracy for values 5 to 10. Additionally, Authoritarian rule means that the people have to obey the rule and regulations formed by the single political leader. In this rule, the government doesn’t have an established system where the powers can be transformed and the liberal rights can be granted to the people. So, the authoritarian rule confers to the fact that no democracy is granted and hence the people have to subsidies on the rules created by the leader. A limited Authoritarian government is the one where the legalized forces are restricted and obey the rules of authorities. Also, the laws and their restriction on individuals and business are controlled with fewer restriction. Hence, difference between limited authoritarian and authoritarian is constitutional powers are limited in case of limited authoritarian whereas all the powers are controlled by single political leader in case of authoritarian. The democratic rule implies that the power which is elected by the people. It means the people will elect their own minister and hence govern themselves in indirect way. So, democratic way of rule is for the people, by the people and of the people to maintain the freedom at each level. Limited democratic rule can be discussed as the power which restricts the leaders to have absolute power with the inclination towards the lawmakers to abide by the absolute powers created by the government. Also, limited powers are gained by the high-profile individuals and also citizens are required to adhere with the constitutional powers. Hence, Fig. 1 shows the distribution of the five types of political regimes among the vaccination data and democracy emerged as the most common form of governance.

The percentages breakdown of political regimes for countries that were surveyed for SARS-Cov-2 vaccination

In, Figs. 2 and 3 the illustrated images identify the vaccination trends and vaccines used by the compared nations for varied authoritative and democratic governances.

The vaccines used and vaccination trends of nations under authoritarian rule

The vaccines used and vaccination trends of some democratic nations

The comparison of trends shows that dissemination of the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine has been done between the two opposing types of governance. Both types have used a combination of vaccines and the graphs show a rising trend thus marking extensive acceptance among the citizens.

The next impacting factor that was considered for vaccine dissemination was the literacy of the nations. The WHO literacy rates from the year 2016 [ 27 ] were used to shortlist nations with the lowest and highest literacy rates. The shortlisted nations were then analyzed for preferred vaccines and dissemination trends. Figures 4 and 5 show trends for nations with the lowest and highest literacy rates respectively.

Vaccination trends with the lowest literacy rates in the year 2016

The vaccines used and vaccination trends of nations with the highest literacy rates in the year 2016

A country's literacy rate is an indicator of its economy and living standards. In agreement with this statement, the vaccination trends show that nations with the poorest literacy rates have extremely low and flat growth curves for vaccination numbers. On the other hand, the nations that have the highest literacy rates boast of good living conditions and better vaccination figures. These nations also used a combination of multiple vaccines for the faster safeguard of their population.

Another impacting factor that this study focused on was the vaccination dissemination trends in comparison with the health expenses of different nations. Each nation sets aside a percentage of the GDP towards the betterment of healthcare and its implementation. The health expenditure data hosted by the World Bank for the year 2018 [ 28 ] was used to get expenditure figures of the nations. Figures 6 and 7 show trends for nations with the lowest and highest healthcare expenses respectively. The curves are strong indicators that the nations that spend more on healthcare were the ones that had the best SARS-Cov-2 vaccination rollout. These nations used a large number of vaccines to administer to their population and the trends were positive growth. While the nations with the lowest healthcare expenses failed to keep up with the demand and depended on vaccines donated by other countries to protect their population. The curves grew slowly over time, while some were flat and showed slow progress.

The vaccines used and vaccination trends of nations with the lowest expenditure on healthcare

The vaccines used and vaccination trends of nations with the highest expenditure on healthcare

The human race has progressed through several inventions, and vaccines have been one of the most important of them all.

While vaccines have been successful in improving the life expectancy of the masses, the technology is still riddled with distrust and negative sentiment among the masses. This sentiment gets further aggravated due to controversies and low confidence in scientific research. It is but evident that the difference in ideology can be attributed to the demographics that the persons with negative sentiment belong to. The ideology of a person is governed by their cultural background and the other conditions that prevail in their country. These may include political factors like the government regime, economic factors like GDP and generic economic status, and literacy rates.

In this paper, we have analysed how vaccination dissemination and acceptance were affected by the political and socio-economic factors where the features were ardently study in retrospect of varied socio- economic features which may include country wise literacy rate, overall GDP rate and others. While, the world is battling with the global pandemic of SARS-Cov-2, sentiment towards vaccination has again come into the limelight. The authors have analyzed the confidence in vaccinations before the Covid pandemic happened and found that the European and Western Pacific nations were least confident. Japan, known to be a risk-averse nation also showed a major concern in vaccine safety to fully trust them. The countries with positive sentiment towards vaccination were a mix of developed and developing nations. In the post-Covid scenario, the analysis showed that the dissemination of the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine had been comparable between the authoritarian and democratic types of governance. The vaccination trends also showed that the nations with the poorest literacy rates had extremely low and flat growth curves for vaccination numbers. The nations that spent more on healthcare were the ones that had the best SARS-Cov-2 vaccination rollout. These nations used a large number of vaccines to administer to their population and the trends were positive growth. While the nations with the lowest healthcare expenses failed to keep up with the demand and depended on vaccines donated by other countries to protect their population. With this analysis, the authors hope that better vaccination strategies can be drafted as suited to the geopolitical factors of different countries.

Availability of data and materials

The qualitative data extracted and analysed during the current study is publicly available but can be discussed or made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All documents analysed are publicly available and referenced in this article.

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We thank all the organizations involved for research throughputs and supportive discussions in the development of this research project.

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Ritu Chauhan

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Gatha Varma

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R.C & G.V wrote the main manuscript. The theoretical concept was designed by R.C while the structural content and framework was designed by E.Y & M.F.Z. The implementation of research was conducted by R.C and G.V. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

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Chauhan, R., Varma, G., Yafi, E. et al. The impact of geo-political socio-economic factors on vaccine dissemination trends: a case-study on COVID-19 vaccination strategies. BMC Public Health 23 , 2142 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17000-z

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Original research article, text mining analysis to understand the impact of online news on public health response: case of syphilis epidemic in brazil.

1 Department of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
2 Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
3 Information Systems Coordination, Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
4 Department of Social Communication, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
5 Federal Senate, Brasília, Brazil
6 Ministry of Health, Brasília, Brazil
7 Postgraduate Program in Infectious Diseases, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil
8 Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
9 Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra (CISUC), Department of Informatics Engineering (DEI), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
10 Health Systems Innovation Lab, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
11 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
12 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil

Background: To effectively combat the rising incidence of syphilis, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) created a National Rapid Response to Syphilis with actions aimed at bolstering epidemiological surveillance of acquired, congenital syphilis, and syphilis during pregnancy complemented with communication activities to raise population awareness and to increase uptake of testing that targeted mass media outlets from November 2018 to March 2019 throughout Brazil, and mainly areas with high rates of syphilis. This study analyzes the volume and quality of online news content on syphilis in Brazil between 2015 and 2019 and examines its effect on testing.

Methods: The collection and processing of online news were automated by means of a proprietary digital health ecosystem established for the study. We applied text data mining techniques to online news to extract patterns from categories of text. The presence and combination of such categories in collected texts determined the quality of news that were analyzed to classify them as high-, medium-and low-quality news. We examined the correlation between the quality of news and the volume of syphilis testing using Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient.

Results: 1,049 web pages were collected using a Google Search API, of which 630 were categorized as earned media. We observed a steady increase in the number of news on syphilis in 2015 ( n = 18), 2016 ( n = 26), and 2017 ( n = 42), with a substantial rise in the number of news in 2018 ( n = 107) and 2019 ( n = 437), although the relative proportion of high-quality news remained consistently high (77.6 and 70.5% respectively) and in line with similar years. We found a correlation between news quality and syphilis testing performed in primary health care with an increase of 82.32, 78.13, and 73.20%, respectively, in the three types of treponemal tests used to confirm an infection.

Conclusion: Effective communication strategies that lead to dissemination of high quality of information are important to increase uptake of public health policy actions.

1. Introduction

Syphilis is a major public health problem in Brazil, an upper-middle income country with a unified health system and universal health coverage ( 1 ). Figure 1 shows the evolution of syphilis rates from 2010 to 2019. During this period, the incidence rate of congenital syphilis reached, in 2018, 9.0 cases per 1,000 live births, decreasing to 8.2 cases per 1,000 live births in 2019. The detection rate of syphilis in pregnant women reached 21.5 cases per 1,000 live births in 2018, and in 2019 it decreased to 20.8 per 1,000 live births. Acquired syphilis, listed as a notifiable disease in 2010, reached 76.2 cases per 100,000 population in 2018, but reduced to 72.8 cases per 100,000 population in 2019 ( 2 ).

Figure 1 . The incidence of syphilis in Brazil from 2010 to 2019.

In 2016, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) declared syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection, a public health emergency in Brazil and created a national initiative, “Applied Research for Intelligent Integration to Strengthen Healthcare Networks for a Rapid Response to Syphilis” — also known as the “Syphilis No!” Project (SNP) – to combat syphilis. The Laboratory for Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS) partnered with the MoH and Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) to implement the Syphilis No! Project.

The Syphilis No! Project also developed a digital health ecosystem, namely Hermes, with analytics underpinned by computational tools and machine learning that integrated data from multiple sources to monitor project implementation and campaign progress by measuring education and communication activities and through epidemiological surveillance on the number of tests and number of syphilis cases (Panel 2 in Methods section).

In 2018, the 2018–2019 National Campaign to Combat Syphilis (the Syphilis No! Campaign) was launched with the theme “test, treat, and cure” and the motto “remember to take care.” Aired between November and December 2018, the campaign was the first to involve national mass media outlets as part of an integrated response with local actions in priority areas, that had high rates of syphilis ( 3 – 5 ). In January to March 2019, the SNP implemented syphilis-related actions through digital social networks. A key theme of the communication campaign developed by the “Syphilis No” project was “Test, Treat and Cure.”

During the “Syphilis No!” Campaign, the media played a vital role in enhancing understanding of the disease through messages in several channels. The organizers produced and disseminated a large amount of material throughout Brazil. The campaign broadcasted videos about syphilis via television; radio and streaming platforms delivered pre-recorded audio messages (spots and testimonials); sponsored videos on Youtube channels and pre-recorded audio messages were delivered as ads on Spotify; ads were printed in newspapers and consumer magazines; posters were displayed in shop windows, bus stops, billboards, and other forms of media were implanted in publicly accessible urban spaces; Messages were posted on social networking sites (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) by influencers.

The media, especially the press, play a pivotal role in selecting and creating messages to represent facts ( 6 , 7 ), promoting public health, influencing public opinion, and generating awareness about health issues. Both in content and form, news stories paint a picture of the ‘real world,’ whose framing, through narrative conventions, can be refined through topics of discussion to social conversations ( 8 ). The press and news media report on matters of interest to the public sphere not necessarily to tell people ‘how to think,’ but ‘what to think about’ ( 9 ).

This paper relies on the premise that a nationwide public communication campaign will likely rely on news coverage ( 10 ). Campaigns aim to exert direct influence on those identified as target population by delivering evidence-based health information and addressing disinformation and misinformation. However, experience with political campaigning has shown that capturing the media’s attention is the immediate outcome, and “[i]mplicit in this campaign perspective is the idea of the public agenda because control of media setting implies significant influence over the public’s agenda” ( 9 ).

The prominence of a topic in the media’s agenda creates ‘salience’ ( 9 , 11 , 12 ). In other words, a topic is highlighted in a given period compared to others based on one or more attributes, according to the framing by the media ( 9 , 11 , 12 ) through a gatekeeping process, which selects the facts that become news and are disseminated by media outlets ( 9 , 13 ).

In addition, in a systematic literature review performed by our research group, we observed a gap in assessing the impact of public health campaigns, regarding the use of online data (i.e., online news) and others user-generated Internet content ( 14 ). Thus, this study analyzes online news on syphilis in Brazil by mapping key elements of the news posted online between 2015 and 2019 and measuring their quality. The study covers two time periods: (1) 2015 to 2017, related to communication actions prior to the Syphilis No! Project, and (2) 2018 to 2019, related to the news coverage of communication actions carried out during the Syphilis No! Project.

In this study, we hypothesized that the quantity and quality of news about syphilis disseminated in the form of earned media are significant indicators for measuring the impact of communication actions developed by the Syphilis No! Project throughout 2018 and 2019. Earned media can influence the public agenda and people’s decision-making ( 9 , 11 , 12 ) due to the breadth of timely and sound information provided to the general public. Indicators related to earned media coverage could be used to measure the success of a public health campaign ( 15 , 16 ), to examine the effect of communication actions ( 17 , 18 ) and to improve public policy and public health interventions.

2. Materials and methods

We conducted a field investigation before characterizing and qualifying news through Hermes. The idea was to outline quality indicators of information about syphilis in the media agenda. This step identifies a type of attribute ( 9 , 11 , 12 ) about the framing of reported news. We determined the indicators, then extracted and performed a content analysis of the web pages selected. The workflow performed in this section is presented in Appendix Figure A1 .

We used the Google search when identifying the relevant web pages, using the keywords: ‘syphilis,’ ‘syphilis campaign,’ ‘AIDS,’ ‘AIDS campaign,’ and ‘sexually transmitted diseases.’ We narrowed the search to documents written in Brazilian Portuguese. From the search results, two researchers, specialists in public health communication, manually accessed the most relevant web pages and selected 153 texts, that were characterized as news ( 19 ), based on elements that constitute a news piece, namely, the headline, the lead (the paragraph that summarizes the “who, when, where, what, why, and how”), and the body, which further elaborates on the elements mentioned in the lead.

In order to map out relevant features in the news identified, we used thematic analysis and axial coding to identify emerging themes and sub themes ( 20 ). Through indexicality, that is, the process of analyzing text fragments that constituted the news that were analyzed, we categorized, by induction, news about syphilis into the following exploratory categories (or quality indicators): definitions of syphilis; epidemiological data on syphilis; how to prevent syphilis; how or where to get a syphilis rapid test/diagnosis; consequences of syphilis in key populations (such as pregnant and infants) and risk of lethality due to tertiary syphilis; effective treatments to cure syphilis; and public communication campaigns (details provided in the Appendix Topic A2 ).

This analysis resulted in seven generic news categories: Disease Definition; Epidemiological Indicators; Prevention; Rapid Test/Diagnosis; Consequences; Campaign, and Treatment. Table 1 provides an overview of the exploratory categories and their quantitative distribution of text fragments across the body of the 153 news analyzed. These text fragments will be defined as ‘training data’ and after homogenization and standardization, they will serve to verify if the most important words of each category are contained in the online news.

Table 1 . Quantitative distribution of exploratory categories found in the training data from the search results performed by researchers.

In addition, we designed an online survey on the identified exploratory categories and recruited seven specialists in communication and public health to analyze the importance of their presence in news items as a way of qualifying texts about health problems. The evaluators had experience in the following areas: federal health management; state health management; primary care professional or municipal management; management in the Health Council; university research; communication and health; and journalism. Each question individually evaluated the importance of the categories through a balanced Likert Scale as follows: not important; slightly important; moderately important; very important; and extremely important.

Figure 2 highlights the varying levels of importance assigned to different categories related to the news items. Categories such as prevention, treatment, and consequences are consistently rated as highly important, while others, such as disease definition and rapid test/diagnosis, also hold significant relevance. This assessment supports our findings regarding the importance of qualifying health news using the defined criteria.

Figure 2 . Findings of the analysis on the significance of quality criteria for evaluating texts related to health issue.

Once the exploratory categories and training data were defined, we proceeded to the second step of the workflow, which consisted of identifying the volume and quality of online news about syphilis through Hermes.

In this study, from January 2015 to December 2019, Hermes collected online content that was Google indexed and included the term ‘syphilis’ in Brazilian Portuguese web pages. It performed this task by using a Google Search API that allows retrieving, in JSON format, a set of websites indexed by keyword searched for ( 23 ). The fields returned by the automatized search results included: the date when the news was indexed, URL, title, and a snippet of the news. 1,049 web pages were found in this period using these parameters.

Hermes has a content extraction module that uses the Newspaper Python library ( 24 ) and extracted the following fields from each collected URL: title, publication date, keywords, running text, and abstract.

At this point, it was necessary to identify if these 1,049 web pages were, in fact, news. Thus, we defined a typology that made it possible to identify which web pages featured online news. A manual identification was carried out and 630 web pages were defined as news ( Table 2 ).

Table 2 . Web pages categorized after main text content extraction.

To substantiate and build the automated extraction of features found in the online news through Hermes, we used the text mining technique, otherwise known as Text Data Mining, which calculates the weight of a keyword (score) in a vector model (matrix) ( 25 ).

We checked unigrams (individual terms), bigrams (two consecutive terms), and trigrams (sequences of three terms) through a comparative analysis to ascertain which keywords combination could be the most suitable for extracting characteristic features included in news. We chose to use bigrams since they provide a richer contextual representation than unigrams, as they capture the proximity relationship between adjacent words and have a smaller dimensionality than the trigrams. It allowed a more refined analysis of news texts’ specific characteristics and contexts. For example, a bigram like “syphilis campaign” can convey more accurate and meaningful information than the isolated terms “syphilis” or “campaign.” The choice of bigrams is directly aligned with the study’s objectives, which aimed to identify specific characteristics (exploratory categories) of news items. By capturing meaningful relationships between adjacent words, bigrams allowed for extracting more accurate and relevant characteristics, providing valuable insights into news content.

The following procedures were executed in order to homogenize and standardize the bigrams: (i) changing the capitalization of words to lowercase, (ii) deleting special characters, (iii) removing all punctuation, (iv) removing extra spaces, (v) removing accents and numbers, and (vi) deleting “stop words” (words that had no meaning, such as adverbs and prepositions). Finally, the sentences were converted into bigrams, which comprise a dictionary of words representing each group (the training sample and the online news about syphilis). Table 3 provides examples of the main bigrams found for each exploratory category in the training sample.

Table 3 . Main bigrams found for each exploratory category in the training sample.

This process yielded a matrix, with each row corresponding to a news item and each column to the bigrams. The cells refer to the score of bigram’s relevance in the news, and they were estimated through Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency (TF–IDF) ( 26 ). This technique statistically determines the importance of a word in a document corpus relative to other texts within the same database. The weight of a word for such a document is contingent on the number of times it appears in it, but is offset by the frequencies of the words in the other documents within the same database ( 27 ). So, words that are common in every document, such as this , what , and if , rank low even though they may appear many times, since they do not mean much to that document in particular.

The TF–IDF used to fit these data is straightforward.

T F − I D F t d D = T F t d ∗ I D F t d D

Where the Term-Frequency (TF) measures up to how many times (freq) the word t exists in the document d. This frequency is calculated as follows:

T F t d = freq t d

For example, in this collection of documents: “this is the first document.,” “this document is the second document.” and “Is this the first document?,” the TF of the word document is 1 for the first document, 2 for the second document and 1 again for the third document.

Using the same example, the IDF of the t document is log(3/3), log(1), thus the IDF of the t document is 0. Therefore, the final score of t is the weight resulted by frequency the t in the d (TF) and the inverse document frequency (IDF).

Subsequently, all scores of bigrams found within news’ characteristic features were summed, then a final score was defined. Finally, considering the results, the Hermes ecosystem, in an automated process, determined the acceptance threshold for category identification for each of the seven categories identified, based on the category’s average score.

The acceptance threshold is responsible for guaranteeing that one news holds the minimum score for the presence of features to be identified. Thus, we verified whether or not the score applied is greater than or equal to the acceptance threshold. If so, the category identified characterized such a news. This procedure was used for all 630 news extracted and for all seven categories we defined, in which a news can include none, one, or more exploratory categories.

Quality parameters of news were determined based on the presence and combination of categories in them, as follows: low quality (0–2 categories), medium quality (3–4), high quality (5 or more).

Using Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient ( 28 ), we examined the association between the number of news over the period January 2015 to December 2019, grouped by their respective quality levels (low, medium, and high), and the number of serology tests for syphilis diagnosis performed in primary health care in Brazil. The data on number of tests were obtained through the Outpatient Information System (Sistema de Informação Ambulatorial, SIA) of the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS), available on the MoH webpage. 1

SIA/SUS allows for the retrieval of test results based on monthly and yearly quantities, as follows: (i) Treponemal test for syphilis detection, (ii) Fluorescent Treponemal Antibody-Absorption (FTA-ABS) IgG test for syphilis diagnosis, (iii) Fluorescent Treponemal Antibody-Absorption (FTA-ABS) IgM test for syphilis diagnosis, (iv) Nontreponemal test for syphilis detection, (v) Nontreponemal test for detecting syphilis in pregnant women, (vi) Rapid Syphilis Test, (vii) Rapid syphilis test for detecting the infection in pregnant women or fathers/partners. The collected data for testing includes the period from 2015 to 2019.

We also repeated the analysis using Pearson’s and Kendall’s coefficients, but Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient method (also referred to as Spearman’s rho) revealed better results. Perhaps because (i) data are generally not distributed across the two variables, (ii) there is a monotonic relationship among data, and (iii) both variables are ordinal ( 29 ).

A total of 1,049 web pages were gathered through the utilization of the Google Search API. Among these, 630 pages were classified as earned media. An upward trend in the quantity of syphilis-related news item was observed over the years, with 18 articles in 2015, 26 in 2016, and 42 in 2017. However, a significant surge in news coverage occurred in 2018 (107 articles) and 2019 (437 articles). Despite this increase, the proportion of high-quality news remained consistently high, with 77.6 and 70.5% respectively, aligning with previous years. Our findings indicated a correlation between news quality and the performance of syphilis testing in primary healthcare settings, demonstrating an increase of 82.32, 78.13, and 73.20%, respectively, across the three types of treponemal tests used to confirm an infection.

Table 4 provides the total number of news mapped by year, along with exploratory categories found. The number of news increased gradually from 18 in 2015 to 26 in 2016 and 42 in 2017, then rose substantially to 107 in 2018. In 2019 the number of news increased to 437 – a figure higher than the sum of the number of news in the four preceding years.

Table 4 . Distribution of exploratory categories found in analyzed news on syphilis per year, from 2015 to 2019.

Figure 3 shows the mapping of categories by quarter from 2015 to 2019. Each cell represents the number of news with respective categories. In 2015 the highest number of news was in Q2 (April–June), citing the terms “prevention,” “consequences,” and “treatment.” The periods of highest intensity in 2015 is related to the festive seasons in Brazil (June festivals) and the month of October, when the Ministry of Health dedicates to discussing Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and disseminates data from the epidemiological bulletin in Brazil. In 2016 and 2017 the highest number of news was in Q4 (October–December), citing the terms “campaign,” “consequences,” “test/diagnosis,” and “treatment,” coinciding with the National Day to Combat Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis in October. In the rest of the year these categories were hardly ever or never mentioned in the news. As of 2016 Q4, the patterns begin to gain greater intensity due to the Ministry of Health’s declaration regarding the syphilis epidemic in Brazil. In this way, the theme gained more space in the Brazilian media agenda than in previous years.

Figure 3 . Heat map of categories by quarter from 2015 to 2019.

In 2017, the news focused on the impact of the declaration of the syphilis epidemic in Brazil made at the end of 2016. However, the campaigns were still focused on congenital syphilis, produced with low investment, and disseminated mainly on social networks. As of 2018, SNP actions were intensifying, holding seminars with state and municipal entities in all regions of Brazil on the strategy to combat syphilis. Then the national campaign was launched, maintaining greater journalistic coverage in the period.

The “Syphilis No!” Project was part of this strategy to change course in the fight against syphilis in Brazil, involving more resources for publicity campaigns, including intelligence actions that mobilized states and municipalities. Qualified actors selected in each territory acted in this project, which made up a support network for research and project actions, as detailed in Panel 1.

In 2018 and 2019, while there was a preponderance of news in Q4 of each year, and in particular October, there were news throughout the year. The majority of news mentioned “campaign,” “consequences,” “rapid test/diagnosis,” “treatment,” and “prevention.”

Table 5 shows the number of news categorized by quality. While the volume of news increased substantially in 2018 and 2019, the relative proportion of high-quality news remained consistently high (77.6 and 70.5% respectively) and in line with similar years.

Table 5 . Number of news each year categorized by quality.

There was a correlation between the quality of news about syphilis and the number of serology tests performed in primary health care for diagnosing syphilis as shown in Table 6 . The rapid tests for syphilis in pregnant women or fathers/partners showed a 65.33% correlation with high-quality news, while rapid tests in the general population had a 58.98% correlation. Nontreponemal tests for syphilis showed a 69.15% correlation with the high-quality news and treponemal tests (confirmatory tests for syphilis) showed 82.32, 78.13, and 73.20% over the same period.

Table 6 . Correlation between the number of tests and the number of news according to their quality.

4. Discussion

Implementing effective communication strategies to facilitate the widespread circulation of accurate and reliable information is crucial in order to enhance the dissemination of public health interventions. Our findings demonstrate a significant surge in news coverage through earned media as well as increased testing, indicating a positive correlation between the two. This highlights the potential of continuous and comprehensive national mass media outlets as an instrument for promoting public policies addressing health crises.

The number of news on syphilis rose rapidly following the implementation of the communication strategy as part of the Syphilis No! Project. While there was a cumulative total of 86 news on syphilis in 2015 to 2017, the number of news rose to 107 in 2018 (154.8% increase compared to 2017) and 308 in 2019 (308.4% increase compared to 2018).

In 2010, syphilis became a notifiable disease in Brazil and was declared a public health emergency in 2016. However, these major public health policies did not lead to a change in the number of news or an increase in testing and diagnosis ( 2 , 30 ).

While in May 2015, the MoH conducted a campaign on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) for Mother’s Day and in 2016 and 2017 ran communication campaigns on the National Day to fight Against Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis, these were one-off events ( 31 ) and had no meaningful effect on news and testing.

The launch of the communication actions of the Syphilis No! Project in February 2018 coinciding with the Brazilian Carnival was a turning point. A campaign on social networks with local and state initiatives, followed. In March 2018, the SNP launched intervention agendas across the country through the Ministry of Health, with an emphasis in 100 priority municipalities ( 3 , 4 , 32 ). In November 2018, the national campaign “Remember to take care of yourself” (2018–2019) was launched. The communication campaign meant that actions were not have meant that communication was no longer limited to one-off annual events, such as the National Day to fight Against Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis, but were spread throughout the year ( 31 ) involving a myriad of products and communication actions, including in ‘paid and owned media’ that helped to increase news in earned media.

Carrying out media campaigns in support of the adoption and dissemination of public health interventions is a necessary condition to generate in society a regime of attention and visibility for a problem such as syphilis. The media can generate a legitimation process and make the problem visible on a national scale. However, to raise awareness and change habits in the population, developing a set of articulated actions in the territories is necessary.

Notably, public policies to combat syphilis had no significant effect between 2010 and 2016, clearly observed by the increase in cases and the low amount of news on the subject in recent years (2015–2017). However, as of 2018, it is possible to observe the influence of communication efforts through the support of the theme in media coverage.

It is important to emphasize that the SNP intervention actions go beyond the communication area since actions developed mainly by Research and Intervention Supporters in priority cities with a high rate of cases of congenital syphilis helped to: strengthen the health care network and the different care spaces for the implementation of syphilis care lines; implement syphilis epidemiological surveillance rooms at the municipal level; evaluate actions to combat syphilis at municipal and district levels. The Research and Intervention Supporters whose actions helped improve coordination of communication efforts and the messaging among state and local health offices and the local press, acting as an “opinion leader,” to establish a “two-step flow of communication” ( 33 ) to ensure high-quality news. The communication actions led by SNP produced greater “resonance,” with local and national press ( 17 ).

In addition, actions of a universal scope were also carried out throughout the territory, such as: the purchase and distribution of crystalline and benzathine penicillin; the purchase and distribution of rapid syphilis tests; reinforcement of the laboratory structure for diagnosis; and the instrumentation of situation rooms in all Brazilian districts and the Federal District.

The SNP included various actions that enhanced the impact of the communication campaign and ensured that the topic remained prominent on the agenda-setting it apart from previous years.

McCombs ( 9 ) argues that the agenda-setting process depends not only on the time period of media exposure a topic has but also on the potential correspondence to the audience’s need for orientation on the topic. The results reveal a substantial increase in news in earned media and in testing, with a correlation between the two, suggesting that a sustained communication campaign could be a powerful tool for promoting public policies to tackle health crises.

The Ministry of Health recorded the highest number of syphilis tests performed per 1,000 population in 2018 (2,1 million) and 2019 (2,5 million), compared to 1,4 million in 2017. While in 2010–2018, the number of cases of acquired syphilis, syphilis during pregnancy, and congenital syphilis increased substantially, but fell in 2019 ( 4 , 32 , 34 ).

Digital information and communications technologies in health and the application of computational methods based on artificial intelligence can be used to develop predictive analytics to inform real-time response to effectively manage public health outbreaks and crises. The Hermes digital ecosystem developed for the project, played a critical role in monitoring campaign progress, regularly capturing data registering, and processing of information related to communication actions, health system interventions (testing) and epidemiological parameters (number of cases of acquired syphilis, syphilis in pregnant women and congenital syphilis). The use of computational methods that enabled analysis of data of heterogeneous nature to examine the public health response and its results in real time throughout the country to provide a powerful tool in planning and monitoring of the public health campaign for syphilis and can be transferred to other public health challenges.

Nowadays, for an individual to perceive a subject as relevant, such subject needs to be highlighted in the media with a particular frequency, being highlighted in their agenda. Thus, if a subject gains greater exposure in the media for some time, it becomes seen as important by the public. For example, until 2017, syphilis was not highlighted in the Brazilian media. Therefore, it was considered a neglected disease.

As of 2018, a set of systematic and strategic communication actions has been developed, supported by technological, financial and intellectual resources. The actions guided the priority target audiences, health managers, and professionals nationwide. These actions intensively positioned syphilis in the Brazilian media agenda from 2018 onwards, drawing public attention. The lack of qualified information, as it is a neglected disease, generated a feeling of uncertainty in public, who started to seek more information and seek health units and learn about the forms of diagnosis and treatment. Notably, an effective and ongoing communication campaign can promote public policies and provide efficient responses to health crises.

There are potential limitations of our study. The first one relates to the completeness of the news collection used as a dataset, an external threat mitigated by choosing one of the largest existing content indexers, namely Google Search. However, it would be a mistake to assume that Hermes can retrieve every existing online news through the Google Search API. In addition, Hermes used filters for: (i) language, which narrows the search to documents written in Brazilian Portuguese, and (ii) geolocation, which limits the search results to documents originated from Brazil. That may constitute a barrier insofar as the geolocation parameter checks the domain (URL) and the geographical location of the Web server’s IP address. Future works may add other search engines, such as Bing and Yahoo, to expand the search result for news items on the Internet. The second limitation relates to the search results related to the 42 missing pages Google indexed. If they had been incorporated into the analysis, they would likely increase the number of resulting news. However, when analyzing the date of news of missing web pages, we observed they had the same proportionality of 2015 ( n = 1), 2016 ( n = 3), 2017 ( n = 1), 2018 ( n = 15), and 2019 ( n = 22) results.

Notwithstanding limitation, the study reveals the effective application of a digital health system that incorporates all the elements of a complex public health campaign that included a communication campaign, education, health system interventions, training, expanded access to testing and treatment.

The ability to explore online news through machine learning has aroused the interest of parallel study groups, bringing new insights for stakeholders to analyze public health campaigns from different perspectives, such as sentiment analysis techniques ( 35 ) and similarity analysis ( 36 ).

5. Conclusion

This study from Brazil, an upper-middle income country, led by a multidisciplinary group of researchers involving public health specialists, clinicians, experts in computational science, data scientists, educationalists, communication experts and marketing experts reveals the successful implementation of public health actions with a communication campaign that led to major increases in online news related to syphilis and the shift in the media landscape and the public health response after the Syphilis No! Project interventions.

The Hermes ecosystem was able to effectively capture the number and frequency of news stories before and after the Syphilis No! Project, effectively classify news according to informational categories and identify high-, medium-, and low-quality news, and to examine the relationship between the communication campaign and public health results to orient more effective and targeted health policies and interventions to manage the syphilis epidemic in Brazil.

The study reveals the utility of integrated digital health information systems in guiding public health policies and actions to ensure effective responses to public health challenges across all country income categories.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author contributions

RP, JL, AA, LSi, and RV: conceptualization. RP, RF, JL, AA, LSi, and RV: methodology. RP, RF, and HG: software, formal analysis, and data curation. RP, JL, LSi, AA, RF, TL, AM, LSa, HG, RA, and RV: validation and writing – review and editing. RP, JL, AA, RF, LSi, and RV: investigation. RP, LSi, and RV: resources. RP, JL, AA, RF, and TL: writing – original draft preparation. RP and RF: visualization. JL, LSi, RV, and RA: supervision. RV: project administration and funding acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This research was funded by a grant to the Syphilis No! Project from Brazilian Ministry of Health (Project Number: 54/2017). The funders had no role in study design, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1248121/full#supplementary-material

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33. Sharma, N, Nahak, D, and Mohan, F. Public health communication by health workers during COVID-19: a study of Jalandhar District of Punjab. J Contemp Issues Bus Govern . (2021) 27:2515–22.

34. Valentim, RAM, Caldeira-Silva, GJP, da Silva, RD, Albuquerque, GA, de Andrade, IGM, Sales-Moioli, AIL, et al. Stochastic petri net model describing the relationship between reported maternal and congenital syphilis cases in Brazil. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak . (2022) 22:40. doi: 10.1186/s12911-022-01773-1

35. Marques, T, Cezário, S, Lacerda, J, Pinto, R, Silva, L, Santana, O, et al. Sentiment analysis in understanding the potential of online news in the public health crisis response. Int J Environ Res Public Health . (2022) 19:16801. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416801

36. Cezario, S, Marques, T, Pinto, R, Lacerda, J, Silva, L, Santos Lima, T, et al. Similarity analysis in understanding online news in response to public health crisis. Int J Environ Res Public Health . (2022) 19:17049. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192417049

Keywords: communication, mass media, data mining, text extraction, public health, notifiable disease, syphilis

Citation: Pinto R, Lacerda J, Silva L, Araújo AC, Fontes R, Lima TS, Miranda AE, Sanjuán L, Gonçalo Oliveira H, Atun R and Valentim R (2023) Text mining analysis to understand the impact of online news on public health response: case of syphilis epidemic in Brazil. Front. Public Health . 11:1248121. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1248121

Received: 26 June 2023; Accepted: 16 October 2023; Published: 01 November 2023.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2023 Pinto, Lacerda, Silva, Araújo, Fontes, Lima, Miranda, Sanjuán, Gonçalo Oliveira, Atun and Valentim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Rafael Pinto, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Artificial Intelligence Solutions for Global Health and Disaster Response: Challenges and Opportunities

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