case study economic assessment

Improving economics teaching and learning for over 20 years

Case study 1: First Year Economic Theory

Steve Cook and Duncan Watson Swansea University

Published February 2013

Part of the Handbook chapter on Assessment Design and Methods

When considering assessment methods in economics, arguably one of the most interesting potential case studies concerns introductory economic theory. Amongst the various challenges faced by those delivering such a module are the issues of setting the tone for subsequent years of study and addressing the transition between school and university education. For many years, first year undergraduate economic theory at Swansea University has been split into two modules. Both labelled Principles of Economics, the ‘A’ version of the module is taken by students arriving with post-GCSE experience of Economics (A-level, AS-level, foundation year, IB etc.), while students without such a background are enrolled on Principles of Economics B. These year-long modules combine both standard introductory microeconomic and macroeconomic content and are structured in such a fashion as to equally prepare students from differing backgrounds for the demands of their future studies. In an attempt to increase student engagement, 2009–10 saw the introduction of a new assessment scheme for Principles of Economics A. The ‘old’ scheme comprised of a mid-year January multiple-choice examination, an in-class disclosed examination and a standard summer (May/June) examination. [1] The weightings attached to these components were 30 per cent, 10 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. The new assessment scheme involved the introduction of six within-tutorial mini-assessments spread throughout the year with the best five marks to be included at weighting of 4 per cent each. The revised assessment scheme therefore involved a reduction in the weighting of other assessment components to accommodate the tutorial-based assessment, and consequently involved a corresponding change in the content of these components. The resulting structure was then: tutorial-based exercises (20 per cent), January examination (20 per cent), in-class examination (10 per cent) and summer examination (50 per cent). It should be noted that these summative assessment components are in addition to formative elements contained within the module.

The revised assessment scheme sought to achieve a number of objectives. First, it aimed to increase the extent to which students work consistently throughout the year by introducing an additional six elements of assessment within term. Second, it aimed to introduce a mechanism for students to gauge their understanding of topics and material as soon as possible. As a number of elements of the syllabus will be familiar to students from their earlier studies, there is always a possibility of students focusing their attention and efforts on those topics which are new and paying insufficient attention to previously considered concepts and terminology. Obviously this is not to be encouraged as, aside from the necessity for understanding to be refreshed, it will prove particularly problematic when material is presented in a different, extended or advanced manner to that previously experienced. However, this may only come to light when confronted with assessment which forces closer examination of topics in formal setting. The use of frequent lower weighted assessment allows any misdirection of efforts or gaps in knowledge to be addressed quickly ahead of becoming substantive issues detected in a more weighty assessment component. A third obvious intention of the in-tutorial assessment was to increase the preparedness of students for their more heavily weighted assessments later in the module. The regularity of testing not only ensures a familiarity with the ‘rules and regulations’ of examinations and settles students ahead of the more substantive latter assessment components, but also allows knowledge to build progressively through the year.

In terms of the structure or mechanics of the tutorial-based assessment, this was very straightforward to devise. The module already contained a series of fortnightly tutorials which involved students discussing and working through previously circulated exercise sheets designed to illustrate material presented in lectures. The expectation is that students attempt the exercises ahead of the sessions and then focus more closely with their tutor during tutorials on those elements they feel warrant further analysis to improve their understanding. The tutorial-based assessments were introduced to six sessions (three in each teaching block). This meant that time allocated to the circulated exercises sheets was reduced to allow time to undertake a 10-minute mini-assessment. In each instance, the assessment involved a series of very short questions which were very similar in nature to those covered in the circulated exercise sheet. This reveals a further objective of the assessment in its role as a further prompt to attempt the circulated exercise sheets and engagement with the tutor to resolve any uncertainties concerning material. An example of the nature of the tutorial-based assessment is provided below. This simple mini-test provides students and tutors alike with a quick means of assessing understanding of material covered. In this particular case, the four-part assessment picks up upon issues in consumer choice. Alternatively phrased the questions ask: ‘What is implied by the positioning of an indifference curve?’, ‘What is implied by the slope of an indifference curve?’, ‘What is implied by the shape of an indifference curve?’, ‘How can we construct/manipulate/employ budget lines/constraints’. It can be seen that the exercises provided are simple in nature to assess quickly understanding in a manner that goes beyond that afforded by multiple-choice examination. However, the demands on the tutor are minimal as the marking involved is very straightforward and hence feedback can be provided to all students extremely quickly. Importantly, these are crucial issues and the assessment of student understanding of them can be assessed quickly ahead of formalising the knowledge to move on to consider substitution and income effects.

The feedback on the revised assessment can be considered in two ways. First, changes in module marks can be considered. Information on this is provided in Table 1. However, before considering the figures provided, a number of issues must be recognised. The information to be considered provides broad measures of student performance on the Principles of Economics A module over a three-year period. Table 1 provides three sets of information on the two Principles of Economics modules. The first set of information simply provides the number of students taking the module each year. Clearly version ‘B’ is larger than ‘A’. The second set of information presents the change in the average module mark relative to the year before assessment on Principles of Economics A was revised. In this instance, the other module which does not have a revised assessment method acts as something of a control (albeit in a loose sense). The ‘Average Difference’ column provides information on average difference in the marks students obtain on this module and those they obtain elsewhere. By considering the relative performance both across modules for each year and then over a number of years, some control for cohort effects is present and a snapshot of the general impact of changes in assessment design can be inferred. However, it is recognised that a variety of factors (different students, different questions etc.) make it difficult to identify the true impact of a change in assessment.

Level-1 Economic Theory: Student Numbers, Mean Mark and Relative Module Performance

An example of the Level 1 tutorial-based assessment

1. The indifference curves below (denoted as E, F and G) relate to differing levels of utility obtained from the consumption of Goods X and Y. One of the indifference curves corresponds to 2 utils, another corresponds to 8 utils, while another corresponds to 6 utils. Which curve depicts 8 utils?

2. Consider the indifference curve depicted in the diagram below. Annotate this diagram by marking two distinct points on this indifference curve. Label these points ‘C’ and ‘D’ in such a way that point ‘D’ corresponds to a lower marginal rate of substitution than point ‘C’. Using a single sentence, explain your answer.

3. It is known that the indifference curve for two goods is L-shaped. What does this tell you about the relationship between these goods?

4. Consider the budget line (BL) depicted in the diagram below for given prices of Goods X and Y and a given level of money income. Suppose that following the drawing of BL, the price of Good X remains the same, the price of Good Y doubles, and the level of money income doubles. Sketch the new budget line on the diagram below.

From consideration of the results presented in Table 1 it can be seen that a dramatic jump in the mean for Principles of Economics A occurred following the introduction of a revised assessment scheme. From inspection of the results for Principles of Economics B, it is apparent that this module experienced an increase in its mean mark at the same time. However, the increases in marks on the modules differ, with the module with in-tutorial assessment experiencing an increase of 8.5 percentage points in its first year following the change, in comparison to the increase of 4.9 percentage points on the other module. This is indicative of an increase above and beyond a cohort effect. Similarly, when considering the average difference between the marks obtained by students on this module and elsewhere, this narrowed for Principles of Economics A (from being an average of 7.6 percentage points below to only 1.4 percent points below) while it widened on the corresponding Principles of Economics B module (on average students scored 6.6 percentage points less in 2008–09, and 6.8 percentage points less in 2009–10). It should be noted that historically these theory-based modules do return lower marks than other application-based modules taken at Level 1. The results obtained in the second year of delivery of the module under the revised assessment policy (2010–11) make for interesting reading. On the one hand, it appears that the noted improvement in the previous year has been reversed, with the gulf between the mark obtained on the module and elsewhere widening (it increases to 3.2 percentage points). In combination with the increased average mark, this is indicative of a cohort effect, with marks increasing in general, but not by as much on this module as elsewhere. However, at the same time the corresponding gulf for the Principles of Economics B module has widened by more (2.4 percentage points from –6.8 per cent to –9.2 per cent). This would then suggest that a general disparity between theoretical and non-theoretical modules has been less acute for the module where a revised assessment policy has been implemented. Considering the results presented for all years available, the introduction of a new assessment structure has led to an increase in marks and a narrowing of the differences between the module concerned and others when considered from its time of implementation to the present day, while the module without changes in assessment has seen the gulf between it and others widen. In terms of qualitative feedback on in-tutorial assessment, its introduction has received favourable comment from students and staff alike.

Considering the level of assessment on the Level 1 economic theory module, the summative assessment is entirely based upon examination, although an element of it is disclosed (10 per cent), six elements are mini-assessment or quizzes (20 per cent) and a further element is multiple-choice examination (20 per cent). Therefore only 50 per cent is based upon an essay-based examination. To consider this assessment split relative to other Economics departments (or groups) in the UK, a survey was conducted involving 32 departments. [2] The information gleaned from this on the assessment of Level 1 economic theory is reported in Figure 2 below. This chart provides a breakdown of the examination/coursework split for analogous Level 1 economic theory modules along with a figure indicating the percentage of departments adopting this approach. It can be seen that the most popular form of assessment is via 100 per cent examination (28 per cent of surveyed departments adopting this approach), followed by 60:40 and 70:30 splits (both being adopted by 19 per cent of departments). However, the division of assessment between these two components could mask a range of differing numbers of assessments. This is of particular importance as to the extent that one of the aims of assessment should be to increase engagement, the frequency of assessment is of importance. For example, Principles of Economics A, has four forms of assessment but nine points of summative assessment are employed. Figure 3, containing the results for 32 UK Economics departments, surprisingly shows that a single element of summative assessment is the most popularly employed frequency of assessment (25 per cent of departments surveyed), followed by two and then three points of assessment (22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively).

Considering the outcomes noted above and the information contained in the survey of economics departments, the new assessment scheme has proved successful and has also led to a high frequency of assessment relative to the national norm. However, given the improvements in outcomes and student experience, along with the relative ease of implementation, the additional resources required for such a change are a very small price to pay for a huge return.

Figure 2: A survey of Level 1 Economic Theory assessment weightings

(Exam : Coursework; Percentage of institutions)

Figure 3: A survey of Level 1 Economic Theory assessment components

(Number of components; Percentage of institutions)

[1] The ‘disclosed’ examination involves the provision of two essay titles approximately six weeks ahead of the examination date. Students are asked to prepare for both, with the actual essay to be attempted not revealed until turning over the test paper in the examination venue.

[2] A survey of UK Economics Departments was conducted to consider provision relating to all of the case studies considered herein (Level 1 economic theory; final year dissertation; final year econometrics). Results are reported for instances where information was available for all areas covered by the case studies. The desire to use a consistent sample across all case studies resulted in the use of 32 departments.

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Case studies

Case studies usually involve real-life situations and often take the form of a problem-based inquiry approach; in other words students are presented with a complex real life situation that they are asked to find a solution to. “The benefits of utilizing case studies in instruction include the way that cases model how to think professionally about real problems and situations, helping candidates to think productively about concrete experiences” (Kleinfeld, 1990 in Ulanoff, Fingon and Beltran, 2009). The case study method involves placing students in the role of decision-makers and asking them to address a challenge that may confront a company, non-profit organisation or government department. In the absence of a single straightforward answer students are expected to exchange ideas, consider possible theoretical explanations and data, and weigh up possible solutions. Based on this exchange and evaluation of mixed data they are expected to come up with a decision, and choose a solution to the particular challenge. Though case study learning and assessment may take many forms the common thread is that the case study involves a real-life situation and finding solutions is the focus of the assessment.

Advantages of case studies

• Enables students to apply their knowledge and skills to real life situations.
• Can be undertaken individually or as a group assessment.
• Generally designed to assess the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives (application, analysis and evaluation).
• Well adapted to multi- or inter-disciplinary learning.
• Calls on students to demonstrate a range of different skills such as the selection on information, analysis, decision-making problem-solving and presentation.
• In the case of a group-based approach students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to collaborate and communicate effectively.
• Supports the development of a range of valuable employability skills which are likely to be attractive to employers and students alike.

Challenges of case studies

• Case studies can be used in time-constrained examinations but this method of assessment really lends itself better to a coursework approach.
• Can be a complex activity that involves negotiating a range of media that may be hard to contain in a controlled environment.
• It is important to have realistic expectations of what actually can be achieved.
• Planning and preparing for case study work can be time-consuming for teachers.

How students might experience case studies

There is some evidence to suggest that case studies increase students’ motivation. Students are often very interested in working on real life situations. It brings their learning alive and enables them not only to develop solutions to actual situations/problems but also to understand in new ways the valuable role that theory and relevant concepts can play as part of this process. In addition as part of their work on the case study they are clearly developing valuable transferable skills that they can take forward into the workplace and society at large. Students may not be used to this form of assessment so they will need clear guidance as to what is expected (length, format, main elements), a clear explanation of marking criteria as well as development in the different skills they will need to acquire in order to successfully complete the case study. These will in part depend on the nature of the case study - is data analysis involved?; where and how will students find relevant qualitative and quantitative data?; what is the appropriate way of citing and referencing?

Reliability, validity, fairness and inclusivity of case studies

Teaching and learning activities should be carefully designed to support the work on the case study or the development of the relevant skills and knowledge bases. From an inclusive design perspective case studies are an attractive form of learning and assessment.  Depending on the nature of the inquiry students may be given a degree of choice over their case study and thus be in a position to bring their different backgrounds and experience to bear. In any case, it is important to ensure that the chosen case studies are accessible to all students taking the course. In the case of first year students the teacher may want to provide all the relevant materials to the students. For more advanced students, they may be expected to do some research and to identify relevant supporting materials for the case study inquiry. Where group work is involved a number of options may be considered to ensure fairness. The students may complete some elements of both formative and summative work as a group as well as others individually. For example, students may complete various tasks or give a presentation on the case study as a group but write up part of the final case study individually. In addition, it is relatively common practice to ask students engaged in groupwork to write a short reflective piece discussing their experience of group work. Students can also be asked to rate their contribution and the contribution of other members of the group using one of a number of online group assessment tools such as WebPA and Teammates.

How to maintain and ensure rigour in case studies

Critical to ensuring rigour is having clarity about the different parts of the case study or, in the case of a single assessment task, the criteria against which the assessment will be marked; the weight that will be attached to different parts of the assignment, and the marking scheme.  Marking and moderation should follow departmental practice.

How to limit possible misconduct in case studies

Whether the students are working in groups or individually teachers can check that the work is the work of particular students by designing in opportunities to assess (formatively or summatively) work at several points in the assessment process. This can be done by asking students to present work in written or oral form – either by submitting assignment tasks via Moodle or making short presentations in class. In addition to serving as a check for misconduct this also provides an opportunity for teachers and peers to give constructive feedback on the development of the case study and as such constitutes good practice.

LSE examples

Daniel Ferreira discussed his use of case studies in teaching Master’s level Finance students for many years, and, starting in 2016/17 undergraduates with the introduction of the Finance department’s new BSc programme

http://lti.lse.ac.uk/lse-innovators/irene-papanicolas-healthy-collaboration/

Further resources

University of New South Wales, Sydney: Assessment by Case Studies and Scenarios https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/assessment-case-studies-and-scenarios

Assessment Resources at Hong Kong University: Types of Assessment Methods: Case Study http://ar.cetl.hku.hk/am_case_study.htm

Bonney, K.M. (2015) Case Study Teaching Method Improves Student Performance and Perceptions of Learning Gains.  Journal of Microbiological Education , 16(1): 21–28

Ulanoff, S.H., Fingon, J.C. and Beltrán, D. (2009) Using Case Studies To Assess Candidates’ Knowledge and Skills in a Graduate Reading Program,  Teacher Education Quarterly,  6(2): 125-142

Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. and Marshall, S. (1999)  A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education,  Routledge, UK

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Economic Impact Case Study Tool for Transit (2016)

Chapter: chapter 2 - case study selection and compilation.

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

7 C H A P T E R 2 The work scope for this study called for seven case studies to be developed as a pilot demonstration of the TPICS con­ cept for transit. These case studies are built upon the struc­ ture and process developed for SHRP 2 Project C03 (EDR Group et al., 2012). This process follows closely that which was used to develop highway case studies while identifying which adaptations are necessary to improve the highway pro­ cess for application to transit cases. The process of identifying potential case studies serves to provide a basis for estimat­ ing the feasibility of expanding the existing system of case studies to encompass a larger set of transit cases if desired in the future. 2.1 Identification and Selection Process The selection process for the seven pilots involved four steps, which are described in this section. This process pro­ vided a list of additional projects that could be studied in the future. This process may help in identifying more options for study at a later date. Case Selection Step 1: Define Criteria The first step was to develop a request for case study nomi­ nations. The project team initially developed a draft set of project criteria, which was reviewed by the project panel, and then incorporated the approved criteria into an announce­ ment seeking case study nominations. The announcement text can be seen in Figure 1. Compared with the previous work for SHRP 2 C03 in compil­ ing a highway database, the transit project used a more recent, and shorter time period. The reason for specifying the 2000– 2010 time period was to ensure a focus on projects that are old enough to have a high likelihood that post­project economic development impacts will be clearly completed and hence observable, yet are not so old that it is difficult to find local agency contacts who were in their jobs long enough to remem­ ber pre­project conditions and local factors affecting project outcomes. The latter consideration is particularly notable because multiple local interviews are required to provide infor­ mation regarding the role of the transit investment relative to other factors in affecting observed economic and develop­ ment outcomes. Thus, the specified time period was judged optimal for initial case studies as older or newer projects would be more likely to involve greater staff effort to complete the case studies. (Older projects could require more effort to find suitable interviewees; newer projects could require more effort to discern emerging trends not yet reflected in public datasets.) The project team recognizes, however, that in the future there may also be cases where there is sufficient infor­ mation available to enable the further addition of some older and some more recent projects. The issue of time period for future studies is discussed in Chapter 5. The solicitation for transit case nominations also utilized a smaller cost threshold than the highway­focused case studies after which they are formatted due to the expectation that transit projects are smaller than the major highway projects selected. The reason for the minimum $5 million investment size was to focus on projects that are large enough to have a reasonable likelihood of finding impacts. While it is indeed desirable to include projects that had disappointingly small economic development impacts (as well as those with sur­ prisingly large impacts), it was agreed that the pilot case studies should not focus on small projects that had little, if any, expectation of economic development impacts. As we will discuss in more detail later (in Chapter 5), for future case studies, we would recommend a higher threshold as few of the projects nominated or those subsequently investigated were so small. Case Study Selection and Compilation

8study team decided to provide a 1­year grace period and accept projects completed between 1999 and 2011. Six of the case study nominations fell outside of that period and, thus, were deleted from further consideration for this study. While these projects were taken out of the running for this TPICS for Transit pilot demonstration, they could still make for good case studies for an expanded TPICS sys­ tem in the future. The announced project date range was defined in the first place to minimize likely staff effort for case study data collection and interview completion. With a better funded effort in the future, those date requirements could be relaxed further. 2. Check for Inclusion in Prior SHRP 2 Study. While the ear­ lier SHRP 2 study focused on developing TPICS for high­ ways, it ended up developing nine case studies for highway/ transit intermodal facilities. Those projects, while also good candidates for inclusion in the new TPICS for Transit, already have case studies developed and, hence, are not candidates for new case study development. Thus, those nine projects were also deleted from further consideration for this study. 3. Check for Low Passenger Activity Level. While all forms of transit may be candidates for case study development, the pilot demonstration should focus on projects that have a substantial level of service provided all day long with activity focused at specific sites so as to support significant economic development nearby. Many commuter rail stops and stations have activity concentrated during rush­hour periods, with relatively infrequent service at other times. As a result, the economic impact of most commuter rail stations or stops is relatively limited (e.g., a commuter rail station with take­out coffee and sandwich sales). For this reason, four of the five commuter rail projects were deleted from further consideration for this study. 4. Screen Out Upgrades to Existing Facilities. Projects with “state of good repair” goals typically have broadly diffused Case Selection Step 2: Distribution of Request for Nomination of Case Studies The second step was to distribute the announcement to applicable organizations. During May of 2015, it went out to the following groups: • Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO)—electronic newsletter; • APTA—distributed to bus and rail transit committees; • Project Panel for TCRP Project H­50; and • Standing committees of TRB, who distributed it to their members and friends lists— – ADD10 Committee on Transportation and Economic Development, – ADD30 Committee on Transportation and Land Use, – APO28 Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development, – APO65 Committee on Rail Transportation System, and – APO45 Committee on Intermodal Transfer Facilities. The announcement was also forwarded by a panel member to FTA. Altogether, 61 nominations were received from a wide variety of respondents, including a list from FTA. Case Selection Step 3: Review of Nominated Case Studies The third step was to subject the 61 nominated case study projects to a formal review process in order to identify a short list of cases that are most relevant for this study. This involved exam­ ination of the extent to which the nominated cases met specified selection criteria and appeared to have economic impacts that could be measured. There were five elements to this review: 1. Check for Project Dates. While the formal announcement asked for projects completed between 2000 and 2010, the Figure 1. Announcement of case nomination need. Seeking Case Study Nominations: Transit Improvements that Trigger Economic Development APTA and TCRP (under Project H-50) are developing a pilot database of case studies documenting the actual economic development impacts of transit investments. This project will complement a similar set of highway economic impact case studies developed for SHRP2, called TPICS. Verifiable examples of actual, observed impacts are a key part of this project. We are looking for suggestions or nominations of potentially relevant case studies, which: involve projects completed no earlier than 2000 and no later than 2010 involved a project investment of at least $5 million had localized economic development occur (regardless of the catalysts for that investment and regardless of whether the project has been studied before for any purpose) have local agencies or individuals who can be interviewed regarding the project history and any economic development that followed the transit investment.

9 Another three station construction projects were deleted from further consideration because there was evidence indi­ cating that relatively little development had occurred to date within their vicinity. Again, they may still be reasonable can­ didates for a broader TPICS for Transit, but those cases would not be able to showcase the value of in­depth case study analy­ sis in this pilot demonstration. (See Chapter 5 for further dis­ cussion of sampling issues relevant to full roll­out of the case study database for transit.) Table 1 presents the 27 identified candidate projects that emerged from the case study nomination and review process, along with information on mode, location, timing, and cost. All 27 of these projects were considered good candidates for a fully developed TPICS for Transit system. Case Selection Step 4: Refinement of a Short List for Case Study Development The fourth and final step was to analyze the 27 remain­ ing transit projects in terms of their mix of project type, regional location, market setting, and project cost, as well transportation impacts, which make local economic impact measurement difficult. Hence, they are not con­ ducive for pilot case study examples. These include proj­ ects involving wide­area or system­wide reconstruction or upgrades of equipment. In those cases, there was no single location in which the improvements were focused and, therefore, no specific area where economic devel­ opment impacts would be most likely to occur. Another three projects were deleted from further consideration for that reason. 5. Check for Economic Impact. Of the remaining case study nominations, six more were removed from the list because their impact was primarily residential development with only small neighborhood retail activity. Only projects that had observable job and income effects (e.g., office, medical, or industrial activity impacts) were considered for the pilot case study examples. The reason was to main­ tain consistency with the original focus of the TPICS for Highways database, which sought to measure economic development impacts—that is, job and worker income generation. Table 1. List of 27 finalist candidate projects, with descriptive information. Project Name Mode City State Comple on Year Cost ($Ms) Central Phoenix LRT Corridor LRT Phoenix AZ 2008 $1,400 Orange Line BRT BRT Los Angeles CA 2005 $324 BART to Airport HRT San Francisco CA 2003 $1,483 Mission Valley East Extension LRT San Diego CA 2005 $506 North Hollywood Extension HRT Los Angeles CA 2000 $1,310 Denver Southwest LRT LRT Denver CO 2000 $177 WMATA Branch Ave Extension HRT Washington DC 2001 $900 WMATA Largo Extension HRT Washington DC 2004 $607 NoMa Gallaudet Red Line Staon HRT Washington DC 2004 $104 Atlanta North Line Extension HRT Atlanta GA 2000 $463 Boston Silver Line BRT Boston MA 2004 $374 Hiawatha Corridor LRT Minneapolis MN 2004 $715 LYNX Blue Line LRT Charloe NC 2007 $427 Hudson Bergen LRT LRT Jersey City NJ 2000 $2,200 Riverline LRT LRT Trenton NJ 2004 $1,100 Atlanc Terminal refurbishment LRT, HRT,BRT, Bus Brooklyn NY 2010 $108 Euclid Corridor BRT Cleveland OH 2007 $200 EmX Phase I BRT BRT Eugene OR 2007 $25 Interstate MAX LRT Portland OR 2004 $350 Gateway Transit Center LRT Portland OR 2006 $32 Tren Urbano HRT San Juan PR 2004 $2,280 North Central Corridor LRT Dallas TX 2002 $120 Green Line Downtown Plan Bus Atlanta GA 2002 $6 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) LRT Plano TX 2002 $63 Univ. & Med Ctr. TRAX Extension LRT Salt Lake City UT 2002 $238 St. Louis/St. Clair MetroLink Extension LRT St. Louis MO 2001 $339 Kent Staon & Retail HRT Kent WA 2001 Note: LRT = light rail transit, HRT = heavy rail transit, BRT = bus rapid transit.

10 • Mix of regions: Mid­Atlantic/Northeast (2), Great Lakes/ Plains (1), Rockies/West (3), Southwest (0), and South­ east (1). Table 2 provides the list of the 7 projects with relevant characteristics. 2.2 Types of Projects Covered Transit cases required a different project type framework than the highway cases in the original TPICS database. The classifications described here were used during the case screen­ ing process as well as implemented for the online database. The new TPICS for Transit was designed to cover transit lines, transit stations, and transit service enhancements. They were classified by four modal groups: bus, BRT, LRT, and HRT. They were also classified by four operational categories: (1) opening of new line or service, (2) extension of existing line or ser­ vice, (3) new terminal facility, and (4) service improvement. This makes for 16 possible classification categories as shown in Table 3. (See Chapter 5 for discussion of possibilities for inclusion of additional types of transit projects in a full roll­ out of the case study database for transit.) These categories serve to guide users seeking to select case studies that are relevant to them. Each of the 16 categories should eventually have at least 5 cases for viewing and com­ paring results within the category. While it is easy to proliferate categories by defining additional dimensions or finer distinc­ tions among cases, it would be counterproductive because it would increase the likelihood that a user searching for relevant cases would come up with few or zero matching cases. There is no overlap between the new transit categories and the old highway categories with the exception of a highway project category called “intermodal road/transit terminals”— which covers projects that could also be used within an expanded transit case study database. as the existence of prior research documenting at least some aspect of their economic impact. Sections 2.2 and 2.3 discuss the types of projects and locations and settings that are covered by TPICS for Transit. Overall, the 27 projects show that there was some repre­ sentation by all types of modes (bus, bus rapid transit [BRT], light rail transit [LRT], and heavy rail transit [HRT]), among all regions of the United States, across a range of regions and mar­ kets, and with a wide range of costs. However, there was par­ ticularly strong representation by light rail projects (accounting for 50% of projects), and particularly weak representation by bus­only projects (only two projects). The study team sought to identify a short list of cases that would be most likely to be successful in terms of impact mea­ surement while preserving a reasonable mix of project types and locations. Preliminary research was conducted to deter­ mine the extent to which there are past studies that have already identified economic and/or development impacts. While there is no requirement that information be available from prior studies, the existence of previously collected information does indicate that the pilot case study effort is most likely to be suc­ cessful in assembling impact data and generating an interest­ ing story. That is a consideration when only a small number of illustrative cases are to be completed for this pilot demonstra­ tion. Eleven projects were eliminated because no prior impact information was located. Based on this review, 7 cases were selected; 6 from the 16 remaining cases and 1 project that was identified after the review process. These recommended projects were selected because (a) they all have employment or development impact information already available, and most have both, and (b) they represent a broad and even mix of project types and locations: • Mix of mode types: BRT (3), LRT (1), and HRT (3); • Mix of investment types: new service (3), line exten­ sion (2), station facility (2); and Table 2. Projects selected for case studies. Project Name Mode* City State Year Completed Cost ($Ms) Investment Type Arapahoe at Village Center LRT Greenwood Village CO 2006 $18 Station Los Angeles Orange Line BRT BRT Los Angeles CA 2005 $305 New Service BART Extension to Airport HRT San Francisco CA 2003 $1,552 Extension NoMa Gallaudet Red Line HRT Washington DC 2004 $120 Station Atlanta North Line Extension HRT Atlanta GA 2000 $463 Extension Boston Silver Line BRT BRT Boston MA 2005 $625 New Service HealthLine/Euclid Corridor BRT Cleveland OH 2007 $200 New Service Note: LRT = light rail transit, HRT = heavy rail transit, BRT = bus rapid transit.

11 of regions used was reduced to five by creating three combined regions: Rockies/West, Great Lakes/Plains, and Mid­Atlantic/ Northeast. The description in Impact Area is flexible and pro­ vides additional information on local area of impact for transit cases compared with the county perspective used for highways. Market Setting The market context of a project’s location can be an impor­ tant impact factor because the size of the market served by a given project would be expected to influence the magnitude of its economic impact. Market size is reflected in the definition of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) concept as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and adopted by the U.S. Census. Every county that is part of an urban area with 50,000 or more inhabitants and is connected economi­ cally to the surrounding area (based on commuting patterns) is classified as part of a metropolitan area. While the county level of analysis was appropriate for highway impact analyses for identifying Urban/Class Levels in TPICS for Highways, the study team determined that this would not be appropriate for transit projects. Given that the spatial scale of a county is relatively large in comparison with a transit system, narrowed criteria were added for this study so that project locations 2.3 Classification of Project Settings The case studies for both highway and transit projects share a common set of project descriptor variables, as shown in Table 4. The differences are minor and basically limited changing impact area descriptors and activity level measures to be relevant for transit projects. Construction and Analysis Periods An initial study date was chosen to be 1 year before the construction start date. If the construction period was very long and data availability was significantly better for a differ­ ent year near the time construction was initiated, this year was substituted. This year affected the collection of setting data and pre­project conditions. The post­construction study date was selected to be as recent as data availability allowed to best correspond with impact information collected in interviews. Location Regions are defined on the basis of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) regions— which divides the United States into eight regions. The number Table 3. Transit projects types and modes for transit cases. Project Type Mode New Service Extension of Line Terminal Facility Service Improvement Bus Bus Rapid Transit Light Rail Transit Heavy Rail Transit Table 4. Case study project information elements—descriptors. Case Study Data Existing Highway TPICS New Transit TPICS Analysis Period Initial Study Date and Post Construction Study Data Same Construction Period Start and End Years, Months Duration Same Project Location Impact Area (County), City, State, Region, Latitude & Longitude Same, except impact area is a sub-county area Market Setting Market Size, Urban/Class Level, Airport Travel Distance Same Socio-economic Setting Population Density, Population Growth Rate, Employment Growth Rate and Distress Level* Same Project Cost Planned Capital Cost (YOE$s), Actual Capital Cost (YOE$s), Actual Capital Cost (constant $s) Same Project Size Length (miles) (not applicable for interchanges) Same (not applicable for stations) Activity Level Average Daily Traffic Average Weekday Riders * Note that a lower distress level indicates an improved economic condition.

12 factors that aided or impeded the project timeline, cost, or impact; 2. Project type—bus, BRT, heavy rail (commuter or inter­ city), or light rail or new service, service extension, expan­ sion, or operational improvement; 3. Location type—municipality, neighborhood; 4. Project motivation—e.g., urban growth management, job access, air quality non­compliance, and congestion mitigation; 5. Project cost—planned if available; 6. Construction period—start and end years; 7. Project size—passenger volume and capacity; 8. Transportation characteristics and impacts—pre/post­ transit system characteristics by mode, pre/post change in passenger volume and/or passenger­miles, comparison with previous modal options, if relevant; 9. Photo of the transportation facilities—if available; and 10. Suggested other contacts. In addition to local transit agency contacts, information was obtained or corroborated using FTA documents and the National Transit Database. (Note that the FTA is now compiling pre/post data on new starts, see www.fta.dot.gov/12907_9197.) Data Collection Step 2: Project Setting and Development Process Available public data sources were examined to obtain empir­ ical data (when available) to prove context and back­up the reported effects. The research analyst identified and attempted to contact at least three local informants: for example, a repre­ sentative of the local planning department, for the Chamber of Commerce, and for the economic development agency. Three perspectives were obtained to support completeness of data col­ lection and enable a “triangulation” of the appropriate valu­ ation of the project’s role in affecting the observed economic and development outcomes. The following was collected: 11. Location setting—area population level, density, employ­ ment, distress; could be classified as either within a “Principal City” or the suburban part of the MSA. Socio-economic Setting The economic distress metric used for this project is one of relative position in the initial study year (the year before project construction commenced). It is defined as the ratio of local unemployment to the U.S. level and must be at least 20% higher than that average to count as economically distressed. The 20% criterion was selected by the analysis team after observing that some counties have borderline conditions and flip back and forth between the distress and non­distressed categories from year to year. This helps to avoid distress classi­ fication changes associated with economic booms and down­ turns. Growth rates are calculated for the 5 years preceding the study period to provide context on the situation leading up to the project. 2.4 Information Collection Process Case studies required both empirical data and interview data to be compiled for the previously described settings and project characteristics data and the additional case study components of the TPICS databases listed in Table 5. The process for data collection had three major steps. Data Collection Step 1: Basic Project Description The research analyst reviewed existing published informa­ tion on the project to collect basic information and to gain some understanding to the project context. The analyst then contacted the transit agency (with a referral from APTA) to assemble additional details about the project. In some cases, this was referred to local planning department staff. The fol­ lowing is collected: 1. Description of project—short narrative, including name of project sponsoring agency and identification of Case Study Data Existing Highway TPICS New Transit TPICS Project Narrative Project motivation, history, impact factors, project role in outcomes <same> Further Documents Attachments and URL for external docs <same> Case Study Authorship Author name, organization, date <same> Pre/Post Conditions Local (municipal), county & state socio-economics Local (zipcode-based), county & state socio-economics, plus transportation conditions Project Impacts Direct and indirect economic impacts Direct impacts only Table 5. Case study project information elements—analysis.

13 All transit impacts were documented in immediate station areas. A buffer distance was not predetermined to apply to all projects so that local context could be considered. Impact col­ lection for TPICS for Transit relied more on interviews with local contacts and local sources than highway case studies because of the geographic scale of the cases. Because of the small geographies involved, little data is available through nationally available public sources that could be consistently used across projects. While highway projects utilized national databases to estimate impacts, for transit cases, this informa­ tion was only used to describe for pre/post conditions and not attributed to the project unless local sources specifically corroborated effects. The highway cases utilized county­level economic multi­ pliers that reflect wider regional impacts of major projects on business suppliers and worker income re­spending. The transit project cases do not use these factors to estimate indirect effects. The reason that these were excluded is that the transit projects are typically at a smaller scale than highways and are not neces­ sarily expected to have major impacts at a county­wide level. Because of the sub­county nature of most transit impacts, we did not utilize IMPLAN data to calculate project specific impacts on wages and business sales, but included this infor­ mation in the requests from local contacts. This led to fewer of the transit studies including this impact category. Project Documentation The research analysts assembled information from Steps 1 through 3 to prepare a succinct narrative concerning the project. Following the format of TPICS for highways, the case study documentation is be organized into six sections, including the narrative and • Project Characteristics—preceding Items 1–7, • Project Setting—preceding Item 11, 12. Pre/post economic statistics—pre/post change in employment, wages, business sales, property values, tax revenues—based on published databases; 13. Observed economic and development impacts— attributable to the project (same items as 12. Pre/post economic statistics above, plus observed square feet of development or private investment $); 14. Perception of the transit project’s role—in causing the observed economic and development impacts; 15. Identification of factors—that aided or impeded the project timeline, cost, or observed economic and devel­ opment impacts; and 16. Photos of development around the project site—if available. In addition to local planners, business groups, and eco­ nomic development agents, speaking to specific businesses and other government agencies such as departments of rev­ enue was sometimes helpful. Significant portions of setting and economic data were obtained from national data sources such as the Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Specific data products include the County Business Pattern’s zipcode­based tabulations; BEA’s CA1, CA4, and CA25N Reports; the Statistics of U.S. Busi­ nesses; the Census of Government’s State and Local Finance information; and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics series from BLS. Data Collection Step 3: Impact Analysis The impact measures for transit projects are confined to the direct development–induced changes, and reflect outcomes that are attributable to the projects as shown in Table 6. It is also important to note that the relevance of the various impact measures listed below, and the capability to effectively mea­ sure them varies depending on the scale of the project. Table 6. Case study economic impact measures. Outcome Measure Existing Highway TPICS New Transit TPICS Direct Employment Effect Change in direct jobs at project site and vicinity <same> Direct Economy Effect Change in wages & business sales calculated using IMPLAN data, or from local sources <same> Regional Economy Indirect impact multipliers (county level) -- Not applicable -- Private Investment Added sq. ft. of development, or $ of private investment in development <same> Capitalization of Private investment Change in property values <same> Fiscal Impact of Private Investment Change in state & local tax revenue generated in this area <same> Attribution of Credit to the Project % share of impact that is attributable to the project <same>

14 the role any of the projects has had on increasing transit use may help in gauging its importance with regard to develop­ ment. Many of these projects also provided major transporta­ tion efficiency benefits that were not a focus of the case studies. The BART extension to SFO, for example, serves a very high volume of travelers between the airport and other parts of San Francisco, saving people time, money, and hassle. However, these users provided little or no development impetus in the area around the new stations and, consequently, any economic impact related to their use was difficult to capture and beyond the scope of these case studies. Using station entrances and exits at new locations can provide good insight into the eco­ nomic role of a station in attracting new residents or employees, except in cases where stations have high numbers of transfers from outside the system, such as at SFO or when a station has significant park­and­ride volumes. The study team accord­ ingly focused on station area ridership counts and only made use of line ridership numbers for those cases that involved a new line with new stations. Table 8 provides an overview of the economic develop­ ment impacts of these seven pilot projects. Through research and interviews, nearby development projects were identified. When possible, the researchers used interviews to ascertain the portion of permanent employment change that was considered to be attributable to the transit project. Overall Findings Overall, the case studies showed wide variation in the num­ ber of jobs that were attributable to the transit projects and development around it. The most significant development and new employment following the opening of transit facili­ ties is seen in the NoMa Station and Boston Silver Line cases, where transit service improved access to underdeveloped land close to urban cores that would not have been able to develop as densely if they relied only on private vehicle commuting. Much less significant development occurred around stations and lines that passed through already developed residential • Project Impacts—preceding Items 13 and 14, • Pre/Post Conditions—preceding Items 8 and 12, and • Project Images—preceding Items 9 and 16. The narrative contains the names of the Research Analyst, Organization, Interview Informants, and external documents used and provides related web links and/or document attach­ ments. The next section reviews the online database in which cases are documented. 2.5 Case Study Results Site-Specific Findings Results of the seven pilot case studies are shown in full in Appendix C. A brief summary of key findings is provided here. In general, the case studies focused on measuring the economic development of areas adjacent to the transit sys­ tem investment sites or corridors. The focus was specifically on identifying the extent to which new jobs emerged (and new development occurred) in station areas that can reason­ ably be linked to new transit service. An effort was made to adjust the job impact estimates to net out effects of other fac­ tors that may have also helped generate employment in the station vicinity. The job numbers were also defined to ignore temporary infrastructure jobs, and they focused specifically on direct effects—that is, they did not account for multi­ plier effects such as additional indirect (supplier) or induced (worker spending) impacts on jobs in a broader surrounding region. Displacement effects (spatial relocations of business) occurring within walking distance of a transit station were netted out of the totals, although it was not possible to fully account for broader spatial shifts. Other real estate investment developments (usually a precursor to some if not all the job attraction) were also investigated and, when possible, data on dollars of investment and property values was also compiled. Table 7 provides information on transit facility utilization for the seven pilot projects in order to offer some perspective on the transportation impacts of the projects. Understanding Table 7. Transit facility utilization. Project Name Previous Local Service Volume Impact at Completion Most Recent Utilization Volume Arapahoe at Village Center 13,350 (1) 20,350 (1) Los Angeles Orange Line BRT 22,000 (3) 28,000 (3) BART Extension to Airport 3,000 (2) 8,000 (2) 21,000 (2) NoMa-Gallaudet Red Line 0 (4) 2,000 (2) 9,000 (2) Atlanta North Line Extension 8,750 (1) Boston Silver Line BRT 0 (4) 3,650 (3) 16,000 (3) HealthLine/Euclid Corridor 9,000 (3) 12,500 (3) 16,000 (3) Notes: (1) station daily entrances; (2) station daily exits; (3) line daily ridership; (4) local bus routes are busier today than prior to improvements, but are excluded from utilization figures for new facilities.

15 examples of multiple strengths. Not surprisingly, some char­ acteristics are correlated; for instance, a supportive business community is likely to be able to encourage more open zoning rules. Key observations are as follows: • A supportive business community can have an impor- tant influence on obtaining the maximum economic value from the transit investment. The NoMa–Gallaudet station in Washington, D.C., provides a clear example. Busi­ ness development organizations in this close­in region not far from Union Station were able to make a strong case for WMATA to add an inner city station at a time when the region was focused on a rail extension to Dulles Air­ port and the outer suburbs. The federal government also took advantage of the new station to locate some offices. Similar examples of strong business support can be found in Denver where the T­Rex project was built to provide service to the region’s Tech Center. Cleveland’s HealthLine along Euclid Avenue got its name from the hospital and health center at one end of the line rather than the origi­ nally proposed generic name of the Silver Line. This helped promote the major business activities located along the line and served to differentiate the operation from other transit services. In Atlanta, the business community in and around the Perimeter Center was a strong advocate for the extension of MARTA. • Zoning flexibility can be key and was mentioned in most of the case studies, including Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Cleveland; and Denver. Of course, a successful zoning strategy also requires underlying development demand. • Connections to the rest of the regional transportation network can also be important. The ability to provide access across the region adds important potential develop­ ment energy. These connections need not rely exclusively on transit, however. Denver’s T­Rex included roadway improvements as well as a “call and ride” service to improve last mile access to the light rail line. Atlanta’s transit con­ nection to the Perimeter Center also benefited from nearby highway improvements. areas, such as the Los Angeles Orange Line and San Francisco BART airport extension. The HealthLine is part of a larger effort to revitalize inner city Cleveland that has increased its impact. The Arapahoe at Village Center Station, like the Atlanta North Line Extension’s two stations, largely serves corporate campus­ style office facilities on the urban fringe, which results in lower total development figures than transit services in denser parts of metro areas. A crowded commercial real estate market in D.C. also encouraged development around the NoMa Station, whereas consistent double digit vacancy rates in places like L.A. post­project slowed the demand for new commercial properties around stations. The recession in 2008 appears to have seriously slowed the development impacts of many of the studied transit projects. Even in areas such as the NoMa neighborhood where these effects were less pronounced, only half of planned develop­ ment has been completed in the 11 years since the station opened. This indicates that impacts may continue to grow into future years as planned projects “come off hold.” Fifteen years after the completion of Atlanta’s North Line Extension, companies continue to cite transit access as an important fac­ tor in their decisions to locate in Sandy Springs, Georgia— the city served by the new stations. Studying the economic development impact of transit is challenging because, in one sense, development may be most clearly considered a direct result of infrastructure improve­ ments if they occur within walking distance of stations, which is why a ¼­mile radius was typically considered. This guide­ line does not, however, preclude the potential for some tran­ sit investments to support or enable development benefits in locales elsewhere in the transit network, particularly insofar as the transit projects enhance connectivity and access to wider neighborhoods. Factors Affecting Local Development Impacts No single characteristic guarantees a strong positive eco­ nomic impact. Indeed, most of these case studies provide Table 8. Economic development impacts. Project Name Major Economic Sectors Affected Nearby Devel. (Sq. Ft.) Jobs Attracted Arapahoe at Village Center High Tech and Financial 775,000 1,005 Los Angeles Orange Line BRT Retail 1,300,000 825 BART Extension to Airport Services and Visitors None observed 0 NoMa Gallaudet Red Line Fed & Non-Profit Office 8,000,000 10,000 Atlanta North Line Extension Corporate Headquarters 500,000 750 Boston Silver Line BRT Class A Office 10,000,000 3,350 HealthLine/Euclid Corridor Healthcare, Education 380,000 1,360 Notes: (1) station daily entrances; (2) station daily exits; (3) line daily ridership; (4) local bus routes are busier today than prior to improvements, but are excluded from utilization figures for new facilities.

16 actually occur. They also show that economic development impacts are not always correlated with ridership changes. For instance, some projects with relatively high ridership (e.g., Los Angeles Orange Line and San Francisco BART to Air­ port) had relatively little immediate economic development impact, while others with lower ridership had more economic development impact (e.g., Washington’s NoMa–Gallaudet Station). The implication is that project impacts can look dif­ ferent depending on whether one focuses on ridership out­ comes, on economic development outcomes, or both. A much stronger and more nuanced base of insights will be gained as a broader set of case studies becomes completed later on. The next two chapters lay out the database, web tool design, and data collection processes that can be utilized to enable the assembly and use of a broader set of case studies in the future. Factors that slowed economic development impacts were the lack of conditions identified above as helping to stimu­ late local development—for example, there was a lack of local business interest in redeveloping areas surrounding new sta­ tions located along the BART line to San Francisco airport and the Orange Line in Los Angeles. In the latter case, strong local preference to continue the current style of suburban residen­ tial housing led to a focus of development opportunities at the existing business centers at either end of the line (rather than along the middle of the line). Altogether, these types of case study observations serve to provide both planners and interested stakeholders with a dose of reality—portraying both the opportunities to make a dif­ ference in economic development and the factors that must realistically be confronted to make desired new development

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Impact Case Studies

Impact case study:  Improving the lives of the ultra-poor

Summary: Researchers at LSE provided robust evidence that large, one-off interventions can produce sustainable economic benefits for individuals, improving the lives of people in extreme poverty. Read the  impact case study .

Professor Oriana Bandiera Professor of Economics | Sir Anthony Atkinson Chair in Economics

Professor Robin Burgess Professor of Economics | Director of IGC

Impact case study:  State capacity: crafting effective development strategies Summary: LSE research has made a significant contribution to understanding state development and the causes of state fragility, shaping the work of multilateral development agencies. Read the  impact case study .

Professor Sir Tim Besley School Professor of Economics and Political Science

Impact case study:  Understanding and improving subjective wellbeing

Summary: LSE research has significantly contributed to promoting subjective wellbeing as a central objective of public policy, and provided new tools to support its measurement. Read the  impact case study .

Professor Lord Richard Layard Emeritus Professor of Economics | Community Wellbeing Programme Co-Director

Professor Paul Dolan Professor of Behavioural Science

Impact case study:  Supporting the development of a safer, more robust financial system for the eurozone

Summary: In response to the eurozone crisis, LSE economists co-developed an influential proposal for European Safe Bonds (ESBies), which would protect the financial system from future shocks. Read the  impact case study .

Professor Ricardo Reis Arthur Williams Phillips Professor of Economics

Professor Dimitri Vayanos Professor of Finance | Director, Financial Markets Group

Impact case study:  Improving productivity through better management practices

Summary: LSE research has demonstrated how management practices affect productivity, providing vital evidence for designing industrial strategies to tackle low productivity. Read the  impact case study .

Professor John Van Reenen Ronald Coase Chair in Economics and School Professor

Professor Nicholas Bloom Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

Professor Raffaella Sadun Harvard Business School

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Do Your Students Know How to Analyze a Case—Really?

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• Case Teaching
• Student Engagement

J ust as actors, athletes, and musicians spend thousands of hours practicing their craft, business students benefit from practicing their critical-thinking and decision-making skills. Students, however, often have limited exposure to real-world problem-solving scenarios; they need more opportunities to practice tackling tough business problems and deciding on—and executing—the best solutions.

To ensure students have ample opportunity to develop these critical-thinking and decision-making skills, we believe business faculty should shift from teaching mostly principles and ideas to mostly applications and practices. And in doing so, they should emphasize the case method, which simulates real-world management challenges and opportunities for students.

To help educators facilitate this shift and help students get the most out of case-based learning, we have developed a framework for analyzing cases. We call it PACADI (Problem, Alternatives, Criteria, Analysis, Decision, Implementation); it can improve learning outcomes by helping students better solve and analyze business problems, make decisions, and develop and implement strategy. Here, we’ll explain why we developed this framework, how it works, and what makes it an effective learning tool.

The Case for Cases: Helping Students Think Critically

Business students must develop critical-thinking and analytical skills, which are essential to their ability to make good decisions in functional areas such as marketing, finance, operations, and information technology, as well as to understand the relationships among these functions. For example, the decisions a marketing manager must make include strategic planning (segments, products, and channels); execution (digital messaging, media, branding, budgets, and pricing); and operations (integrated communications and technologies), as well as how to implement decisions across functional areas.

Faculty can use many types of cases to help students develop these skills. These include the prototypical “paper cases”; live cases , which feature guest lecturers such as entrepreneurs or corporate leaders and on-site visits; and multimedia cases , which immerse students into real situations. Most cases feature an explicit or implicit decision that a protagonist—whether it is an individual, a group, or an organization—must make.

For students new to learning by the case method—and even for those with case experience—some common issues can emerge; these issues can sometimes be a barrier for educators looking to ensure the best possible outcomes in their case classrooms. Unsure of how to dig into case analysis on their own, students may turn to the internet or rely on former students for “answers” to assigned cases. Or, when assigned to provide answers to assignment questions in teams, students might take a divide-and-conquer approach but not take the time to regroup and provide answers that are consistent with one other.

To help address these issues, which we commonly experienced in our classes, we wanted to provide our students with a more structured approach for how they analyze cases—and to really think about making decisions from the protagonists’ point of view. We developed the PACADI framework to address this need.

PACADI: A Six-Step Decision-Making Approach

The PACADI framework is a six-step decision-making approach that can be used in lieu of traditional end-of-case questions. It offers a structured, integrated, and iterative process that requires students to analyze case information, apply business concepts to derive valuable insights, and develop recommendations based on these insights.

Prior to beginning a PACADI assessment, which we’ll outline here, students should first prepare a two-paragraph summary—a situation analysis—that highlights the key case facts. Then, we task students with providing a five-page PACADI case analysis (excluding appendices) based on the following six steps.

Step 1: Problem definition. What is the major challenge, problem, opportunity, or decision that has to be made? If there is more than one problem, choose the most important one. Often when solving the key problem, other issues will surface and be addressed. The problem statement may be framed as a question; for example, How can brand X improve market share among millennials in Canada? Usually the problem statement has to be re-written several times during the analysis of a case as students peel back the layers of symptoms or causation.

Step 2: Alternatives. Identify in detail the strategic alternatives to address the problem; three to five options generally work best. Alternatives should be mutually exclusive, realistic, creative, and feasible given the constraints of the situation. Doing nothing or delaying the decision to a later date are not considered acceptable alternatives.

Step 3: Criteria. What are the key decision criteria that will guide decision-making? In a marketing course, for example, these may include relevant marketing criteria such as segmentation, positioning, advertising and sales, distribution, and pricing. Financial criteria useful in evaluating the alternatives should be included—for example, income statement variables, customer lifetime value, payback, etc. Students must discuss their rationale for selecting the decision criteria and the weights and importance for each factor.

Step 4: Analysis. Provide an in-depth analysis of each alternative based on the criteria chosen in step three. Decision tables using criteria as columns and alternatives as rows can be helpful. The pros and cons of the various choices as well as the short- and long-term implications of each may be evaluated. Best, worst, and most likely scenarios can also be insightful.

Step 5: Decision. Students propose their solution to the problem. This decision is justified based on an in-depth analysis. Explain why the recommendation made is the best fit for the criteria.

Step 6: Implementation plan. Sound business decisions may fail due to poor execution. To enhance the likeliness of a successful project outcome, students describe the key steps (activities) to implement the recommendation, timetable, projected costs, expected competitive reaction, success metrics, and risks in the plan.

“Students note that using the PACADI framework yields ‘aha moments’—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.”

PACADI’s Benefits: Meaningfully and Thoughtfully Applying Business Concepts

The PACADI framework covers all of the major elements of business decision-making, including implementation, which is often overlooked. By stepping through the whole framework, students apply relevant business concepts and solve management problems via a systematic, comprehensive approach; they’re far less likely to surface piecemeal responses.

As students explore each part of the framework, they may realize that they need to make changes to a previous step. For instance, when working on implementation, students may realize that the alternative they selected cannot be executed or will not be profitable, and thus need to rethink their decision. Or, they may discover that the criteria need to be revised since the list of decision factors they identified is incomplete (for example, the factors may explain key marketing concerns but fail to address relevant financial considerations) or is unrealistic (for example, they suggest a 25 percent increase in revenues without proposing an increased promotional budget).

In addition, the PACADI framework can be used alongside quantitative assignments, in-class exercises, and business and management simulations. The structured, multi-step decision framework encourages careful and sequential analysis to solve business problems. Incorporating PACADI as an overarching decision-making method across different projects will ultimately help students achieve desired learning outcomes. As a practical “beyond-the-classroom” tool, the PACADI framework is not a contrived course assignment; it reflects the decision-making approach that managers, executives, and entrepreneurs exercise daily. Case analysis introduces students to the real-world process of making business decisions quickly and correctly, often with limited information. This framework supplies an organized and disciplined process that students can readily defend in writing and in class discussions.

PACADI in Action: An Example

Here’s an example of how students used the PACADI framework for a recent case analysis on CVS, a large North American drugstore chain.

The CVS Prescription for Customer Value*

PACADI Stage

Summary Response

How should CVS Health evolve from the “drugstore of your neighborhood” to the “drugstore of your future”?

Alternatives

A1. Kaizen (continuous improvement)

A2. Product development

A3. Market development

A4. Personalization (micro-targeting)

Criteria (include weights)

C1. Customer value: service, quality, image, and price (40%)

C2. Customer obsession (20%)

C3. Growth through related businesses (20%)

C4. Customer retention and customer lifetime value (20%)

Each alternative was analyzed by each criterion using a Customer Value Assessment Tool

Alternative 4 (A4): Personalization was selected. This is operationalized via: segmentation—move toward segment-of-1 marketing; geodemographics and lifestyle emphasis; predictive data analysis; relationship marketing; people, principles, and supply chain management; and exceptional customer service.

Implementation

Partner with leading medical school

Curbside pick-up

Pet pharmacy

E-newsletter for customers and employees

Employee incentive program

CVS beauty days

Expand to Latin America and Caribbean

Healthier/happier corner

Holiday toy drives/community outreach

*Source: A. Weinstein, Y. Rodriguez, K. Sims, R. Vergara, “The CVS Prescription for Superior Customer Value—A Case Study,” Back to the Future: Revisiting the Foundations of Marketing from Society for Marketing Advances, West Palm Beach, FL (November 2, 2018).

Results of Using the PACADI Framework

When faculty members at our respective institutions at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and the University of North Carolina Wilmington have used the PACADI framework, our classes have been more structured and engaging. Students vigorously debate each element of their decision and note that this framework yields an “aha moment”—they learned something surprising in the case that led them to think differently about the problem and their proposed solution.

These lively discussions enhance individual and collective learning. As one external metric of this improvement, we have observed a 2.5 percent increase in student case grade performance at NSU since this framework was introduced.

Tips to Get Started

The PACADI approach works well in in-person, online, and hybrid courses. This is particularly important as more universities have moved to remote learning options. Because students have varied educational and cultural backgrounds, work experience, and familiarity with case analysis, we recommend that faculty members have students work on their first case using this new framework in small teams (two or three students). Additional analyses should then be solo efforts.

To use PACADI effectively in your classroom, we suggest the following:

Advise your students that your course will stress critical thinking and decision-making skills, not just course concepts and theory.

Use a varied mix of case studies. As marketing professors, we often address consumer and business markets; goods, services, and digital commerce; domestic and global business; and small and large companies in a single MBA course.

As a starting point, provide a short explanation (about 20 to 30 minutes) of the PACADI framework with a focus on the conceptual elements. You can deliver this face to face or through videoconferencing.

Give students an opportunity to practice the case analysis methodology via an ungraded sample case study. Designate groups of five to seven students to discuss the case and the six steps in breakout sessions (in class or via Zoom).

Ensure case analyses are weighted heavily as a grading component. We suggest 30–50 percent of the overall course grade.

Once cases are graded, debrief with the class on what they did right and areas needing improvement (30- to 40-minute in-person or Zoom session).

Encourage faculty teams that teach common courses to build appropriate instructional materials, grading rubrics, videos, sample cases, and teaching notes.

When selecting case studies, we have found that the best ones for PACADI analyses are about 15 pages long and revolve around a focal management decision. This length provides adequate depth yet is not protracted. Some of our tested and favorite marketing cases include Brand W , Hubspot , Kraft Foods Canada , TRSB(A) , and Whiskey & Cheddar .

Art Weinstein , Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has published more than 80 scholarly articles and papers and eight books on customer-focused marketing strategy. His latest book is Superior Customer Value—Finding and Keeping Customers in the Now Economy . Dr. Weinstein has consulted for many leading technology and service companies.

Herbert V. Brotspies , D.B.A., is an adjunct professor of marketing at Nova Southeastern University. He has over 30 years’ experience as a vice president in marketing, strategic planning, and acquisitions for Fortune 50 consumer products companies working in the United States and internationally. His research interests include return on marketing investment, consumer behavior, business-to-business strategy, and strategic planning.

John T. Gironda , Ph.D., is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research has been published in Industrial Marketing Management, Psychology & Marketing , and Journal of Marketing Management . He has also presented at major marketing conferences including the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, and Society for Marketing Advances.

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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 November 20, 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 .

Table of contents

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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Definition and Introduction

Case analysis is a problem-based teaching and learning method that involves critically analyzing complex scenarios within an organizational setting for the purpose of placing the student in a “real world” situation and applying reflection and critical thinking skills to contemplate appropriate solutions, decisions, or recommended courses of action. It is considered a more effective teaching technique than in-class role playing or simulation activities. The analytical process is often guided by questions provided by the instructor that ask students to contemplate relationships between the facts and critical incidents described in the case.

Cases generally include both descriptive and statistical elements and rely on students applying abductive reasoning to develop and argue for preferred or best outcomes [i.e., case scenarios rarely have a single correct or perfect answer based on the evidence provided]. Rather than emphasizing theories or concepts, case analysis assignments emphasize building a bridge of relevancy between abstract thinking and practical application and, by so doing, teaches the value of both within a specific area of professional practice.

Given this, the purpose of a case analysis paper is to present a structured and logically organized format for analyzing the case situation. It can be assigned to students individually or as a small group assignment and it may include an in-class presentation component. Case analysis is predominately taught in economics and business-related courses, but it is also a method of teaching and learning found in other applied social sciences disciplines, such as, social work, public relations, education, journalism, and public administration.

Ellet, William. The Case Study Handbook: A Student's Guide . Revised Edition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2018; Christoph Rasche and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Analysis . Writing Center, Baruch College; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

How to Approach Writing a Case Analysis Paper

The organization and structure of a case analysis paper can vary depending on the organizational setting, the situation, and how your professor wants you to approach the assignment. Nevertheless, preparing to write a case analysis paper involves several important steps. As Hawes notes, a case analysis assignment “...is useful in developing the ability to get to the heart of a problem, analyze it thoroughly, and to indicate the appropriate solution as well as how it should be implemented” [p.48]. This statement encapsulates how you should approach preparing to write a case analysis paper.

Before you begin to write your paper, consider the following analytical procedures:

• Review the case to get an overview of the situation . A case can be only a few pages in length, however, it is most often very lengthy and contains a significant amount of detailed background information and statistics, with multilayered descriptions of the scenario, the roles and behaviors of various stakeholder groups, and situational events. Therefore, a quick reading of the case will help you gain an overall sense of the situation and illuminate the types of issues and problems that you will need to address in your paper. If your professor has provided questions intended to help frame your analysis, use them to guide your initial reading of the case.
• Read the case thoroughly . After gaining a general overview of the case, carefully read the content again with the purpose of understanding key circumstances, events, and behaviors among stakeholder groups. Look for information or data that appears contradictory, extraneous, or misleading. At this point, you should be taking notes as you read because this will help you develop a general outline of your paper. The aim is to obtain a complete understanding of the situation so that you can begin contemplating tentative answers to any questions your professor has provided or, if they have not provided, developing answers to your own questions about the case scenario and its connection to the course readings,lectures, and class discussions.
• Determine key stakeholder groups, issues, and events and the relationships they all have to each other . As you analyze the content, pay particular attention to identifying individuals, groups, or organizations described in the case and identify evidence of any problems or issues of concern that impact the situation in a negative way. Other things to look for include identifying any assumptions being made by or about each stakeholder, potential biased explanations or actions, explicit demands or ultimatums , and the underlying concerns that motivate these behaviors among stakeholders. The goal at this stage is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the situational and behavioral dynamics of the case and the explicit and implicit consequences of each of these actions.
• Identify the core problems . The next step in most case analysis assignments is to discern what the core [i.e., most damaging, detrimental, injurious] problems are within the organizational setting and to determine their implications. The purpose at this stage of preparing to write your analysis paper is to distinguish between the symptoms of core problems and the core problems themselves and to decide which of these must be addressed immediately and which problems do not appear critical but may escalate over time. Identify evidence from the case to support your decisions by determining what information or data is essential to addressing the core problems and what information is not relevant or is misleading.
• Explore alternative solutions . As noted, case analysis scenarios rarely have only one correct answer. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the process of analyzing the case and diagnosing core problems, while based on evidence, is a subjective process open to various avenues of interpretation. This means that you must consider alternative solutions or courses of action by critically examining strengths and weaknesses, risk factors, and the differences between short and long-term solutions. For each possible solution or course of action, consider the consequences they may have related to their implementation and how these recommendations might lead to new problems. Also, consider thinking about your recommended solutions or courses of action in relation to issues of fairness, equity, and inclusion.
• Decide on a final set of recommendations . The last stage in preparing to write a case analysis paper is to assert an opinion or viewpoint about the recommendations needed to help resolve the core problems as you see them and to make a persuasive argument for supporting this point of view. Prepare a clear rationale for your recommendations based on examining each element of your analysis. Anticipate possible obstacles that could derail their implementation. Consider any counter-arguments that could be made concerning the validity of your recommended actions. Finally, describe a set of criteria and measurable indicators that could be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of your implementation plan.

Use these steps as the framework for writing your paper. Remember that the more detailed you are in taking notes as you critically examine each element of the case, the more information you will have to draw from when you begin to write. This will save you time.

NOTE : If the process of preparing to write a case analysis paper is assigned as a student group project, consider having each member of the group analyze a specific element of the case, including drafting answers to the corresponding questions used by your professor to frame the analysis. This will help make the analytical process more efficient and ensure that the distribution of work is equitable. This can also facilitate who is responsible for drafting each part of the final case analysis paper and, if applicable, the in-class presentation.

Framework for Case Analysis . College of Management. University of Massachusetts; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Rasche, Christoph and Achim Seisreiner. Guidelines for Business Case Analysis . University of Potsdam; Writing a Case Study Analysis . University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center; Van Ness, Raymond K. A Guide to Case Analysis . School of Business. State University of New York, Albany; Writing a Case Analysis . Business School, University of New South Wales.

Structure and Writing Style

A case analysis paper should be detailed, concise, persuasive, clearly written, and professional in tone and in the use of language . As with other forms of college-level academic writing, declarative statements that convey information, provide a fact, or offer an explanation or any recommended courses of action should be based on evidence. If allowed by your professor, any external sources used to support your analysis, such as course readings, should be properly cited under a list of references. The organization and structure of case analysis papers can vary depending on your professor’s preferred format, but its structure generally follows the steps used for analyzing the case.

Introduction

The introduction should provide a succinct but thorough descriptive overview of the main facts, issues, and core problems of the case . The introduction should also include a brief summary of the most relevant details about the situation and organizational setting. This includes defining the theoretical framework or conceptual model on which any questions were used to frame your analysis.

Following the rules of most college-level research papers, the introduction should then inform the reader how the paper will be organized. This includes describing the major sections of the paper and the order in which they will be presented. Unless you are told to do so by your professor, you do not need to preview your final recommendations in the introduction. U nlike most college-level research papers , the introduction does not include a statement about the significance of your findings because a case analysis assignment does not involve contributing new knowledge about a research problem.

Background Analysis

Background analysis can vary depending on any guiding questions provided by your professor and the underlying concept or theory that the case is based upon. In general, however, this section of your paper should focus on:

• Providing an overarching analysis of problems identified from the case scenario, including identifying events that stakeholders find challenging or troublesome,
• Identifying assumptions made by each stakeholder and any apparent biases they may exhibit,
• Describing any demands or claims made by or forced upon key stakeholders, and
• Highlighting any issues of concern or complaints expressed by stakeholders in response to those demands or claims.

These aspects of the case are often in the form of behavioral responses expressed by individuals or groups within the organizational setting. However, note that problems in a case situation can also be reflected in data [or the lack thereof] and in the decision-making, operational, cultural, or institutional structure of the organization. Additionally, demands or claims can be either internal and external to the organization [e.g., a case analysis involving a president considering arms sales to Saudi Arabia could include managing internal demands from White House advisors as well as demands from members of Congress].

Throughout this section, present all relevant evidence from the case that supports your analysis. Do not simply claim there is a problem, an assumption, a demand, or a concern; tell the reader what part of the case informed how you identified these background elements.

Identification of Problems

In most case analysis assignments, there are problems, and then there are problems . Each problem can reflect a multitude of underlying symptoms that are detrimental to the interests of the organization. The purpose of identifying problems is to teach students how to differentiate between problems that vary in severity, impact, and relative importance. Given this, problems can be described in three general forms: those that must be addressed immediately, those that should be addressed but the impact is not severe, and those that do not require immediate attention and can be set aside for the time being.

All of the problems you identify from the case should be identified in this section of your paper, with a description based on evidence explaining the problem variances. If the assignment asks you to conduct research to further support your assessment of the problems, include this in your explanation. Remember to cite those sources in a list of references. Use specific evidence from the case and apply appropriate concepts, theories, and models discussed in class or in relevant course readings to highlight and explain the key problems [or problem] that you believe must be solved immediately and describe the underlying symptoms and why they are so critical.

Alternative Solutions

This section is where you provide specific, realistic, and evidence-based solutions to the problems you have identified and make recommendations about how to alleviate the underlying symptomatic conditions impacting the organizational setting. For each solution, you must explain why it was chosen and provide clear evidence to support your reasoning. This can include, for example, course readings and class discussions as well as research resources, such as, books, journal articles, research reports, or government documents. In some cases, your professor may encourage you to include personal, anecdotal experiences as evidence to support why you chose a particular solution or set of solutions. Using anecdotal evidence helps promote reflective thinking about the process of determining what qualifies as a core problem and relevant solution .

Throughout this part of the paper, keep in mind the entire array of problems that must be addressed and describe in detail the solutions that might be implemented to resolve these problems.

Recommended Courses of Action

In some case analysis assignments, your professor may ask you to combine the alternative solutions section with your recommended courses of action. However, it is important to know the difference between the two. A solution refers to the answer to a problem. A course of action refers to a procedure or deliberate sequence of activities adopted to proactively confront a situation, often in the context of accomplishing a goal. In this context, proposed courses of action are based on your analysis of alternative solutions. Your description and justification for pursuing each course of action should represent the overall plan for implementing your recommendations.

For each course of action, you need to explain the rationale for your recommendation in a way that confronts challenges, explains risks, and anticipates any counter-arguments from stakeholders. Do this by considering the strengths and weaknesses of each course of action framed in relation to how the action is expected to resolve the core problems presented, the possible ways the action may affect remaining problems, and how the recommended action will be perceived by each stakeholder.

In addition, you should describe the criteria needed to measure how well the implementation of these actions is working and explain which individuals or groups are responsible for ensuring your recommendations are successful. In addition, always consider the law of unintended consequences. Outline difficulties that may arise in implementing each course of action and describe how implementing the proposed courses of action [either individually or collectively] may lead to new problems [both large and small].

Throughout this section, you must consider the costs and benefits of recommending your courses of action in relation to uncertainties or missing information and the negative consequences of success.

The conclusion should be brief and introspective. Unlike a research paper, the conclusion in a case analysis paper does not include a summary of key findings and their significance, a statement about how the study contributed to existing knowledge, or indicate opportunities for future research.

Begin by synthesizing the core problems presented in the case and the relevance of your recommended solutions. This can include an explanation of what you have learned about the case in the context of your answers to the questions provided by your professor. The conclusion is also where you link what you learned from analyzing the case with the course readings or class discussions. This can further demonstrate your understanding of the relationships between the practical case situation and the theoretical and abstract content of assigned readings and other course content.

Problems to Avoid

The literature on case analysis assignments often includes examples of difficulties students have with applying methods of critical analysis and effectively reporting the results of their assessment of the situation. A common reason cited by scholars is that the application of this type of teaching and learning method is limited to applied fields of social and behavioral sciences and, as a result, writing a case analysis paper can be unfamiliar to most students entering college.

After you have drafted your paper, proofread the narrative flow and revise any of these common errors:

• Unnecessary detail in the background section . The background section should highlight the essential elements of the case based on your analysis. Focus on summarizing the facts and highlighting the key factors that become relevant in the other sections of the paper by eliminating any unnecessary information.
• Analysis relies too much on opinion . Your analysis is interpretive, but the narrative must be connected clearly to evidence from the case and any models and theories discussed in class or in course readings. Any positions or arguments you make should be supported by evidence.
• Analysis does not focus on the most important elements of the case . Your paper should provide a thorough overview of the case. However, the analysis should focus on providing evidence about what you identify are the key events, stakeholders, issues, and problems. Emphasize what you identify as the most critical aspects of the case to be developed throughout your analysis. Be thorough but succinct.
• Writing is too descriptive . A paper with too much descriptive information detracts from your analysis of the complexities of the case situation. Questions about what happened, where, when, and by whom should only be included as essential information leading to your examination of questions related to why, how, and for what purpose.
• Inadequate definition of a core problem and associated symptoms . A common error found in case analysis papers is recommending a solution or course of action without adequately defining or demonstrating that you understand the problem. Make sure you have clearly described the problem and its impact and scope within the organizational setting. Ensure that you have adequately described the root causes w hen describing the symptoms of the problem.
• Recommendations lack specificity . Identify any use of vague statements and indeterminate terminology, such as, “A particular experience” or “a large increase to the budget.” These statements cannot be measured and, as a result, there is no way to evaluate their successful implementation. Provide specific data and use direct language in describing recommended actions.
• Unrealistic, exaggerated, or unattainable recommendations . Review your recommendations to ensure that they are based on the situational facts of the case. Your recommended solutions and courses of action must be based on realistic assumptions and fit within the constraints of the situation. Also note that the case scenario has already happened, therefore, any speculation or arguments about what could have occurred if the circumstances were different should be revised or eliminated.

Bee, Lian Song et al. "Business Students' Perspectives on Case Method Coaching for Problem-Based Learning: Impacts on Student Engagement and Learning Performance in Higher Education." Education & Training 64 (2022): 416-432; The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Georgallis, Panikos and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching using Case-Based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; Hawes, Jon M. "Teaching is Not Telling: The Case Method as a Form of Interactive Learning." Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education 5 (Winter 2004): 47-54; Georgallis, Panikos, and Kayleigh Bruijn. "Sustainability Teaching Using Case-based Debates." Journal of International Education in Business 15 (2022): 147-163; .Dean,  Kathy Lund and Charles J. Fornaciari. "How to Create and Use Experiential Case-Based Exercises in a Management Classroom." Journal of Management Education 26 (October 2002): 586-603; Klebba, Joanne M. and Janet G. Hamilton. "Structured Case Analysis: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in a Marketing Case Course." Journal of Marketing Education 29 (August 2007): 132-137, 139; Klein, Norman. "The Case Discussion Method Revisited: Some Questions about Student Skills." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 30-32; Mukherjee, Arup. "Effective Use of In-Class Mini Case Analysis for Discovery Learning in an Undergraduate MIS Course." The Journal of Computer Information Systems 40 (Spring 2000): 15-23; Pessoa, Silviaet al. "Scaffolding the Case Analysis in an Organizational Behavior Course: Making Analytical Language Explicit." Journal of Management Education 46 (2022): 226-251: Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Schweitzer, Karen. "How to Write and Format a Business Case Study." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-write-and-format-a-business-case-study-466324 (accessed December 5, 2022); Reddy, C. D. "Teaching Research Methodology: Everything's a Case." Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 18 (December 2020): 178-188; Volpe, Guglielmo. "Case Teaching in Economics: History, Practice and Evidence." Cogent Economics and Finance 3 (December 2015). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2015.1120977.

Writing Tip

Ca se Study and Case Analysis Are Not the Same!

Confusion often exists between what it means to write a paper that uses a case study research design and writing a paper that analyzes a case; they are two different types of approaches to learning in the social and behavioral sciences. Professors as well as educational researchers contribute to this confusion because they often use the term "case study" when describing the subject of analysis for a case analysis paper. But you are not studying a case for the purpose of generating a comprehensive, multi-faceted understanding of a research problem. R ather, you are critically analyzing a specific scenario to argue logically for recommended solutions and courses of action that lead to optimal outcomes applicable to professional practice.

To avoid any confusion, here are twelve characteristics that delineate the differences between writing a paper using the case study research method and writing a case analysis paper:

• Case study is a method of in-depth research and rigorous inquiry ; case analysis is a reliable method of teaching and learning . A case study is a modality of research that investigates a phenomenon for the purpose of creating new knowledge, solving a problem, or testing a hypothesis using empirical evidence derived from the case being studied. Often, the results are used to generalize about a larger population or within a wider context. The writing adheres to the traditional standards of a scholarly research study. A case analysis is a pedagogical tool used to teach students how to reflect and think critically about a practical, real-life problem in an organizational setting.
• The researcher is responsible for identifying the case to study; a case analysis is assigned by your professor . As the researcher, you choose the case study to investigate in support of obtaining new knowledge and understanding about the research problem. The case in a case analysis assignment is almost always provided, and sometimes written, by your professor and either given to every student in class to analyze individually or to a small group of students, or students select a case to analyze from a predetermined list.
• A case study is indeterminate and boundless; a case analysis is predetermined and confined . A case study can be almost anything [see item 9 below] as long as it relates directly to examining the research problem. This relationship is the only limit to what a researcher can choose as the subject of their case study. The content of a case analysis is determined by your professor and its parameters are well-defined and limited to elucidating insights of practical value applied to practice.
• Case study is fact-based and describes actual events or situations; case analysis can be entirely fictional or adapted from an actual situation . The entire content of a case study must be grounded in reality to be a valid subject of investigation in an empirical research study. A case analysis only needs to set the stage for critically examining a situation in practice and, therefore, can be entirely fictional or adapted, all or in-part, from an actual situation.
• Research using a case study method must adhere to principles of intellectual honesty and academic integrity; a case analysis scenario can include misleading or false information . A case study paper must report research objectively and factually to ensure that any findings are understood to be logically correct and trustworthy. A case analysis scenario may include misleading or false information intended to deliberately distract from the central issues of the case. The purpose is to teach students how to sort through conflicting or useless information in order to come up with the preferred solution. Any use of misleading or false information in academic research is considered unethical.
• Case study is linked to a research problem; case analysis is linked to a practical situation or scenario . In the social sciences, the subject of an investigation is most often framed as a problem that must be researched in order to generate new knowledge leading to a solution. Case analysis narratives are grounded in real life scenarios for the purpose of examining the realities of decision-making behavior and processes within organizational settings. A case analysis assignments include a problem or set of problems to be analyzed. However, the goal is centered around the act of identifying and evaluating courses of action leading to best possible outcomes.
• The purpose of a case study is to create new knowledge through research; the purpose of a case analysis is to teach new understanding . Case studies are a choice of methodological design intended to create new knowledge about resolving a research problem. A case analysis is a mode of teaching and learning intended to create new understanding and an awareness of uncertainty applied to practice through acts of critical thinking and reflection.
• A case study seeks to identify the best possible solution to a research problem; case analysis can have an indeterminate set of solutions or outcomes . Your role in studying a case is to discover the most logical, evidence-based ways to address a research problem. A case analysis assignment rarely has a single correct answer because one of the goals is to force students to confront the real life dynamics of uncertainly, ambiguity, and missing or conflicting information within professional practice. Under these conditions, a perfect outcome or solution almost never exists.
• Case study is unbounded and relies on gathering external information; case analysis is a self-contained subject of analysis . The scope of a case study chosen as a method of research is bounded. However, the researcher is free to gather whatever information and data is necessary to investigate its relevance to understanding the research problem. For a case analysis assignment, your professor will often ask you to examine solutions or recommended courses of action based solely on facts and information from the case.
• Case study can be a person, place, object, issue, event, condition, or phenomenon; a case analysis is a carefully constructed synopsis of events, situations, and behaviors . The research problem dictates the type of case being studied and, therefore, the design can encompass almost anything tangible as long as it fulfills the objective of generating new knowledge and understanding. A case analysis is in the form of a narrative containing descriptions of facts, situations, processes, rules, and behaviors within a particular setting and under a specific set of circumstances.
• Case study can represent an open-ended subject of inquiry; a case analysis is a narrative about something that has happened in the past . A case study is not restricted by time and can encompass an event or issue with no temporal limit or end. For example, the current war in Ukraine can be used as a case study of how medical personnel help civilians during a large military conflict, even though circumstances around this event are still evolving. A case analysis can be used to elicit critical thinking about current or future situations in practice, but the case itself is a narrative about something finite and that has taken place in the past.
• Multiple case studies can be used in a research study; case analysis involves examining a single scenario . Case study research can use two or more cases to examine a problem, often for the purpose of conducting a comparative investigation intended to discover hidden relationships, document emerging trends, or determine variations among different examples. A case analysis assignment typically describes a stand-alone, self-contained situation and any comparisons among cases are conducted during in-class discussions and/or student presentations.

The Case Analysis . Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors. Grand Valley State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Ramsey, V. J. and L. D. Dodge. "Case Analysis: A Structured Approach." Exchange: The Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal 6 (November 1981): 27-29; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017; Crowe, Sarah et al. “The Case Study Approach.” BMC Medical Research Methodology 11 (2011):  doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-11-100; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing; 1994.

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Socio-economic assessment and improving EIA

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15th May 2014

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Isabel Simpson

Neil Waterson from Bidwells discusses the important role of assessing socioeconomic impacts in improving environmental impact assessment (EIA) practice

The assessment of socio-economic impacts is an increasingly important aspect of EIA in the UK. The publication of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by the government in March 2012 has brought further emphasis to the importance of social and economic impacts arising from development with its emphasis on achieving “sustainable development”.

The NPPF defines sustainable development as having not just an environmental role, but an economic and a social role. The clear inference of government guidance in the NPPF is that a holistic approach to the assessment of the merits of a development proposal should be taken and that a balance needs to be drawn between economic, social and environmental factors in decision making.

While EIA has historically tended to focus on the protection of the environment, account must now also be taken of the degree to which development helps to build a strong, competitive economy and supporting “strong and vibrant” communities . EIA should therefore include consideration of a project’s impact on humans, as well as the bio-physical environment and any interactions between the two.

In many instances, a robust assessment of socio-economic impacts of the proposal can help to ensure that the impact of a development on communities and the economy are fully understood, and that any adverse impacts can be reduced while positive impacts can be emphasised.

However, the approach taken to socio-economic assessments in EIA varies considerably and this area has historically been regarded as the “poor relation” in EIA. This was highlighted by academic studies by John Glasson and Donna Heaney in 1993 (“Socio-economic impacts: the poor relations in British environmental impact statements”) and Andrew Chadwick in 2002 (“Socio-economic impacts: are they still the poor relations in UK environmental statements?"). Research has highlighted that many EIAs do not include any assessment of socio-economic impacts and that, where they do, the approach taken and the range of issues considered vary significantly.

In many respects, this can be attributed to the limited references in the EIA Regulations and the lack of good practice guidance on socio-economic assessment. Yet, Schedule 4, Part 1 of the EIA Regulations 2011 clearly states that EIAs and the accompanying environmental statement should include impacts on population in the description of environmental aspects likely to be significantly affected by the development.

Moreover, guidance published by the government in 1995 on the preparation of environmental statements advises that possible impacts on humans that should be considered include those relating to “changes in population, such as changes in the demand for housing and services including schools, hospitals and recreation facilities.”

While the limited guidance within the 1995 Guidance is of some help, it fails to reflect the range of different socio-economic issues relevant to all types of projects. These can vary widely depending upon the nature of development and the communities in which they are situated. A more comprehensive and useful set of potential impacts is provided by Glasson in 2009 (“Socio-economic impacts 1: overview and economic impacts”), when he identified a range of potential impacts, including:

• direct economic impacts;
• indirect/wider economic/expenditure impacts;
• demographic impacts;
• impacts on housing;
• impacts on other local services;
• socio-cultural impacts; and
• distributional effects.

Research by Glasson and Chadwick and more recently Laura Fisher in 2011 (“The treatment of socio-economic impacts in environmental impact statements”) has highlighted that the assessment of socio-economic impacts, where it is undertaken, tends to focus on the direct economic impacts of development, but that impacts on population, socio-cultural aspects and local services are less commonly considered. This is because such issues can be harder to define and measure and often rely on qualitative judgements. Yet with many developments, particularly those of an urban nature, these impacts are often of most concern to communities and can be critical to determining the suitability of a proposal.

Without a full assessment of these issues, it is difficult for the decision maker to understand the extent to which proposals contribute to sustainable development, having regard to the economic and social roles identified within the NPPF, as well as the environmental role. It is therefore important that practitioners carefully consider the socio-economic impacts of the proposals to ensure they respond effectively to this and the requirements of the EIA Regulations themselves.

It is also important that the government, and organisations such as IEMA , help to lead the development of best practice in socio-economic assessment by more clearly defining what it is, what it should cover and the most appropriate means by which different types of impacts should be assessed. This will ultimately ensure that EIA is more effective in contributing towards achieving sustainable development that meets the needs of the present, without comprising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs.

Neil Waterson, AIEMA, is a senior planning associate at Bidwells

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Toward a framework for selecting indicators of measuring sustainability and circular economy in the agri-food sector: a systematic literature review

• LIFE CYCLE SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT
• Published: 02 March 2022

Cite this article

• Cecilia Silvestri   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2528-601X 1 ,
• Luca Silvestri   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6754-899X 2 ,
• Michela Piccarozzi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9717-9462 1 &
• Alessandro Ruggieri 1  

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A Correction to this article was published on 24 March 2022

This article has been updated

The implementation of sustainability and circular economy (CE) models in agri-food production can promote resource efficiency, reduce environmental burdens, and ensure improved and socially responsible systems. In this context, indicators for the measurement of sustainability play a crucial role. Indicators can measure CE strategies aimed to preserve functions, products, components, materials, or embodied energy. Although there is broad literature describing sustainability and CE indicators, no study offers such a comprehensive framework of indicators for measuring sustainability and CE in the agri-food sector.

Starting from this central research gap, a systematic literature review has been developed to measure the sustainability in the agri-food sector and, based on these findings, to understand how indicators are used and for which specific purposes.

The analysis of the results allowed us to classify the sample of articles in three main clusters (“Assessment-LCA,” “Best practice,” and “Decision-making”) and has shown increasing attention to the three pillars of sustainability (triple bottom line). In this context, an integrated approach of indicators (environmental, social, and economic) offers the best solution to ensure an easier transition to sustainability.

Conclusions

The sample analysis facilitated the identification of new categories of impact that deserve attention, such as the cooperation among stakeholders in the supply chain and eco-innovation.

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Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the temporal distribution of the articles under analysis

Source: Authors’ elaborations. Notes: The graph shows the time distribution of articles from the three major journals

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the composition of the sample according to the three clusters identified by the analysis

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the distribution of articles over time by cluster

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the network visualization

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the overlay visualization

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the classification of articles by scientific field

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: Article classification based on their cluster to which they belong and scientific field

Source: Authors’ elaboration

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the distribution of items over time based on TBL

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the Pareto diagram highlighting the most used indicators in literature for measuring sustainability in the agri-food sector

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the distribution over time of articles divided into conceptual and empirical

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the classification of articles, divided into conceptual and empirical, in-depth analysis

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the geographical distribution of the authors

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the distribution of authors according to the continent from which they originate

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: The graph shows the time distribution of publication of authors according to the continent from which they originate

Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: Sustainability measurement indicators and impact categories of LCA, S-LCA, and LCC tools should be integrated in order to provide stakeholders with best practices as guidelines and tools to support both decision-making and measurement, according to the circular economy approach

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Change history

24 march 2022.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02038-9

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Silvestri, C., Silvestri, L., Piccarozzi, M. et al. Toward a framework for selecting indicators of measuring sustainability and circular economy in the agri-food sector: a systematic literature review. Int J Life Cycle Assess (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02032-1

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Effective Use of Student-Created Case Studies as Assessment in an Undergraduate Neuroscience Course

Dianna m. bindelli.

1 Neuroscience Department, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI 53140

Shannon A.M. Kafura

Alyssa laci, nicole a. losurdo, denise r. cook-snyder.

2 Department of Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee WI 53226

Case studies and student-led learning activities are both effective active learning methods for increasing student engagement, promoting student learning, and improving student performance. Here, we describe combining these instructional methods to use student-created case studies as assessment for an online neurovirology module in a neuroanatomy and physiology course. First, students learned about neurovirology in a flipped classroom format using free, open-access virology resources. Then, students used iterative writing practices to write an interrupted case study incorporating a patient narrative and primary literature data on the neurovirulent virus of their choice, which was graded as a writing assessment. Finally, students exchanged case studies with their peers, and both taught and completed the case studies as low-stakes assessment. Student performance and evaluations support the efficacy of case studies as assessment, where iterative writing improved student performance, and students reported increased knowledge and confidence in the corresponding learning objectives. Overall, we believe that using student-created case studies as assessment is a valuable, student-led extension of effective case study pedagogy, and has wide applicability to a variety of undergraduate courses.

It is well established that active learning increases student engagement, promotes student learning, and improves student performance compared to traditional lecture ( Armbruster et al., 2009 ; Haak et al., 2011 ; Freeman et al., 2014 ). Moreover, active learning is a critical component of inclusive pedagogy that is effective for all students, and decreases the achievement gap for persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs; Haak et al., 2011 ; Ballen et al., 2017 ; Penner, 2018 ; Theobald et al., 2020 ; Asai, 2020 ). Frequent student-led learning activities are an important component of an active learning classroom, where students engage with course content and work collaboratively with their peers to increase their own and each other’s learning. Student-led learning techniques range from short, cooperative activities like think-pair-share and the jigsaw method ( Faust and Paulson, 1998 ; Lom, 2012 ; Lang, 2016 ), to full collaborative learning courses where students prepare and lead most classes ( Casteel and Bridges, 2007 ; Davidson and Major, 2014 ; Kurczek and Johnson, 2014 ). Case studies are also an effective active learning method that uses narratives to engage students in higher-level learning objectives within Bloom’s Taxonomy ( Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001 ; Handelsman et al., 2004 ; Herreid et al., 2012 ; Wiertelak et al., 2016 ). As one example, case studies have been incorporated into introductory and upper-level neuroscience courses to promote student analysis and evaluation of primary literature ( Cook-Snyder, 2017 ; Sawyer and Frenzel, 2018 ; Rollins, 2020 ). Typically, student-led learning activities and case studies are both used as in-class practice before a separate, larger assessment, like an exam testing similar content ( Freeman et al., 2014 ; Cook-Snyder, 2017 ; Sawyer and Frenzel, 2018 ). Here, we describe using the case study itself as the assessment, where students work collaboratively to write a case study that demonstrates and applies their neurovirology knowledge and requires analysis and evaluation of the primary literature. In turn, students lead their peers in discussion of their case to promote their own and each other’s learning.

As described here, we used student-created case studies as assessment in a four-week, online neurovirology module in an upper-level neuroanatomy and physiology course. Neurovirology is the interdisciplinary study of viruses that affect the central nervous system ( Nath and Berger, 2020 ) and students voted to learn more about neurovirology during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in the spring 2020 semester. Accordingly, student-created case studies focused on neurovirulent viruses, or viruses that can cause disease of nervous tissue ( Racaniello, 2020a ). Students used iterative writing practices to write their case studies, which were graded as writing assignments. Then, students exchanged case studies with their peers, and both taught and completed the cases in small groups as low-stakes assessment. Student performance data and self-reported evaluations support the success of the neurovirology module and case study assignment in meeting the content and skills learning objectives listed below. Case studies are highly effective tools in undergraduate education ( Handelsman et al., 2004 ; Herreid et al., 2012 ; Wiertelak et al., 2016 ), and we believe that using student-created case studies as assessment is a valuable extension of established case study pedagogy.

Learning Objectives

Content objectives.

After this module, students should be able to:

• ○ Viral properties and classification
• ○ Viral pathogenesis, including infection and immune response
• ○ CNS barriers, including the blood-brain barrier
• ○ Mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuronal death

Skills Objectives

Additionally, students will increase their skills in:

• Applying virology and neuroscience principles to neurovirulent viruses and neurologic disorders
• Using resources from the neurovirology module to learn more about virology
• Analyzing and evaluating primary literature
• Collaborating to write original case studies
• Leading peers in analysis and evaluation of case studies

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Neurovirology module.

The neurovirology module was developed for a one-semester, neuroanatomy and physiology lecture and laboratory course for junior and senior neuroscience majors at a small liberal arts college (Neuroscience 4100, Carthage College). Enrollment for the course is typically 25–30 students, with greater than 60% of students reporting clinically focused health care career goals. The most common career goals are physician (M.D. or D.O.), physician assistant, physical or occupational therapist, and clinical psychologist, consistent with the hypothesis that students believe a neuroscience major will better prepare them for health care careers ( Prichard, 2015 ; Ramos et al., 2016a , 2016b ).

The neurovirology module was developed as a substitution for in-person labs when remote instruction was implemented in the spring 2020 semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Student survey data was collected using Google Forms at the beginning of remote instruction, and 96% of students voted in favor of using lab time to learn more about virology and infectious disease, with an emphasis on neurovirology ( n = 26 enrolled students; 24/26 students for, 0/26 students against, 2/26 students abstained). Accordingly, the neurovirology module was administered over Zoom ( https://zoom.us/ ) during weekly 3-hour lab periods for a total of four weeks (Week 1 to Week 4; 12 hours total; see Supplementary Material Appendix A , Appendix B ). Students received instruction in using Zoom prior to the neurovirology module, including joining a Zoom class, providing verbal and non-verbal feedback to the instructor, and joining breakout rooms to work with peers.

The neurovirology module followed a flipped classroom format, in which students gained familiarity with neurovirology content before class, and used class time for active learning strategies ( Mazur, 2009 ; Brame, 2013 ). Appendix A provides details on before class readings, videos, and assignments, and in-class activites for the neurovirology module. Briefly, in Week 1, students learned basic principles of virology using recorded lectures and readings from a free, online, open-access virology course ( https://www.virology.ws/course/ ) and blog ( https://www.virology.ws/virology-101/ ) courtesy of Vincent Racaniello at Columbia University ( Racaniello, 2004 ; Racaniello, 2009a , 2009b , 2009c , 2009d , 2009e , 2009f , 2009g ; Racaniello, 2020a , 2020b , 2020c ). These materials were supplemented with textbook readings on the immune system ( Widmaier et al., 2014 ). Week 1 materials were chosen to provide students with enough background on viral properties, classification, and pathogenesis that they could apply their knowledge to neurovirulent viruses and neurologic disorders in Week 2. Accordingly, in Week 2, students read about central nervous system barriers in the course textbook ( Kandel et al., 2013 ), and watched a brief, recorded lecture summarizing major mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuronal death ( Appendix A ; Fink and Cookson, 2005 ; Jellinger, 2010 ; Fan et al., 2017 ; full lecture available from the corresponding author by request). After completing these additional background readings, students read a neurovirology review article describing mechanisms of invasion and disease for specific neurovirulent viruses ( Swanson and McGavern, 2015 ).

Before class assignments for Week 1 and Week 2 included short, online comprehension quizzes, and collaborative “neurovirology dictionary” assignments, where students were responsible for adding new terms and definitions to create a shared “neurovirology dictionary” from the before class readings and videos ( Appendix A ). Both of these graded assignments incentivized student preparation before class and provided checks of student understanding, which are key elements of a flipped classroom ( Brame, 2013 ).

Week 1 and Week 2 class time used cooperative, student-led learning, where students worked together to complete questions based on the before class content ( Davidson and Major, 2014 ). Specifically, students were randomly assigned to groups of 3–4 using the breakout room function in Zoom. Each group was assigned a different set of instructor-created questions to discuss and complete in a shared Google Slides document, and the instructor circulated between groups to check understanding. Then, each group presented their answers to the full class. This format provided structure for students to create their own study guide summarizing neurovirology content, and provided additional practice in cooperative, student-led learning ( Davidson and Major, 2014 ).

Case Study Assignment

Weeks 3–4 of the neurovirology module were used for the case study assignment. Broadly defined, case studies use narratives to engage students and meet learning objectives ( Herreid, 2007 ). The case study assignment was worth 6% of the final course grade, and Appendix B provides details on assignment requirements and a grading rubric. Briefly, students worked in self-selected groups of 2–3 to write their case study on any neurovirulent virus of their choosing. Case studies were required to follow an interrupted, literature-based format ( Herreid et al., 2012 ; Prud’homme-Généreux, 2016 ; Cook-Snyder, 2017 ), where the first part of the case study used a patient narrative or primary literature data and asked questions on the epidemiology and/or symptoms and diagnosis of the virus. The second part of the case study was required to use primary literature data and ask questions on the pathogenesis and/or treatment of the virus. Students included answers to their own questions, and the answers were required to be clearly supported by the course materials and by their case study. Supplementary Material Appendices C and D provide example student-created case studies on rabies virus and enterovirus 71, respectively.

Students followed an iterative writing practice to create their case studies, which sought to couple goal-directed practice with targeted feedback ( Ambrose et al., 2010 ). Specifically, students submitted the first draft of their co-authored case study in Week 3, which was graded by the instructor using a holistic rubric that included a grading scale, comments, and specific examples from the students’ draft ( Appendix B ; Allen and Tanner, 2006 ). The first draft was worth 10% of the students’ final grade on the assignment, which incentivized student performance on the draft while still serving as a low-stakes assesment and providing formative feedback ( Birol et al., 2013 ; Brownell et al., 2013 ; Cotner and Ballen, 2017 ; Cyr, 2017 ). Then, students revised and submitted the final draft of their case study in Week 4, which was graded by the instructor using the same rubric as the first draft to provide summative feedback, and was worth 90% of the students’ final grade. Students were asked to write new or edited text on the final draft in a different color, so the instructor could more easily identify the students’ improvements from the first draft and incorporation of first draft feedback.

Students also shared their case study final draft with one other student group, and the case study authors led their peers through their case studies following a previously described classroom management strategy ( Cook-Snyder, 2017 ). This classroom management strategy is consistent with effective student-led discussion practices, including students working in teams to create and disseminate discussion questions before leading class discussion ( Casteel and Bridges, 2007 ; Kurczek and Johnson, 2014 ). Briefly, in Week 4, peers completed the student authors’ case study questions as homework before class, and class time was used to discuss their answers. Discussion was facilitated by the student authors, and emphasized that there can be multiple "correct" answers where the best answers are accurate and well-supported. Well-supported answers cited the case study itself, the neurovirology module, previous course content, and/or the primary literature as needed. This approach encourages students to apply course knowledge and conduct targeted literature searches to increase their knowledge. Peers edited their answers based on the discussion, and these edits were factored into a pass/fail grade from the instructor. Each case study was allotted 30 minutes for discussion; at the end of 30 minutes, the peers and students authors switched roles and discussed the peers’ case study. Appendix B provides a table illustrating this format for a three-hour class period. Overall, each student received three grades on the case study assignment: a grade on the first draft and a grade on the final draft of the case study they wrote, and a pass/fail grade on the case study they completed ( Appendix B ). Additionally, each student had the opportunity to teach their case study to their peers as a student-led learning activity. By implementing the case study assignment workflow outlined here, students both created original work and led their peers in analysis and evaluation of their work, consistent with higher-level learning objectives from Bloom’s Taxonomy ( Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001 ).

Assessment of Learning Objectives

Learning objectives for the neurovirology module and case study assignment were assessed directly and indirectly using student performance data and self-reported evaluations, respectively ( Muir, 2015 ). Data and evaluations were collected in accordance with federal guidelines for research in education settings, and with approval from the Institutional Review Board at Carthage College. All statistical analyses were performed in GraphPad Prism 8 for macOS (San Diego, CA) with a significance level of p <0.05.

Analyzed student performance data included student grades on the first draft and final draft of the case study assignment ( Figure 1 ). Comparison of first draft and final draft case study grades was analyzed using a parametric paired t -test.

Student performance improved with iterative writing practice and low-stakes assessment. Student group grades for the first draft and final draft of the case study are shown as a percentage of the total possible points for the draft (grey circles). Lines connect the first draft and final draft grades from the same student group ( n = 12 student groups; paired t -test, **** p <0.001).

De-identified student self-reported evaluations were collected using Google Forms after Week 4 of the neurovirology module and case study assignment. Quantitative evaluations used a Likert scale with the following responses: 5-Strongly Agree; 4- Agree; 3- Neutral; 2- Disagree; 1- Strongly Disagree ( Figures 2 ​ 2 – 4 ). All questions included a “prefer not to respond” option for student response, although no students chose this option for the questions reported here. Student responses were analyzed using a nonparametric one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test, with a hypothetical median of 3- Neutral. If the responses were significantly different from 3- Neutral, we concluded that the students agreed/strongly agreed (4–5) or disagreed/strongly disagreed (1–2) with the question. This analysis method is consistent with previous research analyzing student-led learning activities ( Stavnezer and Lom, 2019 ).

Students self-reported familiarity with neurovirology ( A ), increased knowledge in content learning objectives ( B ), and activities contributing to knowledge ( C ). Evaluations used a Likert scale: 5-Strongly Agree; 4- Agree; 3- Neutral; 2- Disagree; 1- Strongly Disagree. Scatter plots show individual student responses (grey circles) and the median response (black bar) for each question ( n = 23–24 students; one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test to a hypothesized median of 3- Neutral (dotted line); ** p <0.01, **** p <0.0001).

Students self-reported increased confidence in skills learning objectives. Evaluations used a Likert scale: 5-Strongly Agree; 4- Agree; 3- Neutral; 2- Disagree; 1- Strongly Disagree. Scatter plots show individual student responses (grey circles) and the median response (black bar) for each question ( n = 23–24 students; one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test to a hypothesized median of 3- Neutral (dotted line); **** p <0.0001).

Students self-reported satisfaction with the neurovirology module and case study assignment. Evaluations used a Likert scale: 5-Strongly Agree; 4- Agree; 3- Neutral; 2- Disagree; 1- Strongly Disagree. Scatter plots show individual student responses (grey circles) and the median response (black bar) for each question ( n = 24 students; one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test to a hypothesized median of 3- Neutral (dotted line); *** p <0.001, **** p <0.0001).

De-identified qualitative evaluations included three open-ended questions: (1) What will you take away from the neurovirology module?; (2) What aspects of the neurovirology module were most valuable?; (3) What suggestions do you have for how Dr. Cook-Snyder (i.e., instructor and corresponding author) can improve the neurovirology module? The corresponding author categorized student responses to align with the content and skills learning objectives, or with the neurovirology module materials ( Appendix A ) and case study assignment ( Appendix B ; Figure 5 ). Some student responses contained module/case study assignment category. Additionally, some student responses (31.03% of responses) did not contain a suggestion for improvement, and were omitted from analysis. Accordingly, qualitative evaluation sample sizes vary from course enrollment because one response can contain zero or multiple categories, consistent with analysis methods from previous studies ( Stavnezer and Lom, 2019 ).

Students self-reported content and skills learning objective takeaways, and provided strengths and areas for improvement for the neurovirology module and case study assignment. Qualitative evaluations used open-ended questions to assess takeaways ( A ), strengths ( B ), and areas for improvement ( C ). ( A ) Students responses on takeaways were aligned with content learning objectives (above dotted line) or skills learning objectives (below dotted line), and the percentage of total responses for each learning objective is shown ( n = 38 responses). ( B, C ) Student responses on strengths ( B ) and areas for improvement ( C ) were aligned with neurovirology module materials (above dotted line) or the case study assignment (below dotted line), and the percentage of total responses for each category is shown ( B : n = 39 responses; C : n = 20 responses)

Student Performance

Student learning in the neurovirology module ( Supplementary Material Appendix A ) was primarily assessed with the case study assignment ( Supplementary Material Appendix B ). As examples, two student-created case studies on neurovirulent viruses are included in Supplementary Material Appendices C and D . Student authors (DMB, SAMK, AL, NAL) had substantial familiarity with interrupted, literature-based case studies before writing their own case study in this format. Indeed, almost all students who wrote case studies (25 out of 26 students) had previously completed 13 interrupted, literature-based case studies over two semesters in the corresponding author’s courses ( Cook-Snyder, 2017 ). In Appendix C , the student-created case study on rabies virus applies content from the neurovirology module with detailed analysis of primary literature data on rabies virus, blood-brain barrier permeability, and vaccine efficacy ( Long et al., 2020 ). In Appendix D , the student-created case study on enterovirus 71 also applies neurovirology content to investigate vaccine efficacy ( Li et al., 2008 ; Zhang et al., 2012 ). Additionally, this case study reviews cerebellar and pontine structure and function, which were previously discussed in the course, in relation to viral pathogenesis ( Huang et al., 1999 ; Shen et al., 1999 ; Jain et al., 2014 ). In both case studies, student authors successfully met the skills learning objectives of the neurovirology module and case study assignment by applying their knowledge of neurovirology and analyzing and evaluating primary literature.

The case study assignment used an iterative writing process and low-stakes assessment, where the first draft of the case study was worth 10% of the students’ final grade on the assignment, and the final draft was worth 90%. Iterative writing practices and low-stakes assessment have been shown to improve student performance and confidence within a course ( Freestone, 2009 ; Brownell et al., 2013 ; Cyr, 2017 ). Therefore, we compared student grades on the first draft and final draft of the case study, and consistent with previous literature, our results show that every student group increased their grade from the first draft to the final draft ( Figure 1 ). These results further support that iterative writing practices and low-stakes assessment can improve student performance.

Student Evaluations

For quantitative evaluations, students used a Likert scale to self-report their knowledge of content learning objectives and confidence in skills learning objectives after completion of the neurovirology module and case study assignment. Our results show that the majority of students had not studied neurovirology in a previous college course, and that they reported increased knowledge of content learning objectives after completing the neurovirology module and case study assignment ( Figure 2A, 2B ). Moreover, students reported that writing, teaching, and completing a neurovirology case study all increased their neurovirology knowledge, with writing (median = 5- Strongly Agree) ranking higher than teaching or completing (median = 4- Agree; Figure 2C ). Additionally, students reported increased confidence in skills learning objectives ( Figure 3 ), and agreed that if they took the course again, they would want the neurovirology module included, and to write more case studies ( Figure 4 ). Taken together, these data suggest that the neurovirology module and case study assignment were largely successful in meeting content and skills learning objectives and student satisfaction.

For qualitative evaluations, students answered open-ended questions on takeaways, strengths, and areas for improvement after completion of the neurovirology module and case study assignment. When asked what they will take away from the neurovirology module, student responses spanned the module’s learning objectives but reported more content than skills takeaways ( Figure 5A ; 55.3% of responses for content learning objectives; 44.7% of response for skills learning objectives). Additionally, students emphasized the importance of the module as a foundation for further exploration, as exemplified by the following responses:

“I will take away how much I loved learning about neurovirology. I was always interested in infectious diseases and loved neuroscience so tying them together has been fantastic… I am definitely more confident in reading primary literature on the topic due to this section and that will hopefully carry me through any future education.” “I thought the material was interesting and relevant and I appreciated that I could take the information and neurovirology definitions we were learning about and begin to apply them to literature being published now about COVID-19….”

When asked about the most valuable aspects of the neurovirology module, students identified before class readings and videos, and in-class active learning strategies in Weeks 1–2 of the module ( Appendix A ), and writing and teaching their case studies in Weeks 3–4 of the case study assignment ( Appendix B ; Figure 5B ; 56.4% of responses for the neurovirology module, 43.6% of responses for the case study assignment). Writing the case study was the most commonly identified valuable aspect of the class (33% of responses; Figure 5B ), as exemplified by the following responses:

“I found the case study we created to be most helpful. It pushed me to go through the neurovirology material learned in the lectures, readings, and videos and truly understand the topic I had to eventually write and teach about. I felt that it allowed for more active learning in which I had to think about the topic from multiple angles-researching a virus, creating the prompt, writing questions and answers...” “I really enjoyed having the challenge of writing our case study. It made me think more like a scientist and a physician regarding viruses and how they can affect the nervous system. It is very interesting to apply the theory to what we could see in real life on a patient undergoing a viral infection.” “I think the aspect that was most valuable was the creation of the case study. I thought it was beyond inspiring to have crafted our very own case study that seemed so professional and to teach it to our peers was very meaningful.”

When asked for suggestions for improving the neurovirology module, student feedback spanned the module and the case study assignment ( Figure 5C ; 55% of responses for the neurovirology module, 45% of responses for the case study assignment). The most common areas for improvement were adding more content, especially clinical symptoms and diagnosis (30% of responses) and completing more case studies (30% of responses). Interestingly, adding more content was also the most common area for improvement for students that reported neutral or disagree with knowledge of content learning objectives ( Figure 2B ) or confidence in skills learning objectives ( Figure 3 ; 57% of responses from these students). As two students wrote:

“Discussing more symptoms and how you would classify a disease based on the symptoms presented [is an area of improvement]…learning how to diagnose/differentiate these types of diseases would be helpful.” “…I think it would be interesting if we all got to do or at least listen in on everyone's case study. This would allow us to learn about different neuroviruses.”

Interestingly, some students also identified providing more instruction on teaching the case study as an area for improvement ( Figure 5C ; 15% of responses). As one student wrote:

“While I did think that creating our own case study was very valuable, I did think that some of the expectations on how it was going to be presented were unclear. I wish there was a little more format to that portion of the project. Other than that I really did enjoy this module and I hope that you can find a way to integrate it into the class material in the future.”

Taken together, qualitative student evaluations suggest that student takeaways aligned with content and skills learning objectives, and that students valued the structure of the neurovirology module and case study assignment, although important improvements to content and instruction are needed.

In this article, we describe using student-created case studies as assessment for a neurovirology module. Our results suggest that the neurovirology module and the case study assignment met their intended content and skills learning objectives by improving student performance and increasing students’ self-reported knowledge and confidence. We believe our approach is a valuable extension of case study pedagogy with broad applicability to a variety of undergraduate courses.

As described in this article, students followed iterative writing practices to create their case studies, which have been shown to improve student performance and confidence within a course ( Freestone, 2009 ; Brownell et al., 2013 ; Cyr, 2017 ). Our data was consistent with the previous literature, showing improved student grades from the first draft to the final draft of the case study assignment ( Figure 1 ). Previous studies also suggest that iterative writing practice coupled with calibrated peer review may be particularly effective in improving performance for the lowest-performing students ( Birol et al., 2013 ). Future version of the case study assignment could repeat the iterative writing practices described here and included calibrated peer review for the first draft, then measure improvement from the first draft to the final draft for high- and low-performing students. Moreover, additional studies suggest that iterative writing practices may not improve student writing performance across all domains or in subsequent courses ( Rayner et al., 2014 ; Holstein et al., 2015 ). Further analysis would be necessary to determine if students show longitudinal improvements in writing performance across multiple writing assignments and courses after completion of the case study assignment described here.

Quantitative and qualitative student self-report evaluations support that the neurovirology module and case study assignment promoted content and skills learning objectives in understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating ( Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001 ), and that students valued the structure of the neurovirology module and case study assignment ( Figures 2 ​ 2 ​ – 5 ). Importantly, student self-report evaluations of active learning may underestimate the amount of actual student learning ( Deslauriers et al., 2019 ), so the high student evaluations of learning objectives are notable. However, students also offered important areas for improvement, including adding more content on clinical symptoms and diagnosis on neurovirulent disorders ( Figure 5C ). To address this, future iterations of the neurovirology module should include clinical textbook readings and primary literature ( Bookstaver et al., 2017 ; Nath and Berger, 2020 ) coupled with public health resources on symptoms and diagnosis ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020 ; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, 2020 ; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2020 ). Encouraging students to read scientific articles written for the general public prior to or concurrent with reading primary literature on the same topic improves student understand of complex or unfamiliar literature ( Gottesman and Hoskins, 2013 ; Bodnar et al., 2016 ; Kararo and McCartney, 2019 ). Additionally, students suggested providing more instruction on teaching case studies and completing more case studies ( Figure 5C ). This area for improvement is consistent with quantitative evaluations, where students reported that writing, teaching, and completing a neurovirology case study all increased their neurovirology knowledge, but writing ranked higher than teaching or completing ( Figure 2C ). To address this, future iterations of the case study assignment will include teaching guidelines in the assignment requirements ( Appendix B ) based on nine facilitator strategies for student-led discussion ( Rees, 1998 ; Soranno, 2010 ). Students will be asked to reflect on these strategies and write a short paragraph at the end of their first draft on how they will work as a team to teach their case study using these strategies. Additionally, students will share their case study final draft with at least two other student groups to increase the number of case studies each student completes. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations should be repeated to determine if these interventions address students’ areas for improvement.

Students had considerable familiarity with interrupted, literature-based case studies before writing their own cases. Indeed, almost all students who wrote case studies (25 out of 26 students) had previously completed 13 interrupted, literature-based case studies over two semesters in the corresponding author’s courses ( Cook-Snyder, 2017 ). This is consistent with active learning pedagogy, which emphasizes students practicing the skills necessary to succeed in assessment before they are assessed ( Armbruster et al., 2009 ; Haak et al., 2011 ; Freeman et al., 2014 ). However, previous research suggests that more limited practice with case studies prior to writing a case study may still be effective. For example, research on collaborative learning courses describe instructor modeling of good discussion practices “several” times before students prepared and led classroom discussions ( Casteel and Bridges, 2007 ; Kurczek and Johnson, 2014 ). Therefore, we suggest that students complete several (two to four) instructor-provided and -taught case studies following the structure and classroom management of the case study assignment before writing and leading their own case.

Active learning is a critical component of inclusive pedagogy that is effective for all students, and decreases the achievement gap for PEERs ( Haak et al., 2011 ; Ballen et al., 2017 ; Penner, 2018 ; Theobald et al., 2020 ; Asai, 2020 ). Studies suggest that active learning may be particularly effective for PEERs because active learning helps students identify as scientists, and science identity is critical for persistence in STEM ( Graham et al., 2013 ; Trujillo and Tanner, 2014 ; Theobald et al., 2020 ). Case studies are important components of active learning ( Handelsman et al., 2004 ; Herreid et al., 2012 ; Wiertelak et al., 2016 ), and some qualitative student evaluations suggest that the case study assignment promoted scientific identity, where students described thinking “more like a scientist and a physician,” and that writing a case study “seemed so professional.” However, direct questions on students’ science identities are needed for future iterations of the case study assignment to determine if the assignment promoted science identity ( Trujillo and Tanner, 2014 ). Likewise, further studies are needed to determine if the case study assignment promoted persistence in STEM. In this article, the case study assignment was used in a spring semester course for junior and senior neuroscience majors at Carthage College, where nearly 100% of junior and senior neuroscience majors graduate from Carthage with a neuroscience degree (data not shown). This is consistent with previous research, which estimates that STEM attrition rates peak in students’ first and second academic year, and plateau in third and fourth year ( Aulck et al., 2017 ; Chen et al., 2018 ). However, if the case study assignment was used in first or second year neuroscience courses, when STEM attrition rates are higher, measuring subsequent retention of students in a STEM major could be particularly valuable metric.

We believe that using student-created case studies as assessment has wide applicability to undergraduate education because case studies themselves have wide applicability. Case studies have been used effectively in introductory and advanced neuroscience courses with small and large student enrollments to address a variety of content and skills learning objectives ( Herreid et al., 2012 ; Brielmaier, 2016 ; Ogilvie and Ribbens, 2016 ; Roesch and Frenzel, 2016 ; Wiertelak et al., 2016 ; Lemons, 2017 ; Nagel and Nicholas, 2017 ; Sawyer and Frenzel, 2018 ; Mitrano, 2019 ; Ogilvie, 2019 ; Watson, 2019 ; Rollins, 2020 ). Case studies are also effective active learning methods for synchronous and asynchronous online and hybrid teaching ( Brooke, 2006 ; Schiano and Anderson, 2014 ). Accordingly, we believe that the case study assignment described here could be adapted to follow any of these existing methods of case study writing and teaching. Additionally, we encourage instructors to adapt our neurovirology module to their students’ needs and interests, taking advantage of the free virology resources available online ( https://www.virology.ws/course/ ; https://www.virology.ws/virology-101/ ). Moreover, we believe the module format and case study assignment described here could be duplicated for other important neuroscience topics that are highly relevant to students but not always discussed in the neuroscience curriculum, like social neuroscience or neuroethics ( Flint and Dorr, 2010 ; Abu-Odeh et al., 2015 ; Wiertelak et al., 2018 ). Overall, we believe that using student-created case studies as assessment is a valuable, student-led extension of effective case study pedagogy, and has wide applicability to a variety of undergraduate courses.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Neuroscience Case Network (NeuroCaseNet; NSF-RCN-UBE Grant #1624104). The authors thank the students in Neuroscience 4100 at Carthage College for their participation and feedback, and Dr. Kristen Frenzel for editing the manuscript.

APPENDIX 1. NEUROVIROLOGY MODULE MATERIALS

Before class readings and videos.

Instructions for students: Please read and watch the following in order. Note that most of these are short readings and videos, but Infection Basics is an hour-long lecture.

• What is a virus?: https://www.virology.ws/2004/07/28/what-is-a-virus/
• How viruses are classified: https://www.virology.ws/2009/08/07/how-viruses-are-classified/
• Simplifying virus classification: The Baltimore system: https://www.virology.ws/2009/08/12/simplifying-virus-classification-the-baltimore-system/
• Recorded lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBJ0vcOlS7I&feature=youtu.be
• Slides: https://virology2020.s3.amazonaws.com/012_4310_20.pdf
• Please watch the entire lecture
• pg. 652 – 656
• pg. 662- adaptive immune responses overview
• These pages define immune cell types and cytokines, and give overviews of the innate immune response and adaptive immune response
• The rest of the chapter is for your reference
• Innate immune defenses: https://www.virology.ws/2009/06/03/innate-immune-defenses/
• The inflammatory response: https://www.virology.ws/2009/07/01/the-inflammatory-response/
• Adaptive immune defenses: https://www.virology.ws/2009/07/03/adaptive-immune-defenses/
• Adaptive immune defenses: Antibodies: https://www.virology.ws/2009/07/22/adaptive-immune-defenses-antibodies/
• Immunopathology: Too much of a good thing: https://www.virology.ws/2009/01/23/immunopathology-too-much-of-a-good-thing/
• Recorded lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQkg0mID-w8&feature=youtu.be
• Slides: https://virology2020.s3.amazonaws.com/016_4310_20.pdf
• Please watch until 8:00 (slide 7) of this lecture. The rest of the lecture is posted for your reference.
• Recorded lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWRynTL8NI4&feature=youtu.be
• Slides: https://virology2020.s3.amazonaws.com/017_4310_20.pdf
• Please watch until 5:30 (slide 6) of this video. The rest of the lecture is posted for your reference

Before Class Assignments

Instructions for students.

• Quiz ( Instructor note: Figure A1 provides sample quiz questions ).
• Neurovirology dictionary ( Instructor note: Figure A2 provides example neurovirology dictionary entries ). Neurovirology has so many terms that we’re going to create our own neurovirology dictionary. You are responsible for adding two new definitions to the dictionary this week. Your two definitions should be unique- they should not have already been defined by your classmates. I’ve included a few definitions to get us started. Your neurovirology dictionary definitions are worth 5 points, and you will receive full credit for being thoughtful, thorough, and on time.

In Class: Zoom lecture

• Study questions will be distributed at the beginning of class. You'll have the first part of class to work on the study questions in groups, and we'll discuss the answers to the study questions during the second part of class.
• At the end the end of class, please submit your study questions to the assignment posted below ( Instructor note: this course uses Schoology as learning management software ). Your study questions are worth 5 points, and you will receive full credit for being thoughtful, thorough, and on time.

Please read and watch the following in order.

• Kandel, Appendix D , The Blood-Brain Barrier, Choroid Plexus, and Cerebrospinal Fluid: pgs. 1565–1575.
• Mechanism of neurotoxicity and neuronal death ( Instructor note: this is a brief, recorded lecture focusing on key definitions, including apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis, inflammation, excitotoxicity, trophic factor withdrawal, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, protein misfolding and aggregation, and axonal transport dysfunction ).
• Swanson and McGavern, 2015 - Viral Diseases of the Central Nervous System ( Instructor note: key concepts from this review include viral spread, CNS entry, viral cytopathology, and immunopathology).
• Quiz ( Instructor note: Figure A3 provides sample quiz questions ).
• At the end of class, please submit your study questions to the assignment posted below ( Instructor note: this course uses Schoology as learning management software ). Your study questions are worth 5 points, and you will receive full credit for being thoughtful, thorough, and on time.

Sample quiz questions for Week 1 neurovirology module.

Example student-created neurovirology dictionary entries for Week 1 and Week 2 neurovirology module. Student names have been redacted.

Sample quiz questions for Week 2 neurovirology module.

APPENDIX 2. CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS AND RUBRIC

What is a neurovirology case study.

We’ve used case studies to practice applying our knowledge from lecture to solve biomedically-relevant problems. By now, you all are experts in answering case studies questions- now it’s your turn to work in groups to write your own case study, similar to the case studies we’ve completed in class, and teach it to your peers.

What should you include in your neurovirology case study?

You should work with your lab group to write a neurovirology case study on any neurovirulent virus of your choosing. Your virus can also be neurotropic and/or neuroinvasive, but this is not required. ( Instructor note: neurovirulent viruses cause disease of nervous tissue. Neurotropic viruses infect neural cells; infection may occur by neural or hematogenous spread from a peripheral site. Neuroinvasive viruses enter the CNS after infection of a peripheral site ).

Your neurovirology case study should have two parts:

• Part #1 of your case study should investigate your neurovirulent virus using a patient narrative and/or primary literature data. You are encouraged to refer back to our previous case studies as examples.
• Based on your patient narrative and/or primary literature data, you should write a minimum of two questions, with answers, which address the epidemiology and/or symptoms and diagnosis of your virus.
• Part #2 of your case study should continue to investigate your neurovirulent virus using primary literature data. You are encouraged to refer back to our previous case studies as examples- nearly all of our case studies include questions based on primary literature data.
• Based on your primary literature data, you should write a minimum of three questions, with answers, which address the pathogenesis and/or treatment of your virus.
• Answers to your questions should be clearly supported by previous readings, videos, and lectures from class, and by the case study itself. You are encouraged to use any material from class as needed- you are not limited to just our neurovirology readings, videos and lectures.
• Remember, your peers are going to read your case study and answer your questions. So, your peers should be able to answer your questions based on material from class, plus any additional information you provide for them in the case study. Your peers should have to do minimal additional research to answer your questions correctly.

Your neurovirology case study should also have two versions:

• The answers to your questions
• In-text citations for all parts of your case study, especially your patient narrative/primary literature data and the answers to your questions.
• A list of references on the last page.
• You will write a 1st draft and a final draft of your Answer Key- see the Submission requirements and Grading and Feedback sections below for details
• This is the version you will share with your peers, so they can read your case study and answer your questions. This version should be identical to your Answer Key final draft, but not include the answers to your questions, in-text citations, or your list of references at the end.

How will you teach your neurovirology case study to your peers?

During Week 4, you will be leading your peers in a discussion of your case study, similar to our class discussions of case studies ( Instructor note: see Cook-Snyder, 2017 for a detailed classroom management strategy for case studies ).

• You will share your Neurovirology Case Study- Without Answer with your peers
• Your peers will read your case study, answer the questions, and submit their answers to Schoology before class.
• Then, in class, you will lead your peers in a discussion of your case study, and your peers will submit their original answers plus annotations to Schoology after class

Submission requirements

• ○ Your 1st draft is due Tuesday, May 5th, before your lab section starts (Instructor note: this is Week 3).
• ○ Your final draft is due Monday, May 11th, 10:30am (Instructor note: this is Week 4).
• ○ Even though you’re writing one case study per lab group, all group members should submit the case study to Schoology. This will ensure that all group members receive their case study grades.
• Your Neurovirology Case Study- Without Answers should be emailed to your peers by Monday, May 11th, 10:30am (Instructor note: this is Week 4).

Grading and Feedback

You will be graded according to the Neurovirology Case Study Grading Rubric posted below. Note that 10% of your case study grade will be earned on your 1st draft, and 90% will be earned on your final draft.

I will provide feedback electronically on all drafts (1st and final). My feedback will summarize the strengths, areas for improvement, and specific actions you can take to improve. IMPORTANT: I will provide a maximum of two comments per rubric section. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any additional areas for improvement, or that if you only address these comments that you will get a 100%. But, I believe targeting your attention and effort to these top areas will make the most improvement.

Neurovirology Case Study Grading Rubric

APPENDIX 3. STUDENT-CREATED CASE STUDY- RABIES VIRUS

Instructor note: This case was written by Alyssa Laci and Nicole A. Losurdo, undergraduate students in Neuroscience 4100, Spring 2020 semester, Carthage College. In-text citations and references are in blue font. The answer key version of this case is available via request to [email protected] . The corresponding author (DRCS) has edited the case for formatting and clarity and has indicated whether each answer is supported by the case study in the neurovirology module, previous course content, and/or the primary literature in blue font.

Brian was engaging in yard work when he heard his wife yell to him.

“Brian! There is a stray dog in the yard that is acting rather strange. He is staggering and having a hard time standing upright. I think I also saw a foamy discharge coming from his eyes and mouth. I noticed him while I was in the garden because he was making this weird high-pitched noise” ( Taylor and Nel, 2015 ).

Brian walked over to his wife.

She looked concerned and asked him, “What do you think we should do about him?”

Brian replied with a similar concerned tone, “Well we better make sure he is okay and consider calling animal control. In the meantime, I’ll go take a closer look at him.”

Brian slowly moved closer to the dog, trying not to disturb or frighten him. He reached toward the dog, trying to comfort his fear. Instead, the dog lunged at his hand and bit him.

Brian pulled his hand away in pain. He glanced down at his fingers and found blood oozing from them. He stepped away from the dog and went inside to wash his hands off from the bite.

As he was washing his hands, the area around the bite tingled and itched ( CDC, 2019 ). He continued to scrub until the blood was gone, applied a bandaid and grabbed the phone to call animal control.

A week passed, and the area of Brian’s bite began to itch more excessively and he just couldn’t drum up the motivation to leave his bed because he felt so sleepy ( CDC, 2019 ). His wife entered into his bedroom, “Honey, please quit itching. You’re just going to make it worse.” She reached for his forehead, it felt warm.

Extremely irritated by her suggestion, Brian tried to keep his response low, but raised his voice at her ( CDC, 2019 ). “Don’t tell me what to do! I am a grown man! And stop coming in here to turn my light on. It’s so bright and hurts my eyes!” Shocked, his wife turned down the light and left the room, giving him time to rest.

Several more days passed. As he laid in bed, Brian began to lose feeling in his hand. He glanced down at it, noticing that it was twitching ( CDC, 2019 ). He looked up at the bedroom doorway. “Where am I?” He thought. “My mouth is so full of spit and I can hardly swallow because my throat feels so tight. Almost like its spasming.” He got out of bed and walked toward the hallway to splash his face with water. While he walked through the hallway, he noticed a creepy figure standing above him. Thinking that he may be hallucinating, Brian called to his wife. “Sweetie, please call 911.”

Part I Questions

• What are Brian’s signs and symptoms? (Answer based on case study)
• Brian was brought to the hospital after his wife called him an ambulance. Based on his symptoms, what do you think he will be diagnosed with? What diagnostic tests do you think physicians will use to achieve this diagnosis? (Answer based on case study and requires primary literature search)

After being taken to the hospital, Brian was diagnosed with rabies virus. Rabies virus enters peripheral nerves directly, and then can migrate to the central nervous system and up to the brain ( Rupprecht, 1996 ). One mechanism of entry into the peripheral nerves is through the neuromuscular junction ( Rupprecht, 1996 ). Once symptoms begin to appear, both general symptoms of fever or fatigue and neurological symptoms like hydrophobia, the disease cannot be reversed or cured ( Rupprecht, 1996 ). If the rabies vaccine is administered before the onset of symptoms, it can generally prevent or destroy the disease and the inevitable death that follows ( Long et al., 2020 ). Since Brian has already developed neurological symptoms, it is unlikely that the current rabies vaccine will be able to cure him ( Long et al., 2020 ).

The efficacy of the vaccine is reliant upon a permeable blood brain barrier (BBB) to allow immune cells to reach the virus in the brain and destroy it ( Kandel et al., 2013 ; Long et al., 2020 ). A study looked at the role of the phosphoprotein gene of the rabies virus on the permeability of the BBB ( Long et al., 2020 ). The study inoculated mice with either a wild-type (GD-SH-01), an attenuated rabies virus (HEP-Flury), or a chimeric virus that had the phosphoprotein gene of the wild-type inserted into the genome of the attenuated version (rHEP-SH-P). The rHEP-SH-P phosphoprotein gene is silenced by the placement in the attenuated genome. GD-SH-01 generally produced mild inflammation with eventual complete breakdown of the BBB, while the HEP-Flury produces high inflammation, but a more transiently permeable BBB. Figure 1 shows the data on BBB permeability (modified from Figure 1 in Long et al., 2020 ).

Part II Questions

• Is the rabies spread by hematogenous spread or neural spread? (Answer based on neurovirology module)
• Does the phosphoprotein cause a relative increase or decrease in BBB permeability? Use Figure 1 to explain your answer. (Answer based on case study)
• Would the incorporation of a phosphoprotein antagonist improve vaccine efficacy in the attenuated virus? Use Figure 1 to explain your answer. (Answer based on case study and neurovirology module)
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APPENDIX 4. STUDENT-CREATED CASE STUDY- ENTEROVIRUS 71

Instructor note: This case was written by Dianna M. Bindelli and Shannon A.M. Kafura, undergraduate students in Neuroscience 4100, Spring 2020 semester, Carthage College. In-text citation and references are in blue font. The answer key version of this case is available via request to [email protected] . The corresponding author (DRCS) has edited the case for formatting and clarity and has indicated if each answer is supported by the case study the neurovirology module, previous course content, and/or the primary literature in blue font.

It was the summer of 1998 in China when Finley Chang, a 10-year-old boy, went to the orthodontist to get his braces. It was mid-July, so Finley was extremely warm on his way to the orthodontist, also he was nervous. His mom, Mrs. Chang waited for him in the waiting room and was delighted to see her little boy growing up with his new braces.

The orthodontist, Dr. Wung had noticed that Finley was visibly sweating. He asked Finley if he was feeling fine. Finley said, “just nervous”. Dr. Wung had informed Mrs. Chang that the braces were all in place and his mouth had looked good! He warned that he may have pain in his mouth for a few days while adjusting to the braces.

One morning he woke up and he complained of a stomachache. He decided that he must just be hungry and proceeded to go downstairs for breakfast. On his way down the stairs, he began to feel woozy. He felt like the room was spinning, so he hurried down the stairs to sit down.

His mom had made pancakes and had orange juice for him.

“Good morning! What’s the rush? How did you sleep?” asked his mom.

“Fine.” responded Finley.

Mrs. Chang knew something was wrong when Finley did not dive into his sugary pancakes and was sitting there with his eyes closed.

Finley really did not feel like eating. He did not want to tell his mom about his stomachache. So, he decided to stick with the juice for now. After a couple sips of juice, he got a sour face.

“What happened?” asked his mom.

Finley began to feel the inside of his mouth and responded, “I have weird cuts in my mouth”. His mom looked and saw cuts on his gums and mouth and thought it may be from the braces ( Huang et al., 1999 ). However, it has been over a month since he had them, so she decided to call the orthodontist and have the alignment checked out.

While Finley was getting ready to leave for the orthodontist, he began vomiting. Mrs. Chang thought he had the flu bug and canceled the appointment, for now.

The next morning Mrs. Chang thought Finley would be better. However, Finley woke up with sweating and vomiting, and with even more sores in his mouth ( Huang et al., 1999 ). He sat up in bed and felt even more dizzy than yesterday and had to lie down. Mrs. Chang felt his head and thought his fever was even higher ( Huang et al., 1999 ). At this point she decided to take Finley to the pediatrician.

Dr. Hu looked at Finley’s mouth sores and brought him some water. She decided to run a few tests. She set up Finley with some anti-nausea medication and ordered an IV. In the meantime, she was analyzing the tests she ran.

• What are Finley’s signs and symptoms? (Answer based on case study)
• What tests would you run based on Finley’s signs and symptoms? Hypothesize the expected results. (Answer based on neurovirology module and previous course content)

Three days after coming back from the doctor, Finley’s mother went into his room to see if he wanted dinner. “Finley, time to eat.” He was waking up from a nap. “Finley, are you okay?” she asked, concerned. “I don’t feel so good, mom,” mumbled Finley, slurring his words. She helped him sit up and felt his forehead to see if fever had returned.

“Well, you don’t seem to have a fever again. Let’s try and eat some food, maybe that will help.” She then helped him get out of bed and into the kitchen.

When Finley was eating, he kept dropping food because his hands were shaking, and he had extreme difficulty bringing his chopsticks to his mouth. He kept accidently hitting his nose or chin. “Finley, do you want me to help you?” asked his mom. When he answered, she noticed that he also couldn’t focus straight on her and instead his eyes would bounce away ( Huang et al., 1999 ; Bae et al., 2013 ; Kandel et al., 2013 ; Jain et al., 2014 ; Cook-Snyder, 2020c ). Finley’s mother knew something was wrong and brought him to the emergency room.

The ER doctor walked into the room, “Hello, my name is Dr. Chen, and you must be Finley. Can you tell me what is going on?” Finley told her, “My arms don’t seem to be working right and I don’t feel very good,” again slurring his words ( Kandel et al., 2013 ; Cook-Snyder, 2020c ).

“Okay, and according to your chart, you’ve been sick recently?” asked Dr. Chen. “Yes, he was just at the doctor three days ago and the pediatrician diagnosed him with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease,” replied Finley’s mother ( Rhoades et al., 2011 ; Chen, et al., 2020 ).

“I see. His blood work also shows that Finley had viremia, specifically Enterovirus 71 (EV71). Enterovirus 71 is known to cause Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, so this is making more sense. Finley also has increased amounts of lymphocytes and monocytes in his blood. Well, before I can make a diagnosis, I would like to take an MRI.” Dr. Chen said ( Rhoades et al., 2011 ; Chen et al., 2020 ; Racaniello, 2020a ). Finley’s expected MRI results are shown in Figure 1 (modified from Figure 2A in Shen et al., 1999 ; and Figure 1B in Huang et al., 1999 ).

“Based on the expected MRI results and the viremia, it looks like Finley has rhombencephalitis. This is a pretty serious diagnosis. He’s lucky that you brought him in,” said Dr. Chen. “I’d like to admit him to the hospital for care.” She discussed the treatment plan with Finley’s mom and left the room ( Huang et al., 1999 ; Chen et al., 2007 ; Jubelt et al., 2011 ; Jain et al., 2014 ; Chen et al., 2019 ).

Dr. Chen recommended a treatment called Ribavirin, an antiviral treatment. She presented the data in Figure 2 (modified from Figure 1B in Li et al., 2008 ) and Figure 3 (modified from Figure 3B in Zhang et al., 2012 ).

• What are Finley’s new signs and symptoms? (Answer based on case study and previous course content).
• Looking at Figure 1 , what brain regions are marked by the arrows? Use full neuroanatomical descriptions to explain your answer. (Answer based on previous course content).
• Could damage to these brain areas cause the signs and symptoms seen in Finley? (Answer based on previous course content).
• Hypothesize how Finley may have developed rhombencephalitis. In other words, propose a possible mechanism of pathogenesis for how the virus infected the CNS. (Answer based on neurovirology module).
• Using Figure 2 and ​ and3, 3 , would Ribavirin be an effective treatment? Depending on your answer, either explain a possible mechanism of action for Ribavirin or possible solutions to make the drug effective. (Answer based on case study).
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Political typology quiz.

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Where do you fit in the political typology?

Are you a faith and flag conservative progressive left or somewhere in between.

Take our quiz to find out which one of our nine political typology groups is your best match, compared with a nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research Center. You may find some of these questions are difficult to answer. That’s OK. In those cases, pick the answer that comes closest to your view, even if it isn’t exactly right.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .