how to write a biology case study

The Biology Corner

Biology Teaching Resources

Student Designed Case Studies for Anatomy

Instead of a final exam, give your students a final project for their anatomy class – Design Your Own Case Study

Students in my anatomy class complete many case studies throughout the year focused on body system units. Case studies are a way to add a personal story to (sometimes) technical information about physiology. For my high school students, I try to find cases that are about younger people or even children, cases like “ A Tiny Heart ,” which tells the story of a baby born with a heart defect. Students seem to be more engaged when the cases about about people closer to their age or very young.

As a final project, the honors anatomy students make their own case study. They get to choose their topic, though I recommend they choose something they have a personal stake in. For example, one student chose to do her case on Lupus, because her mother has that condition.

The instructions outline how to write the case based on a simple flow chart.

Start with an introduction of a person by telling a story or narrating an event. Next, describe the tests needed to make a diagnosis. Tests can include X-rays, blood tests, urine tests, or other physical exams.

Students should include specific details here and images if appropriate. Following the diagnosis section, they should focus on the specific anatomy and physiology of the disease. Because homeostasis is a major theme of the class, students should focus on how the disorder causes an imbalance in the system

The last section will include how the disorder can be treated. In some cases, there will not be a cure, but the symptoms can be managed. Each section should contain 2-3 questions, similar to how cases we’ve done in class are organized.

While it may be better to assign this as a group project, during the 2021 pandemic, this was an individual assignment, due to the difficulties with working together. I think it would work very well as a project that 2-3 individuals could work on together.

Shannan Muskopf

Designing and Conducting Case Studies

This guide examines case studies, a form of qualitative descriptive research that is used to look at individuals, a small group of participants, or a group as a whole. Researchers collect data about participants using participant and direct observations, interviews, protocols, tests, examinations of records, and collections of writing samples. Starting with a definition of the case study, the guide moves to a brief history of this research method. Using several well documented case studies, the guide then looks at applications and methods including data collection and analysis. A discussion of ways to handle validity, reliability, and generalizability follows, with special attention to case studies as they are applied to composition studies. Finally, this guide examines the strengths and weaknesses of case studies.

Definition and Overview

Case study refers to the collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves. A form of qualitative descriptive research, the case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. Researchers do not focus on the discovery of a universal, generalizable truth, nor do they typically look for cause-effect relationships; instead, emphasis is placed on exploration and description.

Case studies typically examine the interplay of all variables in order to provide as complete an understanding of an event or situation as possible. This type of comprehensive understanding is arrived at through a process known as thick description, which involves an in-depth description of the entity being evaluated, the circumstances under which it is used, the characteristics of the people involved in it, and the nature of the community in which it is located. Thick description also involves interpreting the meaning of demographic and descriptive data such as cultural norms and mores, community values, ingrained attitudes, and motives.

Unlike quantitative methods of research, like the survey, which focus on the questions of who, what, where, how much, and how many, and archival analysis, which often situates the participant in some form of historical context, case studies are the preferred strategy when how or why questions are asked. Likewise, they are the preferred method when the researcher has little control over the events, and when there is a contemporary focus within a real life context. In addition, unlike more specifically directed experiments, case studies require a problem that seeks a holistic understanding of the event or situation in question using inductive logic--reasoning from specific to more general terms.

In scholarly circles, case studies are frequently discussed within the context of qualitative research and naturalistic inquiry. Case studies are often referred to interchangeably with ethnography, field study, and participant observation. The underlying philosophical assumptions in the case are similar to these types of qualitative research because each takes place in a natural setting (such as a classroom, neighborhood, or private home), and strives for a more holistic interpretation of the event or situation under study.

Unlike more statistically-based studies which search for quantifiable data, the goal of a case study is to offer new variables and questions for further research. F.H. Giddings, a sociologist in the early part of the century, compares statistical methods to the case study on the basis that the former are concerned with the distribution of a particular trait, or a small number of traits, in a population, whereas the case study is concerned with the whole variety of traits to be found in a particular instance" (Hammersley 95).

Case studies are not a new form of research; naturalistic inquiry was the primary research tool until the development of the scientific method. The fields of sociology and anthropology are credited with the primary shaping of the concept as we know it today. However, case study research has drawn from a number of other areas as well: the clinical methods of doctors; the casework technique being developed by social workers; the methods of historians and anthropologists, plus the qualitative descriptions provided by quantitative researchers like LePlay; and, in the case of Robert Park, the techniques of newspaper reporters and novelists.

Park was an ex-newspaper reporter and editor who became very influential in developing sociological case studies at the University of Chicago in the 1920s. As a newspaper professional he coined the term "scientific" or "depth" reporting: the description of local events in a way that pointed to major social trends. Park viewed the sociologist as "merely a more accurate, responsible, and scientific reporter." Park stressed the variety and value of human experience. He believed that sociology sought to arrive at natural, but fluid, laws and generalizations in regard to human nature and society. These laws weren't static laws of the kind sought by many positivists and natural law theorists, but rather, they were laws of becoming--with a constant possibility of change. Park encouraged students to get out of the library, to quit looking at papers and books, and to view the constant experiment of human experience. He writes, "Go and sit in the lounges of the luxury hotels and on the doorsteps of the flophouses; sit on the Gold Coast settees and on the slum shakedowns; sit in the Orchestra Hall and in the Star and Garter Burlesque. In short, gentlemen [sic], go get the seats of your pants dirty in real research."

But over the years, case studies have drawn their share of criticism. In fact, the method had its detractors from the start. In the 1920s, the debate between pro-qualitative and pro-quantitative became quite heated. Case studies, when compared to statistics, were considered by many to be unscientific. From the 1930's on, the rise of positivism had a growing influence on quantitative methods in sociology. People wanted static, generalizable laws in science. The sociological positivists were looking for stable laws of social phenomena. They criticized case study research because it failed to provide evidence of inter subjective agreement. Also, they condemned it because of the few number of cases studied and that the under-standardized character of their descriptions made generalization impossible. By the 1950s, quantitative methods, in the form of survey research, had become the dominant sociological approach and case study had become a minority practice.

Educational Applications

The 1950's marked the dawning of a new era in case study research, namely that of the utilization of the case study as a teaching method. "Instituted at Harvard Business School in the 1950s as a primary method of teaching, cases have since been used in classrooms and lecture halls alike, either as part of a course of study or as the main focus of the course to which other teaching material is added" (Armisted 1984). The basic purpose of instituting the case method as a teaching strategy was "to transfer much of the responsibility for learning from the teacher on to the student, whose role, as a result, shifts away from passive absorption toward active construction" (Boehrer 1990). Through careful examination and discussion of various cases, "students learn to identify actual problems, to recognize key players and their agendas, and to become aware of those aspects of the situation that contribute to the problem" (Merseth 1991). In addition, students are encouraged to "generate their own analysis of the problems under consideration, to develop their own solutions, and to practically apply their own knowledge of theory to these problems" (Boyce 1993). Along the way, students also develop "the power to analyze and to master a tangled circumstance by identifying and delineating important factors; the ability to utilize ideas, to test them against facts, and to throw them into fresh combinations" (Merseth 1991).

In addition to the practical application and testing of scholarly knowledge, case discussions can also help students prepare for real-world problems, situations and crises by providing an approximation of various professional environments (i.e. classroom, board room, courtroom, or hospital). Thus, through the examination of specific cases, students are given the opportunity to work out their own professional issues through the trials, tribulations, experiences, and research findings of others. An obvious advantage to this mode of instruction is that it allows students the exposure to settings and contexts that they might not otherwise experience. For example, a student interested in studying the effects of poverty on minority secondary student's grade point averages and S.A.T. scores could access and analyze information from schools as geographically diverse as Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and New Mexico without ever having to leave the classroom.

The case study method also incorporates the idea that students can learn from one another "by engaging with each other and with each other's ideas, by asserting something and then having it questioned, challenged and thrown back at them so that they can reflect on what they hear, and then refine what they say" (Boehrer 1990). In summary, students can direct their own learning by formulating questions and taking responsibility for the study.

Types and Design Concerns

Researchers use multiple methods and approaches to conduct case studies.

Types of Case Studies

Under the more generalized category of case study exist several subdivisions, each of which is custom selected for use depending upon the goals and/or objectives of the investigator. These types of case study include the following:

Illustrative Case Studies These are primarily descriptive studies. They typically utilize one or two instances of an event to show what a situation is like. Illustrative case studies serve primarily to make the unfamiliar familiar and to give readers a common language about the topic in question.

Exploratory (or pilot) Case Studies These are condensed case studies performed before implementing a large scale investigation. Their basic function is to help identify questions and select types of measurement prior to the main investigation. The primary pitfall of this type of study is that initial findings may seem convincing enough to be released prematurely as conclusions.

Cumulative Case Studies These serve to aggregate information from several sites collected at different times. The idea behind these studies is the collection of past studies will allow for greater generalization without additional cost or time being expended on new, possibly repetitive studies.

Critical Instance Case Studies These examine one or more sites for either the purpose of examining a situation of unique interest with little to no interest in generalizability, or to call into question or challenge a highly generalized or universal assertion. This method is useful for answering cause and effect questions.

Identifying a Theoretical Perspective

Much of the case study's design is inherently determined for researchers, depending on the field from which they are working. In composition studies, researchers are typically working from a qualitative, descriptive standpoint. In contrast, physicists will approach their research from a more quantitative perspective. Still, in designing the study, researchers need to make explicit the questions to be explored and the theoretical perspective from which they will approach the case. The three most commonly adopted theories are listed below:

Individual Theories These focus primarily on the individual development, cognitive behavior, personality, learning and disability, and interpersonal interactions of a particular subject.

Organizational Theories These focus on bureaucracies, institutions, organizational structure and functions, or excellence in organizational performance.

Social Theories These focus on urban development, group behavior, cultural institutions, or marketplace functions.

Two examples of case studies are used consistently throughout this chapter. The first, a study produced by Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988), looks at a first year graduate student's initiation into an academic writing program. The study uses participant-observer and linguistic data collecting techniques to assess the student's knowledge of appropriate discourse conventions. Using the pseudonym Nate to refer to the subject, the study sought to illuminate the particular experience rather than to generalize about the experience of fledgling academic writers collectively.

For example, in Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman's (1988) study we are told that the researchers are interested in disciplinary communities. In the first paragraph, they ask what constitutes membership in a disciplinary community and how achieving membership might affect a writer's understanding and production of texts. In the third paragraph they state that researchers must negotiate their claims "within the context of his sub specialty's accepted knowledge and methodology." In the next paragraph they ask, "How is literacy acquired? What is the process through which novices gain community membership? And what factors either aid or hinder students learning the requisite linguistic behaviors?" This introductory section ends with a paragraph in which the study's authors claim that during the course of the study, the subject, Nate, successfully makes the transition from "skilled novice" to become an initiated member of the academic discourse community and that his texts exhibit linguistic changes which indicate this transition. In the next section the authors make explicit the sociolinguistic theoretical and methodological assumptions on which the study is based (1988). Thus the reader has a good understanding of the authors' theoretical background and purpose in conducting the study even before it is explicitly stated on the fourth page of the study. "Our purpose was to examine the effects of the educational context on one graduate student's production of texts as he wrote in different courses and for different faculty members over the academic year 1984-85." The goal of the study then, was to explore the idea that writers must be initiated into a writing community, and that this initiation will change the way one writes.

The second example is Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composing process of a group of twelfth graders. In this study, Emig seeks to answer the question of what happens to the self as a result educational stimuli in terms of academic writing. The case study used methods such as protocol analysis, tape-recorded interviews, and discourse analysis.

In the case of Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composing process of eight twelfth graders, four specific hypotheses were made:

• Twelfth grade writers engage in two modes of composing: reflexive and extensive.
• These differences can be ascertained and characterized through having the writers compose aloud their composition process.
• A set of implied stylistic principles governs the writing process.
• For twelfth grade writers, extensive writing occurs chiefly as a school-sponsored activity, or reflexive, as a self-sponsored activity.

In this study, the chief distinction is between the two dominant modes of composing among older, secondary school students. The distinctions are:

• The reflexive mode, which focuses on the writer's thoughts and feelings.
• The extensive mode, which focuses on conveying a message.

Emig also outlines the specific questions which guided the research in the opening pages of her Review of Literature , preceding the report.

Designing a Case Study

After considering the different sub categories of case study and identifying a theoretical perspective, researchers can begin to design their study. Research design is the string of logic that ultimately links the data to be collected and the conclusions to be drawn to the initial questions of the study. Typically, research designs deal with at least four problems:

• What questions to study
• What data are relevant
• What data to collect
• How to analyze that data

In other words, a research design is basically a blueprint for getting from the beginning to the end of a study. The beginning is an initial set of questions to be answered, and the end is some set of conclusions about those questions.

Because case studies are conducted on topics as diverse as Anglo-Saxon Literature (Thrane 1986) and AIDS prevention (Van Vugt 1994), it is virtually impossible to outline any strict or universal method or design for conducting the case study. However, Robert K. Yin (1993) does offer five basic components of a research design:

• A study's questions.
• A study's propositions (if any).
• A study's units of analysis.
• The logic that links the data to the propositions.
• The criteria for interpreting the findings.

In addition to these five basic components, Yin also stresses the importance of clearly articulating one's theoretical perspective, determining the goals of the study, selecting one's subject(s), selecting the appropriate method(s) of collecting data, and providing some considerations to the composition of the final report.

Conducting Case Studies

To obtain as complete a picture of the participant as possible, case study researchers can employ a variety of approaches and methods. These approaches, methods, and related issues are discussed in depth in this section.

Method: Single or Multi-modal?

To obtain as complete a picture of the participant as possible, case study researchers can employ a variety of methods. Some common methods include interviews , protocol analyses, field studies, and participant-observations. Emig (1971) chose to use several methods of data collection. Her sources included conversations with the students, protocol analysis, discrete observations of actual composition, writing samples from each student, and school records (Lauer and Asher 1988).

Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) collected data by observing classrooms, conducting faculty and student interviews, collecting self reports from the subject, and by looking at the subject's written work.

A study that was criticized for using a single method model was done by Flower and Hayes (1984). In this study that explores the ways in which writers use different forms of knowing to create space, the authors used only protocol analysis to gather data. The study came under heavy fire because of their decision to use only one method.

Participant Selection

Case studies can use one participant, or a small group of participants. However, it is important that the participant pool remain relatively small. The participants can represent a diverse cross section of society, but this isn't necessary.

For example, the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study looked at just one participant, Nate. By contrast, in Janet Emig's (1971) study of the composition process of twelfth graders, eight participants were selected representing a diverse cross section of the community, with volunteers from an all-white upper-middle-class suburban school, an all-black inner-city school, a racially mixed lower-middle-class school, an economically and racially mixed school, and a university school.

Often, a brief "case history" is done on the participants of the study in order to provide researchers with a clearer understanding of their participants, as well as some insight as to how their own personal histories might affect the outcome of the study. For instance, in Emig's study, the investigator had access to the school records of five of the participants, and to standardized test scores for the remaining three. Also made available to the researcher was the information that three of the eight students were selected as NCTE Achievement Award winners. These personal histories can be useful in later stages of the study when data are being analyzed and conclusions drawn.

Data Collection

There are six types of data collected in case studies:

• Archival records.
• Interviews.
• Direct observation.
• Participant observation.

In the field of composition research, these six sources might be:

• A writer's drafts.
• School records of student writers.
• Transcripts of interviews with a writer.
• Transcripts of conversations between writers (and protocols).
• Videotapes and notes from direct field observations.
• Hard copies of a writer's work on computer.

Depending on whether researchers have chosen to use a single or multi-modal approach for the case study, they may choose to collect data from one or any combination of these sources.

Protocols, that is, transcriptions of participants talking aloud about what they are doing as they do it, have been particularly common in composition case studies. For example, in Emig's (1971) study, the students were asked, in four different sessions, to give oral autobiographies of their writing experiences and to compose aloud three themes in the presence of a tape recorder and the investigator.

In some studies, only one method of data collection is conducted. For example, the Flower and Hayes (1981) report on the cognitive process theory of writing depends on protocol analysis alone. However, using multiple sources of evidence to increase the reliability and validity of the data can be advantageous.

Case studies are likely to be much more convincing and accurate if they are based on several different sources of information, following a corroborating mode. This conclusion is echoed among many composition researchers. For example, in her study of predrafting processes of high and low-apprehensive writers, Cynthia Selfe (1985) argues that because "methods of indirect observation provide only an incomplete reflection of the complex set of processes involved in composing, a combination of several such methods should be used to gather data in any one study." Thus, in this study, Selfe collected her data from protocols, observations of students role playing their writing processes, audio taped interviews with the students, and videotaped observations of the students in the process of composing.

It can be said then, that cross checking data from multiple sources can help provide a multidimensional profile of composing activities in a particular setting. Sharan Merriam (1985) suggests "checking, verifying, testing, probing, and confirming collected data as you go, arguing that this process will follow in a funnel-like design resulting in less data gathering in later phases of the study along with a congruent increase in analysis checking, verifying, and confirming."

It is important to note that in case studies, as in any qualitative descriptive research, while researchers begin their studies with one or several questions driving the inquiry (which influence the key factors the researcher will be looking for during data collection), a researcher may find new key factors emerging during data collection. These might be unexpected patterns or linguistic features which become evident only during the course of the research. While not bearing directly on the researcher's guiding questions, these variables may become the basis for new questions asked at the end of the report, thus linking to the possibility of further research.

Data Analysis

As the information is collected, researchers strive to make sense of their data. Generally, researchers interpret their data in one of two ways: holistically or through coding. Holistic analysis does not attempt to break the evidence into parts, but rather to draw conclusions based on the text as a whole. Flower and Hayes (1981), for example, make inferences from entire sections of their students' protocols, rather than searching through the transcripts to look for isolatable characteristics.

However, composition researchers commonly interpret their data by coding, that is by systematically searching data to identify and/or categorize specific observable actions or characteristics. These observable actions then become the key variables in the study. Sharan Merriam (1988) suggests seven analytic frameworks for the organization and presentation of data:

• The role of participants.
• The network analysis of formal and informal exchanges among groups.
• Historical.
• Thematical.
• Ritual and symbolism.
• Critical incidents that challenge or reinforce fundamental beliefs, practices, and values.

There are two purposes of these frameworks: to look for patterns among the data and to look for patterns that give meaning to the case study.

As stated above, while most researchers begin their case studies expecting to look for particular observable characteristics, it is not unusual for key variables to emerge during data collection. Typical variables coded in case studies of writers include pauses writers make in the production of a text, the use of specific linguistic units (such as nouns or verbs), and writing processes (planning, drafting, revising, and editing). In the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study, for example, researchers coded the participant's texts for use of connectives, discourse demonstratives, average sentence length, off-register words, use of the first person pronoun, and the ratio of definite articles to indefinite articles.

Since coding is inherently subjective, more than one coder is usually employed. In the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study, for example, three rhetoricians were employed to code the participant's texts for off-register phrases. The researchers established the agreement among the coders before concluding that the participant used fewer off-register words as the graduate program progressed.

Composing the Case Study Report

In the many forms it can take, "a case study is generically a story; it presents the concrete narrative detail of actual, or at least realistic events, it has a plot, exposition, characters, and sometimes even dialogue" (Boehrer 1990). Generally, case study reports are extensively descriptive, with "the most problematic issue often referred to as being the determination of the right combination of description and analysis" (1990). Typically, authors address each step of the research process, and attempt to give the reader as much context as possible for the decisions made in the research design and for the conclusions drawn.

This contextualization usually includes a detailed explanation of the researchers' theoretical positions, of how those theories drove the inquiry or led to the guiding research questions, of the participants' backgrounds, of the processes of data collection, of the training and limitations of the coders, along with a strong attempt to make connections between the data and the conclusions evident.

Although the Berkenkotter, Huckin, and Ackerman (1988) study does not, case study reports often include the reactions of the participants to the study or to the researchers' conclusions. Because case studies tend to be exploratory, most end with implications for further study. Here researchers may identify significant variables that emerged during the research and suggest studies related to these, or the authors may suggest further general questions that their case study generated.

For example, Emig's (1971) study concludes with a section dedicated solely to the topic of implications for further research, in which she suggests several means by which this particular study could have been improved, as well as questions and ideas raised by this study which other researchers might like to address, such as: is there a correlation between a certain personality and a certain composing process profile (e.g. is there a positive correlation between ego strength and persistence in revising)?

Also included in Emig's study is a section dedicated to implications for teaching, which outlines the pedagogical ramifications of the study's findings for teachers currently involved in high school writing programs.

Sharan Merriam (1985) also offers several suggestions for alternative presentations of data:

• Prepare specialized condensations for appropriate groups.
• Replace narrative sections with a series of answers to open-ended questions.
• Present "skimmer's" summaries at beginning of each section.
• Incorporate headlines that encapsulate information from text.
• Prepare analytic summaries with supporting data appendixes.
• Present data in colorful and/or unique graphic representations.

Issues of Validity and Reliability

Once key variables have been identified, they can be analyzed. Reliability becomes a key concern at this stage, and many case study researchers go to great lengths to ensure that their interpretations of the data will be both reliable and valid. Because issues of validity and reliability are an important part of any study in the social sciences, it is important to identify some ways of dealing with results.

Multi-modal case study researchers often balance the results of their coding with data from interviews or writer's reflections upon their own work. Consequently, the researchers' conclusions become highly contextualized. For example, in a case study which looked at the time spent in different stages of the writing process, Berkenkotter concluded that her participant, Donald Murray, spent more time planning his essays than in other writing stages. The report of this case study is followed by Murray's reply, wherein he agrees with some of Berkenkotter's conclusions and disagrees with others.

As is the case with other research methodologies, issues of external validity, construct validity, and reliability need to be carefully considered.

Commentary on Case Studies

Researchers often debate the relative merits of particular methods, among them case study. In this section, we comment on two key issues. To read the commentaries, choose any of the items below:

Strengths and Weaknesses of Case Studies

Most case study advocates point out that case studies produce much more detailed information than what is available through a statistical analysis. Advocates will also hold that while statistical methods might be able to deal with situations where behavior is homogeneous and routine, case studies are needed to deal with creativity, innovation, and context. Detractors argue that case studies are difficult to generalize because of inherent subjectivity and because they are based on qualitative subjective data, generalizable only to a particular context.

Flexibility

The case study approach is a comparatively flexible method of scientific research. Because its project designs seem to emphasize exploration rather than prescription or prediction, researchers are comparatively freer to discover and address issues as they arise in their experiments. In addition, the looser format of case studies allows researchers to begin with broad questions and narrow their focus as their experiment progresses rather than attempt to predict every possible outcome before the experiment is conducted.

Emphasis on Context

By seeking to understand as much as possible about a single subject or small group of subjects, case studies specialize in "deep data," or "thick description"--information based on particular contexts that can give research results a more human face. This emphasis can help bridge the gap between abstract research and concrete practice by allowing researchers to compare their firsthand observations with the quantitative results obtained through other methods of research.

Inherent Subjectivity

"The case study has long been stereotyped as the weak sibling among social science methods," and is often criticized as being too subjective and even pseudo-scientific. Likewise, "investigators who do case studies are often regarded as having deviated from their academic disciplines, and their investigations as having insufficient precision (that is, quantification), objectivity and rigor" (Yin 1989). Opponents cite opportunities for subjectivity in the implementation, presentation, and evaluation of case study research. The approach relies on personal interpretation of data and inferences. Results may not be generalizable, are difficult to test for validity, and rarely offer a problem-solving prescription. Simply put, relying on one or a few subjects as a basis for cognitive extrapolations runs the risk of inferring too much from what might be circumstance.

High Investment

Case studies can involve learning more about the subjects being tested than most researchers would care to know--their educational background, emotional background, perceptions of themselves and their surroundings, their likes, dislikes, and so on. Because of its emphasis on "deep data," the case study is out of reach for many large-scale research projects which look at a subject pool in the tens of thousands. A budget request of $10,000 to examine 200 subjects sounds more efficient than a similar request to examine four subjects.

Ethical Considerations

Researchers conducting case studies should consider certain ethical issues. For example, many educational case studies are often financed by people who have, either directly or indirectly, power over both those being studied and those conducting the investigation (1985). This conflict of interests can hinder the credibility of the study.

The personal integrity, sensitivity, and possible prejudices and/or biases of the investigators need to be taken into consideration as well. Personal biases can creep into how the research is conducted, alternative research methods used, and the preparation of surveys and questionnaires.

A common complaint in case study research is that investigators change direction during the course of the study unaware that their original research design was inadequate for the revised investigation. Thus, the researchers leave unknown gaps and biases in the study. To avoid this, researchers should report preliminary findings so that the likelihood of bias will be reduced.

Concerns about Reliability, Validity, and Generalizability

Merriam (1985) offers several suggestions for how case study researchers might actively combat the popular attacks on the validity, reliability, and generalizability of case studies:

• Prolong the Processes of Data Gathering on Site: This will help to insure the accuracy of the findings by providing the researcher with more concrete information upon which to formulate interpretations.
• Employ the Process of "Triangulation": Use a variety of data sources as opposed to relying solely upon one avenue of observation. One example of such a data check would be what McClintock, Brannon, and Maynard (1985) refer to as a "case cluster method," that is, when a single unit within a larger case is randomly sampled, and that data treated quantitatively." For instance, in Emig's (1971) study, the case cluster method was employed, singling out the productivity of a single student named Lynn. This cluster profile included an advanced case history of the subject, specific examination and analysis of individual compositions and protocols, and extensive interview sessions. The seven remaining students were then compared with the case of Lynn, to ascertain if there are any shared, or unique dimensions to the composing process engaged in by these eight students.
• Conduct Member Checks: Initiate and maintain an active corroboration on the interpretation of data between the researcher and those who provided the data. In other words, talk to your subjects.
• Collect Referential Materials: Complement the file of materials from the actual site with additional document support. For example, Emig (1971) supports her initial propositions with historical accounts by writers such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and D.H. Lawrence. Emig also cites examples of theoretical research done with regards to the creative process, as well as examples of empirical research dealing with the writing of adolescents. Specific attention is then given to the four stages description of the composing process delineated by Helmoltz, Wallas, and Cowley, as it serves as the focal point in this study.
• Engage in Peer Consultation: Prior to composing the final draft of the report, researchers should consult with colleagues in order to establish validity through pooled judgment.

Although little can be done to combat challenges concerning the generalizability of case studies, "most writers suggest that qualitative research should be judged as credible and confirmable as opposed to valid and reliable" (Merriam 1985). Likewise, it has been argued that "rather than transplanting statistical, quantitative notions of generalizability and thus finding qualitative research inadequate, it makes more sense to develop an understanding of generalization that is congruent with the basic characteristics of qualitative inquiry" (1985). After all, criticizing the case study method for being ungeneralizable is comparable to criticizing a washing machine for not being able to tell the correct time. In other words, it is unjust to criticize a method for not being able to do something which it was never originally designed to do in the first place.

Annotated Bibliography

Armisted, C. (1984). How Useful are Case Studies. Training and Development Journal, 38 (2), 75-77.

This article looks at eight types of case studies, offers pros and cons of using case studies in the classroom, and gives suggestions for successfully writing and using case studies.

Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1997). Beyond Methods: Components of Second Language Teacher Education . New York: McGraw-Hill.

A compilation of various research essays which address issues of language teacher education. Essays included are: "Non-native reading research and theory" by Lee, "The case for Psycholinguistics" by VanPatten, and "Assessment and Second Language Teaching" by Gradman and Reed.

Bartlett, L. (1989). A Question of Good Judgment; Interpretation Theory and Qualitative Enquiry Address. 70th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco.

Bartlett selected "quasi-historical" methodology, which focuses on the "truth" found in case records, as one that will provide "good judgments" in educational inquiry. He argues that although the method is not comprehensive, it can try to connect theory with practice.

Baydere, S. et. al. (1993). Multimedia conferencing as a tool for collaborative writing: a case study in Computer Supported Collaborative Writing. New York: Springer-Verlag.

The case study by Baydere et. al. is just one of the many essays in this book found in the series "Computer Supported Cooperative Work." Denley, Witefield and May explore similar issues in their essay, "A case study in task analysis for the design of a collaborative document production system."

Berkenkotter, C., Huckin, T., N., & Ackerman J. (1988). Conventions, Conversations, and the Writer: Case Study of a Student in a Rhetoric Ph.D. Program. Research in the Teaching of English, 22, 9-44.

The authors focused on how the writing of their subject, Nate or Ackerman, changed as he became more acquainted or familiar with his field's discourse community.

Berninger, V., W., and Gans, B., M. (1986). Language Profiles in Nonspeaking Individuals of Normal Intelligence with Severe Cerebral Palsy. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 2, 45-50.

Argues that generalizations about language abilities in patients with severe cerebral palsy (CP) should be avoided. Standardized tests of different levels of processing oral language, of processing written language, and of producing written language were administered to 3 male participants (aged 9, 16, and 40 yrs).

Bockman, J., R., and Couture, B. (1984). The Case Method in Technical Communication: Theory and Models. Texas: Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.

Examines the study and teaching of technical writing, communication of technical information, and the case method in terms of those applications.

Boehrer, J. (1990). Teaching With Cases: Learning to Question. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 42 41-57.

This article discusses the origins of the case method, looks at the question of what is a case, gives ideas about learning in case teaching, the purposes it can serve in the classroom, the ground rules for the case discussion, including the role of the question, and new directions for case teaching.

Bowman, W. R. (1993). Evaluating JTPA Programs for Economically Disadvantaged Adults: A Case Study of Utah and General Findings . Washington: National Commission for Employment Policy.

"To encourage state-level evaluations of JTPA, the Commission and the State of Utah co-sponsored this report on the effectiveness of JTPA Title II programs for adults in Utah. The technique used is non-experimental and the comparison group was selected from registrants with Utah's Employment Security. In a step-by-step approach, the report documents how non-experimental techniques can be applied and several specific technical issues can be addressed."

Boyce, A. (1993) The Case Study Approach for Pedagogists. Annual Meeting of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. (Address). Washington DC.

This paper addresses how case studies 1) bridge the gap between teaching theory and application, 2) enable students to analyze problems and develop solutions for situations that will be encountered in the real world of teaching, and 3) helps students to evaluate the feasibility of alternatives and to understand the ramifications of a particular course of action.

Carson, J. (1993) The Case Study: Ideal Home of WAC Quantitative and Qualitative Data. Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. (Address). San Diego.

"Increasingly, one of the most pressing questions for WAC advocates is how to keep [WAC] programs going in the face of numerous difficulties. Case histories offer the best chance for fashioning rhetorical arguments to keep WAC programs going because they offer the opportunity to provide a coherent narrative that contextualizes all documents and data, including what is generally considered scientific data. A case study of the WAC program, . . . at Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh demonstrates the advantages of this research method. Such studies are ideal homes for both naturalistic and positivistic data as well as both quantitative and qualitative information."

---. (1991). A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing. College Composition and Communication. 32. 365-87.

No abstract available.

Cromer, R. (1994) A Case Study of Dissociations Between Language and Cognition. Constraints on Language Acquisition: Studies of Atypical Children . Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 141-153.

Crossley, M. (1983) Case Study in Comparative and International Education: An Approach to Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the Australian Comparative and International Education Society. Hamilton, NZ.

Case study research, as presented here, helps bridge the theory-practice gap in comparative and international research studies of education because it focuses on the practical, day-to-day context rather than on the national arena. The paper asserts that the case study method can be valuable at all levels of research, formation, and verification of theories in education.

Daillak, R., H., and Alkin, M., C. (1982). Qualitative Studies in Context: Reflections on the CSE Studies of Evaluation Use . California: EDRS

The report shows how the Center of the Study of Evaluation (CSE) applied qualitative techniques to a study of evaluation information use in local, Los Angeles schools. It critiques the effectiveness and the limitations of using case study, evaluation, field study, and user interview survey methodologies.

Davey, L. (1991). The Application of Case Study Evaluations. ERIC/TM Digest.

This article examines six types of case studies, the type of evaluation questions that can be answered, the functions served, some design features, and some pitfalls of the method.

Deutch, C. E. (1996). A course in research ethics for graduate students. College Teaching, 44, 2, 56-60.

This article describes a one-credit discussion course in research ethics for graduate students in biology. Case studies are focused on within the four parts of the course: 1) major issues, 2 )practical issues in scholarly work, 3) ownership of research results, and 4) training and personal decisions.

DeVoss, G. (1981). Ethics in Fieldwork Research. RIE 27p. (ERIC)

This article examines four of the ethical problems that can happen when conducting case study research: acquiring permission to do research, knowing when to stop digging, the pitfalls of doing collaborative research, and preserving the integrity of the participants.

Driscoll, A. (1985). Case Study of a Research Intervention: the University of Utah’s Collaborative Approach . San Francisco: Far West Library for Educational Research Development.

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, Denver, CO, March 1985. Offers information of in-service training, specifically case studies application.

Ellram, L. M. (1996). The Use of the Case Study Method in Logistics Research. Journal of Business Logistics, 17, 2, 93.

This article discusses the increased use of case study in business research, and the lack of understanding of when and how to use case study methodology in business.

Emig, J. (1971) The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders . Urbana: NTCE.

This case study uses observation, tape recordings, writing samples, and school records to show that writing in reflexive and extensive situations caused different lengths of discourse and different clusterings of the components of the writing process.

Feagin, J. R. (1991). A Case For the Case Study . Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

This book discusses the nature, characteristics, and basic methodological issues of the case study as a research method.

Feldman, H., Holland, A., & Keefe, K. (1989) Language Abilities after Left Hemisphere Brain Injury: A Case Study of Twins. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 9, 32-47.

"Describes the language abilities of 2 twin pairs in which 1 twin (the experimental) suffered brain injury to the left cerebral hemisphere around the time of birth and1 twin (the control) did not. One pair of twins was initially assessed at age 23 mo. and the other at about 30 mo.; they were subsequently evaluated in their homes 3 times at about 6-mo intervals."

Fidel, R. (1984). The Case Study Method: A Case Study. Library and Information Science Research, 6.

The article describes the use of case study methodology to systematically develop a model of online searching behavior in which study design is flexible, subject manner determines data gathering and analyses, and procedures adapt to the study's progressive change.

Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1984). Images, Plans and Prose: The Representation of Meaning in Writing. Written Communication, 1, 120-160.

Explores the ways in which writers actually use different forms of knowing to create prose.

Frey, L. R. (1992). Interpreting Communication Research: A Case Study Approach Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

The book discusses research methodologies in the Communication field. It focuses on how case studies bridge the gap between communication research, theory, and practice.

Gilbert, V. K. (1981). The Case Study as a Research Methodology: Difficulties and Advantages of Integrating the Positivistic, Phenomenological and Grounded Theory Approaches . The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration. (Address) Halifax, NS, Can.

This study on an innovative secondary school in England shows how a "low-profile" participant-observer case study was crucial to the initial observation, the testing of hypotheses, the interpretive approach, and the grounded theory.

Gilgun, J. F. (1994). A Case for Case Studies in Social Work Research. Social Work, 39, 4, 371-381.

This article defines case study research, presents guidelines for evaluation of case studies, and shows the relevance of case studies to social work research. It also looks at issues such as evaluation and interpretations of case studies.

Glennan, S. L., Sharp-Bittner, M. A. & Tullos, D. C. (1991). Augmentative and Alternative Communication Training with a Nonspeaking Adult: Lessons from MH. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 7, 240-7.

"A response-guided case study documented changes in a nonspeaking 36-yr-old man's ability to communicate using 3 trained augmentative communication modes. . . . Data were collected in videotaped interaction sessions between the nonspeaking adult and a series of adult speaking."

Graves, D. (1981). An Examination of the Writing Processes of Seven Year Old Children. Research in the Teaching of English, 15, 113-134.

Hamel, J. (1993). Case Study Methods . Newbury Park: Sage. .

"In a most economical fashion, Hamel provides a practical guide for producing theoretically sharp and empirically sound sociological case studies. A central idea put forth by Hamel is that case studies must "locate the global in the local" thus making the careful selection of the research site the most critical decision in the analytic process."

Karthigesu, R. (1986, July). Television as a Tool for Nation-Building in the Third World: A Post-Colonial Pattern, Using Malaysia as a Case-Study. International Television Studies Conference. (Address). London, 10-12.

"The extent to which Television Malaysia, as a national mass media organization, has been able to play a role in nation building in the post-colonial period is . . . studied in two parts: how the choice of a model of nation building determines the character of the organization; and how the character of the organization influences the output of the organization."

Kenny, R. (1984). Making the Case for the Case Study. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 16, (1), 37-51.

The article looks at how and why the case study is justified as a viable and valuable approach to educational research and program evaluation.

Knirk, F. (1991). Case Materials: Research and Practice. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 4 (1 ), 73-81.

The article addresses the effectiveness of case studies, subject areas where case studies are commonly used, recent examples of their use, and case study design considerations.

Klos, D. (1976). Students as Case Writers. Teaching of Psychology, 3.2, 63-66.

This article reviews a course in which students gather data for an original case study of another person. The task requires the students to design the study, collect the data, write the narrative, and interpret the findings.

Leftwich, A. (1981). The Politics of Case Study: Problems of Innovation in University Education. Higher Education Review, 13.2, 38-64.

The article discusses the use of case studies as a teaching method. Emphasis is on the instructional materials, interdisciplinarity, and the complex relationships within the university that help or hinder the method.

Mabrito, M. (1991, Oct.). Electronic Mail as a Vehicle for Peer Response: Conversations of High and Low Apprehensive Writers. Written Communication, 509-32.

McCarthy, S., J. (1955). The Influence of Classroom Discourse on Student Texts: The Case of Ella . East Lansing: Institute for Research on Teaching.

A look at how students of color become marginalized within traditional classroom discourse. The essay follows the struggles of one black student: Ella.

Matsuhashi, A., ed. (1987). Writing in Real Time: Modeling Production Processes Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Investigates how writers plan to produce discourse for different purposes to report, to generalize, and to persuade, as well as how writers plan for sentence level units of language. To learn about planning, an observational measure of pause time was used" (ERIC).

Merriam, S. B. (1985). The Case Study in Educational Research: A Review of Selected Literature. Journal of Educational Thought, 19.3, 204-17.

The article examines the characteristics of, philosophical assumptions underlying the case study, the mechanics of conducting a case study, and the concerns about the reliability, validity, and generalizability of the method.

---. (1988). Case Study Research in Education: A Qualitative Approach San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Merry, S. E., & Milner, N. eds. (1993). The Possibility of Popular Justice: A Case Study of Community Mediation in the United States . Ann Arbor: U of Michigan.

". . . this volume presents a case study of one experiment in popular justice, the San Francisco Community Boards. This program has made an explicit claim to create an alternative justice, or new justice, in the midst of a society ordered by state law. The contributors to this volume explore the history and experience of the program and compare it to other versions of popular justice in the United States, Europe, and the Third World."

Merseth, K. K. (1991). The Case for Cases in Teacher Education. RIE. 42p. (ERIC).

This monograph argues that the case method of instruction offers unique potential for revitalizing the field of teacher education.

Michaels, S. (1987). Text and Context: A New Approach to the Study of Classroom Writing. Discourse Processes, 10, 321-346.

"This paper argues for and illustrates an approach to the study of writing that integrates ethnographic analysis of classroom interaction with linguistic analysis of written texts and teacher/student conversational exchanges. The approach is illustrated through a case study of writing in a single sixth grade classroom during a single writing assignment."

Milburn, G. (1995). Deciphering a Code or Unraveling a Riddle: A Case Study in the Application of a Humanistic Metaphor to the Reporting of Social Studies Teaching. Theory and Research in Education, 13.

This citation serves as an example of how case studies document learning procedures in a senior-level economics course.

Milley, J. E. (1979). An Investigation of Case Study as an Approach to Program Evaluation. 19th Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research. (Address). San Diego.

The case study method merged a narrative report focusing on the evaluator as participant-observer with document review, interview, content analysis, attitude questionnaire survey, and sociogram analysis. Milley argues that case study program evaluation has great potential for widespread use.

Minnis, J. R. (1985, Sept.). Ethnography, Case Study, Grounded Theory, and Distance Education Research. Distance Education, 6.2.

This article describes and defines the strengths and weaknesses of ethnography, case study, and grounded theory.

Nunan, D. (1992). Collaborative language learning and teaching . New York: Cambridge University Press.

Included in this series of essays is Peter Sturman’s "Team Teaching: a case study from Japan" and David Nunan’s own "Toward a collaborative approach to curriculum development: a case study."

Nystrand, M., ed. (1982). What Writers Know: The Language, Process, and Structure of Written Discourse . New York: Academic Press.

Owenby, P. H. (1992). Making Case Studies Come Alive. Training, 29, (1), 43-46. (ERIC)

This article provides tips for writing more effective case studies.

---. (1981). Pausing and Planning: The Tempo of Writer Discourse Production. Research in the Teaching of English, 15 (2),113-34.

Perl, S. (1979). The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 13, 317-336.

"Summarizes a study of five unskilled college writers, focusing especially on one of the five, and discusses the findings in light of current pedagogical practice and research design."

Pilcher J. and A. Coffey. eds. (1996). Gender and Qualitative Research . Brookfield: Aldershot, Hants, England.

This book provides a series of essays which look at gender identity research, qualitative research and applications of case study to questions of gendered pedagogy.

Pirie, B. S. (1993). The Case of Morty: A Four Year Study. Gifted Education International, 9 (2), 105-109.

This case study describes a boy from kindergarten through third grade with above average intelligence but difficulty in learning to read, write, and spell.

Popkewitz, T. (1993). Changing Patterns of Power: Social Regulation and Teacher Education Reform. Albany: SUNY Press.

Popkewitz edits this series of essays that address case studies on educational change and the training of teachers. The essays vary in terms of discipline and scope. Also, several authors include case studies of educational practices in countries other than the United States.

---. (1984). The Predrafting Processes of Four High- and Four Low Apprehensive Writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 18, (1), 45-64.

Rasmussen, P. (1985, March) A Case Study on the Evaluation of Research at the Technical University of Denmark. International Journal of Institutional Management in Higher Education, 9 (1).

This is an example of a case study methodology used to evaluate the chemistry and chemical engineering departments at the University of Denmark.

Roth, K. J. (1986). Curriculum Materials, Teacher Talk, and Student Learning: Case Studies in Fifth-Grade Science Teaching . East Lansing: Institute for Research on Teaching.

Roth offers case studies on elementary teachers, elementary school teaching, science studies and teaching, and verbal learning.

Selfe, C. L. (1985). An Apprehensive Writer Composes. When a Writer Can't Write: Studies in Writer's Block and Other Composing-Process Problems . (pp. 83-95). Ed. Mike Rose. NMY: Guilford.

Smith-Lewis, M., R. and Ford, A. (1987). A User's Perspective on Augmentative Communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 3, 12-7.

"During a series of in-depth interviews, a 25-yr-old woman with cerebral palsy who utilized augmentative communication reflected on the effectiveness of the devices designed for her during her school career."

St. Pierre, R., G. (1980, April). Follow Through: A Case Study in Metaevaluation Research . 64th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. (Address).

The three approaches to metaevaluation are evaluation of primary evaluations, integrative meta-analysis with combined primary evaluation results, and re-analysis of the raw data from a primary evaluation.

Stahler, T., M. (1996, Feb.) Early Field Experiences: A Model That Worked. ERIC.

"This case study of a field and theory class examines a model designed to provide meaningful field experiences for preservice teachers while remaining consistent with the instructor's beliefs about the role of teacher education in preparing teachers for the classroom."

Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

This book examines case study research in education and case study methodology.

Stiegelbauer, S. (1984) Community, Context, and Co-curriculum: Situational Factors Influencing School Improvements in a Study of High Schools. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Discussion of several case studies: one looking at high school environments, another examining educational innovations.

Stolovitch, H. (1990). Case Study Method. Performance And Instruction, 29, (9), 35-37.

This article describes the case study method as a form of simulation and presents guidelines for their use in professional training situations.

Thaller, E. (1994). Bibliography for the Case Method: Using Case Studies in Teacher Education. RIE. 37 p.

This bibliography presents approximately 450 citations on the use of case studies in teacher education from 1921-1993.

Thrane, T. (1986). On Delimiting the Senses of Near-Synonyms in Historical Semantics: A Case Study of Adjectives of 'Moral Sufficiency' in the Old English Andreas. Linguistics Across Historical and Geographical Boundaries: In Honor of Jacek Fisiak on the Occasion of his Fiftieth Birthday . Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

United Nations. (1975). Food and Agriculture Organization. Report on the FAO/UNFPA Seminar on Methodology, Research and Country: Case Studies on Population, Employment and Productivity . Rome: United Nations.

This example case study shows how the methodology can be used in a demographic and psychographic evaluation. At the same time, it discusses the formation and instigation of the case study methodology itself.

Van Vugt, J. P., ed. (1994). Aids Prevention and Services: Community Based Research . Westport: Bergin and Garvey.

"This volume has been five years in the making. In the process, some of the policy applications called for have met with limited success, such as free needle exchange programs in a limited number of American cities, providing condoms to prison inmates, and advertisements that depict same-sex couples. Rather than dating our chapters that deal with such subjects, such policy applications are verifications of the type of research demonstrated here. Furthermore, they indicate the critical need to continue community based research in the various communities threatened by acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) . . . "

Welch, W., ed. (1981, May). Case Study Methodology in Educational Evaluation. Proceedings of the Minnesota Evaluation Conference. Minnesota. (Address).

The four papers in these proceedings provide a comprehensive picture of the rationale, methodology, strengths, and limitations of case studies.

Williams, G. (1987). The Case Method: An Approach to Teaching and Learning in Educational Administration. RIE, 31p.

This paper examines the viability of the case method as a teaching and learning strategy in instructional systems geared toward the training of personnel of the administration of various aspects of educational systems.

Yin, R. K. (1993). Advancing Rigorous Methodologies: A Review of 'Towards Rigor in Reviews of Multivocal Literatures.' Review of Educational Research, 61, (3).

"R. T. Ogawa and B. Malen's article does not meet its own recommended standards for rigorous testing and presentation of its own conclusions. Use of the exploratory case study to analyze multivocal literatures is not supported, and the claim of grounded theory to analyze multivocal literatures may be stronger."

---. (1989). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. London: Sage Publications Inc.

This book discusses in great detail, the entire design process of the case study, including entire chapters on collecting evidence, analyzing evidence, composing the case study report, and designing single and multiple case studies.

Related Links

Consider the following list of related Web sites for more information on the topic of case study research. Note: although many of the links cover the general category of qualitative research, all have sections that address issues of case studies.

• Sage Publications on Qualitative Methodology: Search here for a comprehensive list of new books being published about "Qualitative Methodology" http://www.sagepub.co.uk/
• The International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education: An on-line journal "to enhance the theory and practice of qualitative research in education." On-line submissions are welcome. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/09518398.html
• Qualitative Research Resources on the Internet: From syllabi to home pages to bibliographies. All links relate somehow to qualitative research. http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/qualres.html

Becker, Bronwyn, Patrick Dawson, Karen Devine, Carla Hannum, Steve Hill, Jon Leydens, Debbie Matuskevich, Carol Traver, & Mike Palmquist. (2005). Case Studies. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=60

Using Case Studies with Large Classes

Why Use Case Studies?

Case studies are powerful tools for teaching. They explore the story behind scientific research to understand the phenomenon being studied, the question the scientist asked, the thinking they used to investigate it, and the data they collected to help students better understand the process and content of science.

A strength of this approach is that it gives students the chance to consider how they would investigate a topic. Their answers are often similar to what the researchers being studied did. But students also come up with novel perspectives and unique approaches to the problems.

Many BioInteractive resources lend themselves to a case study approach. In most instances, what I ultimately decide is to convert the resource into a case study. For example, the video Animated Life: Mary Leakey is an excellent tool to get students thinking about the logic scientists use to study fossils and extinct species. Data Point resources are also a rich source of figures and questions that can be copied and pasted into a presentation to provide a brief case study that introduces a topic.

The Challenge for Large Classes

Many BioInteractive activities are structured in a way that they are particularly useful for smaller groups and classes. And by smaller, I am thinking of fewer than 50 students. To some colleagues, that may seem to be a large class size. Indeed, in many instances, it probably is more than is optimal.

However, when I refer to large classes, what I am thinking of are the large introductory classes encountered in many colleges and universities in which enrollment can range from 100 to 500 or more depending on the institution. Classes of this size present instructors with the dual challenges of not just numbers but also anonymity. It’s logistically unmanageable to share and distribute printed copies of handouts or worksheets.

How to Scale Up

So how can an instructor promote the interaction that is essential to the success of these types of case study activities in such a large group? These are issues I grappled with when I went from teaching at a small liberal arts college where my classes were smaller than 30 to teaching at a large university with classes of several hundreds. I have found what I think are four parts to an effective solution.

1. Define a learning objective.

First and foremost, whether I have 30 or 300 students, I try to think about why I want to use a particular BioInteractive resource. I consider what it is that I want the students to do or think about while using the resource. How do I want them to be different after completing the assignment? In essence, I define the learning objective so I can determine the most effective platform and approach to deliver the lesson utilized in the resource.

2. Create presentations with strategic pause points.

PowerPoint is a common tool for delivering material in large classrooms. It is quite easy to take images and questions from BioInteractive resource PDFs and insert them into slides. After reading the teaching notes and text in the student handouts, it’s relatively simple to develop the story that weaves the slides together in an interrupted case study. This is a style of case study that progressively leads students through the information with carefully planned “reveals” of information and strategically placed questions as stopping points to ponder the material along the way.

Videos are also fabulous resources to use during interrupted case studies in class. For example, I regularly use the video Niche Partitioning and Species Coexistence , which describes Dr. Rob Pringle’s work on niche partitioning in the savanna, as the core of a video case study in class. After the class watches the video for a few minutes, I stop and ask students about the phenomenon being studied and approaches that could be used to answer different questions.

I often use the following questions/prompts:

• Why would anyone care about factors shaping species presence or absence?
• Think about what factors could be important influences on shaping species richness in a community.

How can we use modern techniques to study what an animal is eating when we can’t watch the animal eat? The video does an excellent job of addressing these topics and showing how researchers developed a creative approach to applying molecular techniques to answer ecological questions. How awesome is it that one video can help students tie together the central dogma, ecological theory, and community concepts! Depending on how much an instructor wants to structure the video case study in advance, it is even possible to embed small video clips and questions directly into a PowerPoint presentation.

3. Have students use clickers.

How should we tell the scientific story to large numbers of students and engage them in it? Clickers are a particularly helpful tool for asking questions about experiments, concepts, or results, because they present students with a specific moment when they need to choose among different options for a survey of their opinion or decide among right and wrong answers in a multiple-choice question.

For example, I typically start a case study with survey questions asking students to identify what they think is the most important item on a list of potential phenomena or to give their feedback about an issue in a Likert-scale response. Later, as the case study develops, I ask more specific questions about the experiment that require students to predict experimental outcomes or interpret a figure. For example, when I use the video The Effects of Fungicides on Bumble Bee Colonies , I show students several bar graphs with possible outcomes for the experiment and have them pick which they think the researchers will observe. After revealing the actual results, I ask them questions about interpreting the results and whether the results support the experimental hypothesis. I always allow students to talk and help one another during clicker questions to enhance their interaction and give them a choice to go along with a group opinion or answer based on their individual thinking.

4. Flip the classroom.

Another effective way to use BioInteractive resources in large classes is to use videos to flip a class session. BioInteractive animations and short films are rich with information that can pique interest, start discussions, or provide fundamental information. For example, I recently had my students watch the Genes as Medicine short film outside of class time. I asked them to then imagine they were an alien that found this video clip and to consider what information it would give them about life on Earth. This sparked a lively discussion about what life is to start the next class meeting that was more interesting than me going through a checklist of terms and definitions. Students had to uncover the characteristics of life from the video for themselves.

Benefits and Takeaways

What I hope these hints and suggestions from my own experiences show is how relatively simple it can be to scale up these resources to engage a class of any size. When they first encounter case studies, students can be a little unsure about this approach that requires them to talk to one another in a setting where they are expecting to be a face in the crowd. However, after they experience one or two case studies, I can see groups of students talking and exchanging ideas about the case. They are no longer passive listeners sitting in a room but instead have become active problem solvers seeking answers together. I can leave the stage and mingle through the room to listen to their discussions and encourage them as they develop their answers. This also gives me an opportunity to interact with students besides those sitting in the front row and to further develop a sense of community and connection, solving one of the challenges with big classes: anonymity.

It has been my experience that students quickly adapt to and begin to enjoy this approach. Rather than sitting in class watching yet another series of PowerPoint slides flash by, they are thinking and talking about science with one another. After my students talk things through with their neighbors and “shoulder buddies” during a case study, I find that they are more likely to speak up in class during the case study and at other points during the course.

At the beginning of the semester, I can barely get anyone to answer a question. After a few case studies, students begin asking and answering questions (even when we aren’t doing case studies), and the level of participation by different students in the room is noticeably higher. So in addition to case studies being a more interesting way for me as the teacher to present material to students and explore different biological topics, this approach also has the added benefits of helping build confidence within individual students and community among students, which makes a more rewarding and exciting learning environment for everyone.

Educational case studies based on examples of simulated or real research data can engage students in the process of thinking like a scientist, even when it is not possible to get into the field or laboratory to actually run an experiment. They can help overcome the challenges of data analysis and interpretation that are at the core of science education experiences. The collections of different resources available through HHMI BioInteractive provide a menu of modules for instructors to choose from that do just that. They get students to explore important biological topics from a variety of different approaches and look at the world through the lenses of different scientists. Regardless of what the actual format of a resource is when I encounter it, I know that it is possible to scale it up in some way to meet the needs of my classes.

Come join a  conversation  about this blog post at our Facebook group!

Phil Gibson is a professor at the University of Oklahoma, where he enjoys teaching his students that learning a little botany never hurt anyone and is probably good for them in the long run. When he’s not thinking about new resources to use in class, he enjoys hiking with his family, listening to music, and cooking outrageously large breakfasts on the weekends.

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Cindy Gay presents BioInteractive's short video clip demonstrating the fruit fly courtship dance and its role in selection. She describes how she uses the clip in her AP® Biology curriculum, and how it connects to topics ranging from animal behavior to sympatric speciation.

Kim Parfitt describes two activities (now merged into the activity “Scientific Inquiry and Data Analysis Using WildCam Gorongosa”) associated with the WildCam Gorongosa project. She also discusses a short film on lion populations in Gorongosa that she uses to introduce the topic.

In this video Educator Voices post, hear from St. John Fisher College professor Kaitlin Bonner about how she uses a publicly available data set, along with BioInteractive’s elephant resources, to have her students investigate data.

“How to Read a Scientific Paper” and “Case Study: Reading a Plant Physiology article”

One of the most important skills a young scientist needs to learn is how to read (and write) scientific papers. Some students begin to learn this in a high school biology classes, and others as they begin their university coursework. To help instructors teach these critical skills, we created two articles to introduce students to the practices and conventions of scientific articles. Both are free to download.

The first provides an introduction to and overview of the standard practices, including peer review, ethics, the typical organization of a paper,  and an introduction to numerical data and the meaning of statistical significance. You can download this resource here: ] HowtoReadScientificPaper .

The second is a guided tour of a paper from the journal Plant Physiology (the original article is appended at the back of the PDF). This case study walks the students through the paper, from start to finish, with questions to prompt deeper understanding. You can download this resource here: CaseStudyforHowtoReadScientificPaper

We hope you find these resources useful and they help to make the scientific literature a bit less overwhelming for our youngest practioners!

6 thoughts on ““How to Read a Scientific Paper” and “Case Study: Reading a Plant Physiology article””

This will be very useful for teaching biology students in France. Many thanks, Mary, for the hard work you have invested in this and allowing other teachers and students to benefit.

This is very educative article to sensitize students to develop scientific temper. Scientific paper writing and reading are essential steps for a scientist to develop right attitude and aptitude for scientifc reseach. Success in scintific pursuits depend on the two parameters. I appreciate the efforts of the authors to highlight the points.

it is very helpful for me. Thank you

Thanks so much for sharing these. Ignorance is not an excuse today!!!! you can learn anything

Nice resource!

Just last week I spent 90 minutes in explaining the very same thing in my class.

Nice Post! I hope this would help teachers in understanding the topics well.

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Writing a case report in 10 steps

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• Victoria Stokes , foundation year 2 doctor, trauma and orthopaedics, Basildon Hospital ,
• Caroline Fertleman , paediatrics consultant, The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
• victoria.stokes1{at}nhs.net

Victoria Stokes and Caroline Fertleman explain how to turn an interesting case or unusual presentation into an educational report

It is common practice in medicine that when we come across an interesting case with an unusual presentation or a surprise twist, we must tell the rest of the medical world. This is how we continue our lifelong learning and aid faster diagnosis and treatment for patients.

It usually falls to the junior to write up the case, so here are a few simple tips to get you started.

First steps

Begin by sitting down with your medical team to discuss the interesting aspects of the case and the learning points to highlight. Ideally, a registrar or middle grade will mentor you and give you guidance. Another junior doctor or medical student may also be keen to be involved. Allocate jobs to split the workload, set a deadline and work timeframe, and discuss the order in which the authors will be listed. All listed authors should contribute substantially, with the person doing most of the work put first and the guarantor (usually the most senior team member) at the end.

Getting consent

Gain permission and written consent to write up the case from the patient or parents, if your patient is a child, and keep a copy because you will need it later for submission to journals.

Information gathering

Gather all the information from the medical notes and the hospital’s electronic systems, including copies of blood results and imaging, as medical notes often disappear when the patient is discharged and are notoriously difficult to find again. Remember to anonymise the data according to your local hospital policy.

Write up the case emphasising the interesting points of the presentation, investigations leading to diagnosis, and management of the disease/pathology. Get input on the case from all members of the team, highlighting their involvement. Also include the prognosis of the patient, if known, as the reader will want to know the outcome.

Coming up with a title

Discuss a title with your supervisor and other members of the team, as this provides the focus for your article. The title should be concise and interesting but should also enable people to find it in medical literature search engines. Also think about how you will present your case study—for example, a poster presentation or scientific paper—and consider potential journals or conferences, as you may need to write in a particular style or format.

Background research

Research the disease/pathology that is the focus of your article and write a background paragraph or two, highlighting the relevance of your case report in relation to this. If you are struggling, seek the opinion of a specialist who may know of relevant articles or texts. Another good resource is your hospital library, where staff are often more than happy to help with literature searches.

How your case is different

Move on to explore how the case presented differently to the admitting team. Alternatively, if your report is focused on management, explore the difficulties the team came across and alternative options for treatment.

Finish by explaining why your case report adds to the medical literature and highlight any learning points.

Writing an abstract

The abstract should be no longer than 100-200 words and should highlight all your key points concisely. This can be harder than writing the full article and needs special care as it will be used to judge whether your case is accepted for presentation or publication.

Discuss with your supervisor or team about options for presenting or publishing your case report. At the very least, you should present your article locally within a departmental or team meeting or at a hospital grand round. Well done!

Competing interests: We have read and understood BMJ’s policy on declaration of interests and declare that we have no competing interests.

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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.

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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McCombes, S. (2023, November 20). What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods. Scribbr. Retrieved August 10, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/case-study/

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How to Write a Case Study - All You Wanted to Know

What do you study in your college? If you are a psychology, sociology, or anthropology student, we bet you might be familiar with what a case study is. This research method is used to study a certain person, group, or situation. In this guide from our dissertation writing service , you will learn how to write a case study professionally, from researching to citing sources properly. Also, we will explore different types of case studies and show you examples — so that you won’t have any other questions left.

What Is a Case Study?

A case study is a subcategory of research design which investigates problems and offers solutions. Case studies can range from academic research studies to corporate promotional tools trying to sell an idea—their scope is quite vast.

What Is the Difference Between a Research Paper and a Case Study?

While research papers turn the reader’s attention to a certain problem, case studies go even further. Case study guidelines require students to pay attention to details, examining issues closely and in-depth using different research methods. For example, case studies may be used to examine court cases if you study Law, or a patient's health history if you study Medicine. Case studies are also used in Marketing, which are thorough, empirically supported analysis of a good or service's performance. Well-designed case studies can be valuable for prospective customers as they can identify and solve the potential customers pain point.

Case studies involve a lot of storytelling – they usually examine particular cases for a person or a group of people. This method of research is very helpful, as it is very practical and can give a lot of hands-on information. Most commonly, the length of the case study is about 500-900 words, which is much less than the length of an average research paper.

The structure of a case study is very similar to storytelling. It has a protagonist or main character, which in your case is actually a problem you are trying to solve. You can use the system of 3 Acts to make it a compelling story. It should have an introduction, rising action, a climax where transformation occurs, falling action, and a solution.

Here is a rough formula for you to use in your case study:

Problem (Act I): > Solution (Act II) > Result (Act III) > Conclusion.

Types of Case Studies

The purpose of a case study is to provide detailed reports on an event, an institution, a place, future customers, or pretty much anything. There are a few common types of case study, but the type depends on the topic. The following are the most common domains where case studies are needed:

• Historical case studies are great to learn from. Historical events have a multitude of source info offering different perspectives. There are always modern parallels where these perspectives can be applied, compared, and thoroughly analyzed.
• Problem-oriented case studies are usually used for solving problems. These are often assigned as theoretical situations where you need to immerse yourself in the situation to examine it. Imagine you’re working for a startup and you’ve just noticed a significant flaw in your product’s design. Before taking it to the senior manager, you want to do a comprehensive study on the issue and provide solutions. On a greater scale, problem-oriented case studies are a vital part of relevant socio-economic discussions.
• Cumulative case studies collect information and offer comparisons. In business, case studies are often used to tell people about the value of a product.
• Critical case studies explore the causes and effects of a certain case.
• Illustrative case studies describe certain events, investigating outcomes and lessons learned.

Need a compelling case study? EssayPro has got you covered. Our experts are ready to provide you with detailed, insightful case studies that capture the essence of real-world scenarios. Elevate your academic work with our professional assistance.

Case Study Format

The case study format is typically made up of eight parts:

• Executive Summary. Explain what you will examine in the case study. Write an overview of the field you’re researching. Make a thesis statement and sum up the results of your observation in a maximum of 2 sentences.
• Background. Provide background information and the most relevant facts. Isolate the issues.
• Case Evaluation. Isolate the sections of the study you want to focus on. In it, explain why something is working or is not working.
• Proposed Solutions. Offer realistic ways to solve what isn’t working or how to improve its current condition. Explain why these solutions work by offering testable evidence.
• Conclusion. Summarize the main points from the case evaluations and proposed solutions. 6. Recommendations. Talk about the strategy that you should choose. Explain why this choice is the most appropriate.
• Implementation. Explain how to put the specific strategies into action.
• References. Provide all the citations.

How to Write a Case Study

Let's discover how to write a case study.

Setting Up the Research

When writing a case study, remember that research should always come first. Reading many different sources and analyzing other points of view will help you come up with more creative solutions. You can also conduct an actual interview to thoroughly investigate the customer story that you'll need for your case study. Including all of the necessary research, writing a case study may take some time. The research process involves doing the following:

• Define your objective. Explain the reason why you’re presenting your subject. Figure out where you will feature your case study; whether it is written, on video, shown as an infographic, streamed as a podcast, etc.
• Determine who will be the right candidate for your case study. Get permission, quotes, and other features that will make your case study effective. Get in touch with your candidate to see if they approve of being part of your work. Study that candidate’s situation and note down what caused it.
• Identify which various consequences could result from the situation. Follow these guidelines on how to start a case study: surf the net to find some general information you might find useful.
• Make a list of credible sources and examine them. Seek out important facts and highlight problems. Always write down your ideas and make sure to brainstorm.
• Focus on several key issues – why they exist, and how they impact your research subject. Think of several unique solutions. Draw from class discussions, readings, and personal experience. When writing a case study, focus on the best solution and explore it in depth. After having all your research in place, writing a case study will be easy. You may first want to check the rubric and criteria of your assignment for the correct case study structure.

Read Also: ' WHAT IS A CREDIBLE SOURCES ?'

Although your instructor might be looking at slightly different criteria, every case study rubric essentially has the same standards. Your professor will want you to exhibit 8 different outcomes:

• Correctly identify the concepts, theories, and practices in the discipline.
• Identify the relevant theories and principles associated with the particular study.
• Evaluate legal and ethical principles and apply them to your decision-making.
• Recognize the global importance and contribution of your case.
• Construct a coherent summary and explanation of the study.
• Demonstrate analytical and critical-thinking skills.
• Explain the interrelationships between the environment and nature.
• Integrate theory and practice of the discipline within the analysis.

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Case Study Outline

Let's look at the structure of an outline based on the issue of the alcoholic addiction of 30 people.

Introduction

• Statement of the issue: Alcoholism is a disease rather than a weakness of character.
• Presentation of the problem: Alcoholism is affecting more than 14 million people in the USA, which makes it the third most common mental illness there.
• Explanation of the terms: In the past, alcoholism was commonly referred to as alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction. Alcoholism is now the more severe stage of this addiction in the disorder spectrum.
• Hypotheses: Drinking in excess can lead to the use of other drugs.
• Importance of your story: How the information you present can help people with their addictions.
• Background of the story: Include an explanation of why you chose this topic.
• Presentation of analysis and data: Describe the criteria for choosing 30 candidates, the structure of the interview, and the outcomes.
• Strong argument 1: ex. X% of candidates dealing with anxiety and depression...
• Strong argument 2: ex. X amount of people started drinking by their mid-teens.
• Strong argument 3: ex. X% of respondents’ parents had issues with alcohol.
• Concluding statement: I have researched if alcoholism is a disease and found out that…
• Recommendations: Ways and actions for preventing alcohol use.

Writing a Case Study Draft

After you’ve done your case study research and written the outline, it’s time to focus on the draft. In a draft, you have to develop and write your case study by using: the data which you collected throughout the research, interviews, and the analysis processes that were undertaken. Follow these rules for the draft:

Use Data to Illustrate Key Points in Your Case Study

Even though your case study is a story, it should be based on evidence. Use as much data as possible to illustrate your point. Without the right data, your case study may appear weak and the readers may not be able to relate to your issue as much as they should. Let's see the examples from essay writing service :

‍ With data: Alcoholism is affecting more than 14 million people in the USA, which makes it the third most common mental illness there. Without data: A lot of people suffer from alcoholism in the United States.

Try to include as many credible sources as possible. You may have terms or sources that could be hard for other cultures to understand. If this is the case, you should include them in the appendix or Notes for the Instructor or Professor.

Finalizing the Draft: Checklist

After you finish drafting your case study, polish it up by answering these ‘ask yourself’ questions and think about how to end your case study:

• Check that you follow the correct case study format, also in regards to text formatting.
• Check that your work is consistent with its referencing and citation style.
• Micro-editing — check for grammar and spelling issues.
• Macro-editing — does ‘the big picture’ come across to the reader? Is there enough raw data, such as real-life examples or personal experiences? Have you made your data collection process completely transparent? Does your analysis provide a clear conclusion, allowing for further research and practice?

Problems to avoid:

• Overgeneralization – Do not go into further research that deviates from the main problem.
• Failure to Document Limitations – Just as you have to clearly state the limitations of a general research study, you must describe the specific limitations inherent in the subject of analysis.
• Failure to Extrapolate All Possible Implications – Just as you don't want to over-generalize from your case study findings, you also have to be thorough in the consideration of all possible outcomes or recommendations derived from your findings.

How to Create a Title Page and Cite a Case Study

Let's see how to create an awesome title page.

Your title page depends on the prescribed citation format. The title page should include:

• A title that attracts some attention and describes your study
• The title should have the words “case study” in it
• The title should range between 5-9 words in length
• Your name and contact information
• Your finished paper should be only 500 to 1,500 words in length.With this type of assignment, write effectively and avoid fluff

Here is a template for the APA and MLA format title page:

There are some cases when you need to cite someone else's study in your own one – therefore, you need to master how to cite a case study. A case study is like a research paper when it comes to citations. You can cite it like you cite a book, depending on what style you need.

Citation Example in MLA ‍ Hill, Linda, Tarun Khanna, and Emily A. Stecker. HCL Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing, 2008. Print.

Citation Example in APA ‍ Hill, L., Khanna, T., & Stecker, E. A. (2008). HCL Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing.

Citation Example in Chicago Hill, Linda, Tarun Khanna, and Emily A. Stecker. HCL Technologies.

Case Study Examples

To give you an idea of a professional case study example, we gathered and linked some below.

Eastman Kodak Case Study

Case Study Example: Audi Trains Mexican Autoworkers in Germany

To conclude, a case study is one of the best methods of getting an overview of what happened to a person, a group, or a situation in practice. It allows you to have an in-depth glance at the real-life problems that businesses, healthcare industry, criminal justice, etc. may face. This insight helps us look at such situations in a different light. This is because we see scenarios that we otherwise would not, without necessarily being there. If you need custom essays , try our research paper writing services .

Get Help Form Qualified Writers

Crafting a case study is not easy. You might want to write one of high quality, but you don’t have the time or expertise. If you’re having trouble with your case study, help with essay request - we'll help. EssayPro writers have read and written countless case studies and are experts in endless disciplines. Request essay writing, editing, or proofreading assistance from our custom case study writing service , and all of your worries will be gone.

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Crafting a case study is not easy. You might want to write one of high quality, but you don’t have the time or expertise. Request ' write my case study ' assistance from our service.

What Is A Case Study?

How to cite a case study in apa, how to write a case study.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

How to Write a Research Report for HSC Biology in 8 Steps

Chances are, during your depth studies in preliminary and HSC Biology , you’ll be expected to write up a research report for your investigation.

To many, this will be the most tedious part of your study. But there are benefits!

Learning how to structure and flesh out your research report in HSC Biology can provide you with the experience necessary to write research reports in the future! 

Research reports are commonly required in most STEM courses in university and learning how to compose one early on will give you a head start.

In this article, we’ll provide you with a detailed, step by step guide on how to write a Research Report specifically for HSC Biology.

Let’s dive in!

What is a Research Report? How do we write a Research Report? Step 1: Title Step 2: Author/s Step 3: Abstract Step 4: Introduction Step 5: Methodology and Materials Step 6: Results Step 7: Discussion Step 8: References

What is a Research Report?

Research reports are summative articles, written by you (the researcher), based on an investigation or experiment you conducted!

They are useful for providing a method to share results, methodology and other scientific concepts. 

Biology, in particular, is a subject which relies heavily on reports to convey information and results! It is a field which focuses not only on quantitative results (measurements and calculations), but also qualitative ones (descriptions).

An investigation report is probably the most hassle-free way we can effectively record qualitative results.

Let’s take a look at the NESA HSC Biology assessment outline:

According to NESA, you may be asked to write a research report following your depth study.

Your research report should include your hypothesis, methods, results and discussion. Let’s go into this a little deeper!

How do we write an HSC Biology Research Report?

Almost all disciplines of science follow similar styles and formatting with some occasional minor differences.

We’ve managed to simplify the process of writing an HSC Biology research report into 8 easy steps for you to follow!

Step 1: Title

Your title should be comprehensive enough to describe the contents of your study, but not so much that only a specialist might understand.

Think of your title as a descriptor for your experiment.

For example: Caffeinated coffee and its effects on post-exercise heart rate as a measure of aerobic capacity 

Step 2: Author/s

This section of your report should contain the names of all authors and contributors to your investigation.

Generally, the first name should be that of the individual who wrote the report.

Step 3: Abstract

The abstract is a summary or a preview of what you did, what results you obtained and how you obtained them.

Generally abstracts should:

• NOT be longer than a paragraph (150-250 words)
• Summarise purpose, methods, results and conclusion
• Be clear and succinct

For example: Organ and tissue transplantation processes have constantly been hindered by the immunological intolerance between biological systems and genetically different grafts. Although tissue transplantation has great potential, the need for significant immunosuppression results in serious side-effects such as opportunistic infections. By re-engineering the body to accept allogenic transplantations through mixed chimerism, the body can sustain a state of immunological tolerance rather than broad-scale immunosuppression. Donor stem cells can migrate throughout the recipient’s bone marrow compartments and through hematopoiesis, generates central tolerance. Due to this breakthrough, the use of immunosuppressants will be made mostly redundant with long term mixed chimerism…

Note: This sample abstract contains fictitious data and may not convey real results. The purpose of this example is to provide you with an exemplar on abstract structure.

Step 4: Introduction

What was your research question/s? What is the background context of your study? What is/ are your hypothesis/es?

These are just a few of the questions you need to address in your introduction.

Your introduction should:

• Introduce your research question
• Describe background research and its importance to your topic
• State what hypothesis you drew from existing knowledge
• Explain how your study is beneficial for the scientific community
• Be within a one to four paragraph range

Example of hypothesis: Through the analysis of this experimental aim, a hypothesis was developed stating that the consumption of caffeine would improve aerobic capacity by inducing a higher resting heart rate and faster heart-rate recovery post-exercise.

Step 5: Methodology and Materials

The method and materials section should highlight how you went about answering your research question.

Your protocol should be well structured, in order and easy to read.

HOWEVER, easy to read does not mean simple! Your protocol should be detailed enough so that another scientist can exactly replicate your experiment using your method.

If your protocol is complex, consider adding in a diagram, flowchart or illustration to help your reader visualise your method.

Note: your methods section should NOT contain any results.

For example: This study was conducted using a double-blind treatment design. Subjects (n=15) were healthy young adults of ages 17-30 who had consumed food as normal and limited their beverage intake to water in the 2 hours prior to the experiment. Exclusion factors were considered as individuals with cardiovascular or respiratory health conditions and women who were pregnant…

Step 6: Results

This is the part where you present your results. This is usually in the form of tables or graphs but may depend on whether your research question specifies qualitative or quantitative findings.

Do NOT discuss your results or their implications here. Save this for the discussion section.

For example: The mean resting heart rate of individuals 1 hour after the consumption of caffeinated coffee (180 mg caffeine; n=8) was 70 beats per minute (BPM) (Figure 1.). The subjects who consumed decaffeinated coffee (no caffeine; n=7) after 1 hour had a mean resting heart rate of 72.86 BPM. 

Step 7: Discussion

Highlight and analyse any significant results. To really flesh out your discussion, ask yourself if it answers these questions:

Does my discussion:

• Relate my results to my research question?
• Analyse and explain my results?
• State whether my results support my hypothesis?
• Analyse whether or not my results are consistent with or contrary to existing scientific literature?
• Suggest ways to improve the accuracy, reliability or validity of the experiment?
• Acknowledge how my research fits into the big picture?
• Contain a concluding paragraph?

For example: The results of this study display high variability in mean resting heart rate after the ingestion of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and hence no conclusive difference can be ascertained. This contradicts the first part of our hypothesis as caffeine did not alter the resting heart rate of coffee drinkers…

Step 8: References

In the references section, cite any and all literature you may have mentioned or used in your report. Referencing styles may vary from school to school, so make sure you check your marking criteria!

Note: These sample references utilise the University of Sydney’s Harvard style referencing.

And that wraps up our 8 step guide to writing an HSC Biology research report – good luck!

Struggled in Year 11? Think you have some learning gaps that need to be filled? R evise your fundamentals with a complete breakdown of Module 1: Cells as the Basis of Life  for everything you need to know and more module guides inside!

Looking for some extra help with your HSC Biology research report?

We have an incredible team of Sydney Biology tutors and mentors who are new HSC syllabus experts!

We can help you master report writing and ace your upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby!

We’ve supported over 5,000 students over the last 10 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 19%!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC Biology tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!

Alex Gao is an Art of Smart mentor and blogger who is passionate about teaching students the skills and know-how of high school. Alex has a great interest in the field of Biology, avidly blogging about the topic whilst also aspiring to become a Biomedical Engineer. Alex graduated in 2018 and was listed on the Distinguished Achievers list for Advanced English, Extension 1 English and Biology.

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How to Write a Case Study: Definition, Outline, Steps & Examples

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A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth examination of a particular subject, often a person, group, event, or organization. It's used to explore complex issues in real-world contexts. A case study can provide insights that might not be achieved with other research methods.

Are you struggling with writing a case study and don't know where to begin? You are not alone. Most students involved in the Psychology or Sociology field often find this task challenging. Especially if they are new to this research method. However, with the right structure and preparation, creating a case study paper will be a piece of cake. 

After reading this article, you will be armed with all essential details including:

• Definition 
• Case study types
• Basic structure
• Steps on how to write a case study
• Examples that worked.

Let’s dive right in!

What Is a Case Study: Definition

A case study is a research method that involves examining a specific instance to let researchers learn more about an individual, event, organization or concept. It is like a magnifying glass for studying real-life situations. By looking at a single example, we can learn more about complex issues and understand patterns. 

Case studies are used in the fields like Psychology, Business, Statistics or Nursing. As a rule, students apply this research method when writing a dissertation or thesis . 

Depending on the research question and the data needed to address a problem, case studies can involve various research methods.

Research Methods Applied in Case Studies

Case Study Example

A researcher is interested in studying the effects of a newly implemented teaching method on student performance. To find out, they observe a class of 30 students over one semester. The researcher compares the test scores from before and after the method was used, documenting its effectiveness.  The study results showed that academic performance had improved by 11.5% since the new teaching method was implemented. The researcher concluded that this approach works well and can be generalized to a broader population.

Let's recap the main points. 

What Is the Purpose of a Case Study?

The primary purpose of a case study is to gain insight into the real-world situations through the investigation and analysis of a single instance. This research design is often applied to meet such goals: 

• Develop a better understanding of complex issues or phenomena 
• Identify patterns and relationships
• Test hypotheses and theories in natural settings
• Provide practical solutions
• Illustrate best practices or successful strategies.

Every case study writer can customize their work to fit the needs of a specific discipline, as shown below.

Use of Case Studies 

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Types of Case Studies

There are different types of case studies that scholars or students can bring into play. Each approach has its own focus and is chosen based on research objectives. 

• Descriptive case studies This approach involves a detailed examination of a particular situation or phenomenon to understand it better. Here, researchers see the context, events, and processes that led to a particular outcome, and get a comprehensive picture of the situation.
• Explanatory case studies Explanatory method allows us to understand the "why" and “how” behind a particular event or phenomenon. As the name suggests, this type of case study seeks to test and explain the causal relationship between independent and dependent variables . 
• Exploratory case studies Imagine being a detective and investigating a mystery or problem in its early stages. This is the main idea of an exploratory investigation. It helps to recognize key questions, potential patterns, and areas for further research. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion, revealing new insights and uncovering possible solutions. 
• Intrinsic case studies  Unlike other case study methods, an intrinsic approach is used to explore a unique instance. Here, researchers focus on a particular scenario in its own right, rather than trying to apply the outcomes to a broader population.  
• Instrumental case studies This type of study examines one instance to shed light on a larger group or phenomenon. Instrumental technique is a good choice if you want to develop theoretical frameworks and obtain generalizable findings.
• Cumulative case studies  While conducting cumulative research, students compile and synthesize information from multiple similar instances. Here, you combine the results of multiple studies to draw more generalized conclusions.
• Collective case reports Think of several individual instances being studied together to provide a broader understanding of a specific phenomenon. These instances are often connected by a common theme. This enables researchers to compare and contrast cases and uncover tendencies. 
• Critical case studies Researchers use this method to explore exceptional instances that are particularly interesting or thought-provoking. Critical approach helps to analyze why a specific situation occurred and what could have been done differently.

Case Study Structure: Main Parts

When investigating any phenomenon, it’s important to organize your sections in a logical manner. A structure of a case study usually includes such components:

• Introduction This section is a place to present a case. Provide a brief overview of your instance, introduce your key research objectives and prepare the readers for further analysis.
• Problem identification By laying out a problem, you will be able to show the scope and significance of your topic. Identify the main issue that will be examined and build a clear statement of the problem.
• Background A properly established context sets the stage for research and lays a foundation for case evaluation. Offer relevant background information on the instance. This can be a historical, geographical or cultural context.
• Methodology Describe your  methodology in research  – approach, data collection methods and analysis techniques used in your investigation.
• Solution  Now is the time to determine potential solutions to address the problem, and evaluate the pros and cons of each resolution. Make sure solutions are realistic.
• Results  Once a case study is conducted, you should share your key findings. Mention any data or evidence that was collected and analyzed.
• Discussion This part of a case study is a perfect opportunity for analysis. Discuss the implications of your outcomes and draw conclusions
• Conclusion Summarize your main points, restate a problem and solutions, and offer final recommendations or next steps.

Case Study Outline

Before you create a case study, it’s a good idea to prepare an outline. It serves as a skeleton of your project. A well-structured outline of a case study helps organize your thoughts in a logical manner.

Below you can see an example of a basic template. Feel free to use it for inspiration. 

General Outline  

• Brief subject introduction
• Research purpose and objectives
• Necessary context
• Problem/issue
• Problem significance
• Subject/idea history
• Setting or environment description
• Key challenges, opportunities, or turning points
• Research methods used to gather information
• Data analysis methods
• Possible strategies
• Assessment of solutions
• Recommended solvents
• Major discoveries from the data analysis
• Implications
• Limitations/challenges
• Summary of key points
• Restatement of the problem and solution
• Final suggestions or next steps

Based on the sample template shown above, arrange your key ideas and highlight critical information. You may change the blocks to meet your assignment’s unique requirements.

Before You Start Writing a Case Study

Preparation  is the key to success. To make your case study flawless, you need to establish your goal and plan. This will lay the foundation of the whole process before you begin writing.

Ensure you follow these 3 crucial steps before moving further. 

1. Carefully Read the Instructions 

Your professor may provide you with special requirements, case study rubric or exemplary works. The instructions may include details on preferred format, structure, word count, writing style or analysis techniques. Read given material attentively and make sure you fully understand the guidelines. 

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2. Conduct Research

Researching is the most time-consuming part of writing a case study. Review relevant studies on the research topic to gain a deeper understanding of your subject. You may want to go through different sources and identify their strengths and limitations. Strive to build a bridge between your case study report and existing gaps. 

Make sure to jot down all your ideas, opinions, notes or questions related to your research. This approach will help you build an outline and write a case study accordingly.  

3. Gather Data

Now you are all set for the data collection process. Identify the most relevant type of information pertinent to your research question.

Consider using primary sources such as interviews, surveys or questionnaires. Secondary resources may include books, articles, case studies and public documents. 

Your data must be accurate and reliable so double-check your research results before integrating them into your project.

How to Write a Case Study in 7 Steps?

Now that you are familiar with the preparation stages, it's time to dive into the writing process. Writing case studies can be challenging. But by following a structured approach, you can produce a clear and engaging work. 

To create a strong project, it's important to carefully plan and execute each step of your flow, from identifying the research question to presenting your conclusions. Below we have prepared detailed guidelines on how to write a case study paper. 

1. Introduce a Case Study

Start your case study introduction by presenting your subject and providing a brief overview of the research objectives. It's important to highlight the significance of your case and explain why it warrants examination. One way to do this is to focus on innovative aspects, such as a novel approach to a problem or a new technology. You can also emphasize the broader implications. 

You should also preview a structure. This will give readers an idea of what to expect. Briefly describe your main points or provide a rough outline. 

Case Study Introduction Example

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that can arise in individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. In this case study, we examine the experiences of a patient who was diagnosed with PTSD following a car accident. Our analysis focuses on the patient's symptoms, including intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, and avoidance behaviors. We also explore the treatments employed to manage these symptoms. By analyzing this case, we aim to provide insights into the challenges of treating PTSD and offer recommendations for improving therapeutic interventions for individuals suffering from this condition.

2. Describe a Problem

Before you get to the problem, provide context that explains the issue at hand. Identify the scope and impact of this problem. One efficient strategy of creating case studies that trigger attention is integrating examples or statistics. This helps to understand how severe this situation is. 

Additionally, you may want to highlight any challenges or obstacles that have prevented a problem from being solved. 

Example of Problem Description in a Case Study

John is a 28-year-old man who was involved in a serious car accident three months ago. Since then, he has been experiencing PTSD symptoms, including recurring nightmares, flashbacks, and feelings of anxiety. These symptoms have affected his work performance and relationships with family and friends. Despite seeking help from his primary care physician and attending therapy sessions, John has not experienced significant improvement. The challenge is to identify effective treatments that can help John manage his PTSD and improve his quality of life.

>> Read more: How to Write a Problem Statement

3. Discuss Research Methods 

Research methods you apply will define how to make a case study. There are multiple ways to collect data. So your primary task here is to figure out what kind of information you want to obtain. 

Your research strategy should align with your objectives. For instance, interviews can help capture detailed information from a small sample of people. On the other hand, surveys involve large groups of individuals. If you are using interviews or surveys, provide a list of questions participants were asked. 

You can also do experiments to test out different theories or conduct document analysis to identify trends. 

>> Learn more: What Is Experimental Design  

Example of How to Describe Research Methods 

In this research, both quantitative and qualitative data were utilized. 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who had experienced PTSD symptoms following a traumatic event. Additionally, data was collected from a survey of 253 individuals who had not been diagnosed with PTSD. We inquired about their experiences with trauma and the types of coping strategies they used to manage stress. Medical records from John's primary care physician were analyzed to track his progress over time. The combination of quantitative and qualitative data allowed for a comprehensive understanding of John's unique experiences with PTSD.

4. Offer Solutions to the Problem 

The next stage involves coming up with potential solutions. Explain what strategies could be used to address the problem.

For example, if you write a case study on a business-related problem, solutions may involve implementing procedures to improve efficiency. Alternatively, in a healthcare niche, you will offer a new medication or therapy.

Be sure to provide evidence from your research or expert opinions to support your suggestions.

Here’s how to do a case study solutions section. 

Example of Solution

One potential solution for addressing John's PTSD symptoms is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). According to a study by Bisson and colleagues (2013), CBT has been found to be effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD in individuals who have experienced traumatic events. The therapist can work with John to identify and challenge negative thought patterns related to his traumatic experience and teach him coping skills to manage his anxiety and stress.

5. Present Your Key Results

Most scholars judge case study reports by research outcomes. You need to show that your solution works. Analyze collected data and share your most significant findings in your results section . This can be an increase in profits or a patient's health improvement. 

When you write your case study outcomes, it is important to organize the information in a clear and concise manner. Use tables, graphs and charts to illustrate your data visually. 

Provide a short summary of your results and their implications. But don’t just tell. You need to back up your research with evidence. If you used interviews, be sure to include any statistical analysis done for those results. 

Example of Case Study Research Results

Our analysis showed that participants who received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) reported a significant decrease in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as compared to those who received no therapy. Specifically, the group who received CBT experienced a 35% reduction in symptoms. Meanwhile, the control group experienced no significant change. These findings suggest that CBT may be an effective treatment option for individuals with PTSD.

6. Conclude with Recommendations

A conclusion of a case study is where you wrap everything up and provide recommendations for further research. Sum up your key points and explain how they could be used to solve similar problems. You can also highlight any unexpected findings or insights that emerged during the study. Don’t forget to discuss any ethical considerations or limitations. 

You need to create a lasting impression. For this, end a case study with a thought-provoking statement or call to action. 

Case Study Conclusion Example

Our research highlighted the significant impact of PTSD on individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. The results suggested that cognitive-behavioral therapy and reprocessing therapy are effective treatments for PTSD. However, more research is needed to determine the long-term effects of these treatments. Additionally, the stigma surrounding mental health and seeking treatment remains a significant barrier to access to care. It is crucial for healthcare professionals and policymakers to address this issue and increase access to mental health services.

7. Proofread Your Case Study

Once you are done with writing a case study, you need to carefully review it. Keep an eye on these things when checking your work: 

• Grammar mistakes Proofread your writing for typos and grammar errors. Feel free to use our  Grammar Checker  to make sure you got everything right.
• Clarity Check whether your work is readable and concise. Avoid long sentences and complex structures.
• Sources accuracy Make sure to check all sources for accuracy. It is also important to ensure that all reported data is up-to-date.
• Citations Ascertain whether all sources are properly cited and the same style is used consistently throughout your paper.

Case Study Format

Besides the content, it is also important to stick to a specific case study paper format. The layout of your paper should follow guidelines of the chosen citation style.

There are different ways to format a case study. Commonly used styles include APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard. Each format  presents specific requirements for formatting your text and references. 

Check out our detailed guides listed below to learn more about each style. 

>>  How to Write a Paper in APA Format?

>>  How to Do MLA Format?  

>>  How to Write a Chicago Style Paper?

Case Study Examples

Getting actual examples of case studies can be a great way to learn and understand how to write one. To help you out, we have collected several sample case study paper examples for different disciplines. Feel free to use these samples as inspiration when writing your own paper.

Case Study Writing Tips

With the right approach, your effort will reward you with an A+. In this section, we will list some actionable tips on how to write a good case study: 

• Planning your work ahead Planning your work ahead Make sure to create an outline before you start writing and stick to it throughout the entire process.
• Arranging your data logically Break down complex information into chunks and use visual elements (tables, graphs, diagrams) to present it.
• Structuring your writing Use headings and subheadings to organize your content and make key points easy to access.
• Keeping your text simple Write your case study in an easy-to-read language and refrain from complex sentence structures.
• Remaining impartial Be objective in your analysis and avoid personal biases.

Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Case Study

Even a small mistake can undermine your whole work. Here are some common pitfalls students fail to account for in their case studies:

• Focusing too much on the background Provide enough space for analysis of your problem and solution.
• Stuffing with direct quotes Quotes can be used as evidence in your paper. But relying on them too much will make it sound overly repetitive.
• Not referring to all sources Always cite your sources correctly and use only reliable data in your paper.
• Being vague Avoid general statements and be more specific while discussing your results and solutions.
• Failing to mention possible gaps Always consider ethical considerations or limitations.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Case Study

Using a case study approach as your research method has its own pros and cons. On one hand, it is an effective way to explore a particular issue in detail. On the other, there are certain limitations that come with this approach. Below we will cover both strengths and limitations of case studies.

Benefits of Case Study

A case study is like a seed that can grow into a fruitful tree, providing resolutions to intricate problems. Here are the biggest case study benefits you can use to your advantage:

• In-depth analysis Researchers can gather a lot of information on a specific topic or issue.
• Insights into elaborate issues Allows researchers to examine complex issues in a controlled manner.
• Real-life situations You are able to test theories or hypotheses in real-world settings.
• Comprehensive approach Researchers can collect both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Unique revelations This method can enlight on previously unexplored or understudied areas.

Limitations of Case Study

As with any research method, case studies have their fair share of drawbacks. Let's take a closer look at some of the most prevalent issues that can arise when using this approach.

• Limited generalizability Due to the small sample size and unique nature of each case, it can be difficult to generalize findings to a larger population.
• Observer bias Researchers may bring their own biases and perspectives, which can influence their results and interpretations.
• Time-consuming and expensive This approach requires significant time and resources to conduct, making it less feasible for some research questions.
• Lack of control In contrast to experimental research, case studies lack control over extraneous variables. This can make it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Subjectivity Collected data is often subjective and open to interpretation, which can introduce potential errors.

Case Study Paper Writing Checklist

Before you write a case study assignment, make sure to recap all the information you have learnt today. Refer to this checklist to ensure you are on the right track. 

Bottom Line on How to Write a Case Study

Writing a case study can be an incredibly challenging task for any student. However, with the right approach and tips, you can easily turn this daunting task into a pleasant experience. 

We hope this article helped you understand how to write a case study. Remember to focus on the practical part and avoid overgeneralizing or cherry-picking data.

Our paper writing service is your best choice. We have helped thousands of students with their projects and would be glad to assist you, too. Our team of skilled writers is ready to help you complete your work upon ‘ write my case study ’ request.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what is a case study in research.

A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth analysis of a particular subject. This approach most often focuses on a single event, person or group. It provides insight into the context of a problem and can be used to explore solutions to intricate issues.

2. What is the difference between a case study and a research paper?

The main difference between a case study and a research paper is in their scope. A case study explores a limited number of subjects, while research papers investigate multiple variables and/or draw conclusions from larger data sets. While both works contain evidence-based information, the focus and approach taken are quite different. Research papers are more general in nature, while case studies focus on narrow problems.

3. How long should a case study be?

The length of a case study varies depending on the type of assignment. Case studies intended for scholarly articles range from 3,000 to 4,0000 words or more. Meanwhile, if it’s a separate chapter in your MA or PhD dissertation, you will need to keep it between 8,000-15,000 words. Follow specific guidelines provided by your professor or institution. 

4. Why is a case study important?

Case studies are an important research tool, as they provide detailed information on a particular issue. By exploring a single instance from multiple angles, researchers can uncover solutions to complicated problems that may not be immediately apparent. Using this method, scientists also test hypotheses and generate new theories.

5. What makes a good case study?

A good case study should be organized, well-researched, and contain evidence. Some characteristics of a case study include:

• Precise subject overview
• Thorough analysis that goes beyond surface-level information
• Examination of a single scenario from various perspectives
• Fact-based arguments
• Validated findings.

6. How to start a case study?

To start a case study, begin by carefully reading requirements and identifying the main problem to be addressed. Don't jump to conclusions or make assumptions – take it one step at a time. Once you have a clear understanding of your goal, gather relevant data. This includes doing research, interviewing people, and analyzing relevant documents.

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• checkbox I thoroughly researched my topic and gathered relevant information.
• checkbox A problem/issue is clearly defined. 
• checkbox My case study structure is well-organized. 
• checkbox I used appropriate research methods to gather data.
• checkbox My findings are well-supported by analysis and evidence. 
• checkbox I discussed possible limitations and ethical considerations. 
• checkbox The work offers recommendations for further research.
• checkbox My paper adheres to formatting guidelines required by my instructor.

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Blog Business How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Sep 07, 2023

Okay, let’s get real: case studies can be kinda snooze-worthy. But guess what? They don’t have to be!

In this article, I will cover every element that transforms a mere report into a compelling case study, from selecting the right metrics to using persuasive narrative techniques.

And if you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry! There are cool tools like Venngage’s Case Study Creator to help you whip up something awesome, even if you’re short on time. Plus, the pre-designed case study templates are like instant polish because let’s be honest, everyone loves a shortcut.

Click to jump ahead: 

What is a case study presentation?

What is the purpose of presenting a case study, how to structure a case study presentation, how long should a case study presentation be, 5 case study presentation examples with templates, 6 tips for delivering an effective case study presentation, 5 common mistakes to avoid in a case study presentation, how to present a case study faqs.

A case study presentation involves a comprehensive examination of a specific subject, which could range from an individual, group, location, event, organization or phenomenon.

They’re like puzzles you get to solve with the audience, all while making you think outside the box.

Unlike a basic report or whitepaper, the purpose of a case study presentation is to stimulate critical thinking among the viewers. 

The primary objective of a case study is to provide an extensive and profound comprehension of the chosen topic. You don’t just throw numbers at your audience. You use examples and real-life cases to make you think and see things from different angles.

The primary purpose of presenting a case study is to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based argument that informs, persuades and engages your audience.

Here’s the juicy part: presenting that case study can be your secret weapon. Whether you’re pitching a groundbreaking idea to a room full of suits or trying to impress your professor with your A-game, a well-crafted case study can be the magic dust that sprinkles brilliance over your words.

Think of it like digging into a puzzle you can’t quite crack . A case study lets you explore every piece, turn it over and see how it fits together. This close-up look helps you understand the whole picture, not just a blurry snapshot.

It’s also your chance to showcase how you analyze things, step by step, until you reach a conclusion. It’s all about being open and honest about how you got there.

Besides, presenting a case study gives you an opportunity to connect data and real-world scenarios in a compelling narrative. It helps to make your argument more relatable and accessible, increasing its impact on your audience.

One of the contexts where case studies can be very helpful is during the job interview. In some job interviews, you as candidates may be asked to present a case study as part of the selection process.

Having a case study presentation prepared allows the candidate to demonstrate their ability to understand complex issues, formulate strategies and communicate their ideas effectively.

The way you present a case study can make all the difference in how it’s received. A well-structured presentation not only holds the attention of your audience but also ensures that your key points are communicated clearly and effectively.

In this section, let’s go through the key steps that’ll help you structure your case study presentation for maximum impact.

Let’s get into it. 

Open with an introductory overview 

Start by introducing the subject of your case study and its relevance. Explain why this case study is important and who would benefit from the insights gained. This is your opportunity to grab your audience’s attention.

Explain the problem in question

Dive into the problem or challenge that the case study focuses on. Provide enough background information for the audience to understand the issue. If possible, quantify the problem using data or metrics to show the magnitude or severity.

Detail the solutions to solve the problem

After outlining the problem, describe the steps taken to find a solution. This could include the methodology, any experiments or tests performed and the options that were considered. Make sure to elaborate on why the final solution was chosen over the others.

Key stakeholders Involved

Talk about the individuals, groups or organizations that were directly impacted by or involved in the problem and its solution. 

Stakeholders may experience a range of outcomes—some may benefit, while others could face setbacks.

For example, in a business transformation case study, employees could face job relocations or changes in work culture, while shareholders might be looking at potential gains or losses.

Discuss the key results & outcomes

Discuss the results of implementing the solution. Use data and metrics to back up your statements. Did the solution meet its objectives? What impact did it have on the stakeholders? Be honest about any setbacks or areas for improvement as well.

Include visuals to support your analysis

Visual aids can be incredibly effective in helping your audience grasp complex issues. Utilize charts, graphs, images or video clips to supplement your points. Make sure to explain each visual and how it contributes to your overall argument.

Pie charts illustrate the proportion of different components within a whole, useful for visualizing market share, budget allocation or user demographics.

This is particularly useful especially if you’re displaying survey results in your case study presentation.

Stacked charts on the other hand are perfect for visualizing composition and trends. This is great for analyzing things like customer demographics, product breakdowns or budget allocation in your case study.

Consider this example of a stacked bar chart template. It provides a straightforward summary of the top-selling cake flavors across various locations, offering a quick and comprehensive view of the data.

Not the chart you’re looking for? Browse Venngage’s gallery of chart templates to find the perfect one that’ll captivate your audience and level up your data storytelling.

Recommendations and next steps

Wrap up by providing recommendations based on the case study findings. Outline the next steps that stakeholders should take to either expand on the success of the project or address any remaining challenges.

Acknowledgments and references

Thank the people who contributed to the case study and helped in the problem-solving process. Cite any external resources, reports or data sets that contributed to your analysis.

Feedback & Q&A session

Open the floor for questions and feedback from your audience. This allows for further discussion and can provide additional insights that may not have been considered previously.

Closing remarks

Conclude the presentation by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the takeaways. Thank your audience for their time and participation and express your willingness to engage in further discussions or collaborations on the subject.

Well, the length of a case study presentation can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the needs of your audience. However, a typical business or academic presentation often lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. 

This time frame usually allows for a thorough explanation of the case while maintaining audience engagement. However, always consider leaving a few minutes at the end for a Q&A session to address any questions or clarify points made during the presentation.

When it comes to presenting a compelling case study, having a well-structured template can be a game-changer. 

It helps you organize your thoughts, data and findings in a coherent and visually pleasing manner. 

Not all case studies are created equal and different scenarios require distinct approaches for maximum impact. 

To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences. 

Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly.

1 . Lab report case study template

Ever feel like your research gets lost in a world of endless numbers and jargon? Lab case studies are your way out!

Think of it as building a bridge between your cool experiment and everyone else. It’s more than just reporting results – it’s explaining the “why” and “how” in a way that grabs attention and makes sense.

This lap report template acts as a blueprint for your report, guiding you through each essential section (introduction, methods, results, etc.) in a logical order.

Want to present your research like a pro? Browse our research presentation template gallery for creative inspiration!

2. Product case study template

It’s time you ditch those boring slideshows and bullet points because I’ve got a better way to win over clients: product case study templates.

Instead of just listing features and benefits, you get to create a clear and concise story that shows potential clients exactly what your product can do for them. It’s like painting a picture they can easily visualize, helping them understand the value your product brings to the table.

Grab the template below, fill in the details, and watch as your product’s impact comes to life!

3. Content marketing case study template

In digital marketing, showcasing your accomplishments is as vital as achieving them. 

A well-crafted case study not only acts as a testament to your successes but can also serve as an instructional tool for others. 

With this coral content marketing case study template—a perfect blend of vibrant design and structured documentation, you can narrate your marketing triumphs effectively.

4. Case study psychology template

Understanding how people tick is one of psychology’s biggest quests and case studies are like magnifying glasses for the mind. They offer in-depth looks at real-life behaviors, emotions and thought processes, revealing fascinating insights into what makes us human.

Writing a top-notch case study, though, can be a challenge. It requires careful organization, clear presentation and meticulous attention to detail. That’s where a good case study psychology template comes in handy.

Think of it as a helpful guide, taking care of formatting and structure while you focus on the juicy content. No more wrestling with layouts or margins – just pour your research magic into crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Lead generation case study template

Lead generation can be a real head-scratcher. But here’s a little help: a lead generation case study.

Think of it like a friendly handshake and a confident resume all rolled into one. It’s your chance to showcase your expertise, share real-world successes and offer valuable insights. Potential clients get to see your track record, understand your approach and decide if you’re the right fit.

No need to start from scratch, though. This lead generation case study template guides you step-by-step through crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your wins and offers actionable tips for others. Fill in the gaps with your specific data and strategies, and voilà! You’ve got a powerful tool to attract new customers.

Related: 15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

So, you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect case study and are now tasked with presenting it. Crafting the case study is only half the battle; delivering it effectively is equally important. 

Whether you’re facing a room of executives, academics or potential clients, how you present your findings can make a significant difference in how your work is received. 

Forget boring reports and snooze-inducing presentations! Let’s make your case study sing. Here are some key pointers to turn information into an engaging and persuasive performance:

• Know your audience : Tailor your presentation to the knowledge level and interests of your audience. Remember to use language and examples that resonate with them.
• Rehearse : Rehearsing your case study presentation is the key to a smooth delivery and for ensuring that you stay within the allotted time. Practice helps you fine-tune your pacing, hone your speaking skills with good word pronunciations and become comfortable with the material, leading to a more confident, conversational and effective presentation.
• Start strong : Open with a compelling introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. You might want to use an interesting statistic, a provocative question or a brief story that sets the stage for your case study.
• Be clear and concise : Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences. Get to the point quickly and stay focused on your objectives.
• Use visual aids : Incorporate slides with graphics, charts or videos to supplement your verbal presentation. Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
• Tell a story : Use storytelling techniques to make the case study more engaging. A well-told narrative can help you make complex data more relatable and easier to digest.

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Nailed your case study, but want to make your presentation even stronger? Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your audience gets the most out of it:

Overloading with information

A case study is not an encyclopedia. Overloading your presentation with excessive data, text or jargon can make it cumbersome and difficult for the audience to digest the key points. Stick to what’s essential and impactful. Need help making your data clear and impactful? Our data presentation templates can help! Find clear and engaging visuals to showcase your findings.

Lack of structure

Jumping haphazardly between points or topics can confuse your audience. A well-structured presentation, with a logical flow from introduction to conclusion, is crucial for effective communication.

Ignoring the audience

Different audiences have different needs and levels of understanding. Failing to adapt your presentation to your audience can result in a disconnect and a less impactful presentation.

Poor visual elements

While content is king, poor design or lack of visual elements can make your case study dull or hard to follow. Make sure you use high-quality images, graphs and other visual aids to support your narrative.

Not focusing on results

A case study aims to showcase a problem and its solution, but what most people care about are the results. Failing to highlight or adequately explain the outcomes can make your presentation fall flat.

How to start a case study presentation?

Starting a case study presentation effectively involves a few key steps:

• Grab attention : Open with a hook—an intriguing statistic, a provocative question or a compelling visual—to engage your audience from the get-go.
• Set the stage : Briefly introduce the subject, context and relevance of the case study to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
• Outline objectives : Clearly state what the case study aims to achieve. Are you solving a problem, proving a point or showcasing a success?
• Agenda : Give a quick outline of the key sections or topics you’ll cover to help the audience follow along.
• Set expectations : Let your audience know what you want them to take away from the presentation, whether it’s knowledge, inspiration or a call to action.

How to present a case study on PowerPoint and on Google Slides?

Presenting a case study on PowerPoint and Google Slides involves a structured approach for clarity and impact using presentation slides :

• Title slide : Start with a title slide that includes the name of the case study, your name and any relevant institutional affiliations.
• Introduction : Follow with a slide that outlines the problem or situation your case study addresses. Include a hook to engage the audience.
• Objectives : Clearly state the goals of the case study in a dedicated slide.
• Findings : Use charts, graphs and bullet points to present your findings succinctly.
• Analysis : Discuss what the findings mean, drawing on supporting data or secondary research as necessary.
• Conclusion : Summarize key takeaways and results.
• Q&A : End with a slide inviting questions from the audience.

What’s the role of analysis in a case study presentation?

The role of analysis in a case study presentation is to interpret the data and findings, providing context and meaning to them. 

It helps your audience understand the implications of the case study, connects the dots between the problem and the solution and may offer recommendations for future action.

Is it important to include real data and results in the presentation?

Yes, including real data and results in a case study presentation is crucial to show experience,  credibility and impact. Authentic data lends weight to your findings and conclusions, enabling the audience to trust your analysis and take your recommendations more seriously

How do I conclude a case study presentation effectively?

To conclude a case study presentation effectively, summarize the key findings, insights and recommendations in a clear and concise manner. 

End with a strong call-to-action or a thought-provoking question to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

What’s the best way to showcase data in a case study presentation ?

The best way to showcase data in a case study presentation is through visual aids like charts, graphs and infographics which make complex information easily digestible, engaging and creative. 

Don’t just report results, visualize them! This template for example lets you transform your social media case study into a captivating infographic that sparks conversation.

Choose the type of visual that best represents the data you’re showing; for example, use bar charts for comparisons or pie charts for parts of a whole. 

Ensure that the visuals are high-quality and clearly labeled, so the audience can quickly grasp the key points. 

Keep the design consistent and simple, avoiding clutter or overly complex visuals that could distract from the message.

Choose a template that perfectly suits your case study where you can utilize different visual aids for maximum impact. 

Need more inspiration on how to turn numbers into impact with the help of infographics? Our ready-to-use infographic templates take the guesswork out of creating visual impact for your case studies with just a few clicks.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Congrats on mastering the art of compelling case study presentations! This guide has equipped you with all the essentials, from structure and nuances to avoiding common pitfalls. You’re ready to impress any audience, whether in the boardroom, the classroom or beyond.

And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. Venngage’s Case Study Creator is your trusty companion, ready to elevate your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. So, let your confidence shine, leverage your newly acquired skills and prepare to deliver presentations that truly resonate.

Go forth and make a lasting impact!

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• v.15(4); Winter 2016

A Case Study Documenting the Process by Which Biology Instructors Transition from Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Teaching

Gili marbach-ad.

† College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Carly Hunt Rietschel

‡ College of Education, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Associated Data

A case study approach was used to obtain an in-depth understanding of the change process of two university instructors who were involved with redesigning a biology course to implement learner-centered teaching. Implications for instructors wishing to transform their teaching and for administrators who wish to support them are provided.

In this study, we used a case study approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the change process of two university instructors who were involved with redesigning a biology course. Given the hesitancy of many biology instructors to adopt evidence-based, learner-centered teaching methods, there is a critical need to understand how biology instructors transition from teacher-centered (i.e., lecture-based) instruction to teaching that focuses on the students. Using the innovation-decision model for change, we explored the motivation, decision-making, and reflective processes of the two instructors through two consecutive, large-enrollment biology course offerings. Our data reveal that the change process is somewhat unpredictable, requiring patience and persistence during inevitable challenges that arise for instructors and students. For example, the change process requires instructors to adopt a teacher-facilitator role as opposed to an expert role, to cover fewer course topics in greater depth, and to give students a degree of control over their own learning. Students must adjust to taking responsibility for their own learning, working collaboratively, and relinquishing the anonymity afforded by lecture-based teaching. We suggest implications for instructors wishing to change their teaching and administrators wishing to encourage adoption of learner-centered teaching at their institutions.

This is the analogy I thought of, the first semester was where you drop a ball on a hard floor, and at first it bounces really high, then the next bounce is a little lower, hopefully it’s going to be a dampened thing, where we make fewer and fewer changes. Alex

It seems to take a village to send a course in a new direction!! Julie

INTRODUCTION

This study documents the process by which instructors transition from teacher-centered instruction to emphasizing learner-centered teaching in an introductory biology course. Weimer (2013 ) defines teacher-centered instruction as lecture-based teaching wherein students are “passive recipients of knowledge” (p. 64). She characterizes learner-centered teaching as “teaching focused on learning—what the students are doing is the central concern of the teacher” (p. 15). Weimer delineates five principles of learner-centered teaching, which are 1) to engage students in their learning, 2) to motivate and empower students by providing them some control over their own learning, 3) to encourage collaboration and foster a learning community, 4) to guide students to reflect on what and how they learn, and 5) to explicitly teach students skills on how to learn. Of note, various terms are used in the literature to refer to strategies that are related to learner-centered teaching (e.g., active learning, student-centered teaching).

The literature suggests that teacher-centered instruction as opposed to learner-centered teaching promotes memorization ( Hammer, 1994 ) rather than desired competencies like knowledge application, conceptual understanding, and critical thinking emphasized in national reports (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 2011). Further, lecture-based teaching fails to promote understanding of the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of scientific inquiry ( Handelsman et al ., 2007 ). Notably, female and minority students have expressed feelings of alienation and disenfranchisement in classrooms using teacher-centered instruction ( Okebukola, 1986 ; Seymour and Hewitt, 1997 ).

A recommended practice that can support implementation of learner-centered teaching is the use of the backward design ( Wiggins and McTighe, 2005 ). The backward design model involves articulation of learning goals, designing an assessment that measures achievement of the learning goals, and developing activities that are aligned with the assessment and learning goals.

Despite robust evidence documenting the superiority of learner-centered teaching over teacher-centered instruction (as reviewed by Freeman et al ., 2014 ), instructors continue to adhere to teacher-centered instruction. A recent study showed that the majority of faculty members participating in professional development programs designed to help them adopt learner-centered teaching practices continue to rely on lecture-based pedagogy as indicated by classroom observational data ( Ebert-May et al ., 2011 ). Possible reasons for such loyalty to lecturing include the following: 1) instructors’ own personal experiences with lecture as undergraduates ( Baldwin, 2009 ); 2) personal beliefs that transmission of knowledge to students through lecture is the best way to teach ( Wieman et al ., 2010 ); 3) the perception that lecture preparation is more time-effective than preparing learner-centered activities ( Dancy and Henderson, 2010 ); 4) student resistance to active learning ( Henderson and Dancy, 2007 ; Seidel and Tanner, 2013 ; Bourrie et al ., 2014 ); 5) initial difficulties are often encountered when transitioning to learner-centered teaching, requiring several iterations to perfect a new teaching style; 6) learner-centered teaching encourages instructors to cover fewer topics in greater depth to promote meaningful learning ( Weimer, 2013 ), and many instructors are uncomfortable with such loss of content coverage ( Fink, 2013 ); and 7) the learner-centered instructor must change his/her role from an expert who delivers knowledge to a “teacher-facilitator,” giving a degree of control over the learning process to students, and many instructors are uncomfortable with the unpredictability and vulnerability that comes with relinquishing control in the classroom ( Weimer, 2013 ). Further, universities oftentimes fail to incentivize and encourage faculty members to prioritize teaching to a similar degree as research ( Fairweather et al ., 1996 ). It has been argued that the professional culture of science assigns higher status to research over teaching, encouraging scientists to adopt a professional identity based on research that typically ignores teaching ( Brownell and Tanner, 2012 ).

Given that many instructors face challenges and intimidation while implementing learner-centered teaching in their classrooms, there is a need to explore their experiences and learn what support instructors need as they engage in the process of transforming their courses. Science education researchers have recently emphasized the critical need “to better understand the process by which undergraduate biology instructors decide to incorporate active learning teaching strategies, sustain use of these strategies, and implement them in a way that improves student outcomes” ( Andrews and Lemons, 2015 , p. 1).

Case studies have been shown as a useful tool to understand change processes ( Yin, 2003 ). A case study approach represents a qualitative method of inquiry that allows for in-depth description and understanding of the experience of one or more individuals ( Creswell, 2003 ; Merriam, 2009 ). Yin (2003 , p. 42) provides a rationale for using single, longitudinal case studies that document participants’ perspectives at two or more occasions to show how conditions and processes change over time. In this study, we used a case study approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the change process of two university instructors (Julie and Alex) who were involved with redesigning a biology course. The instructors sought to transform the course from a teacher-centered, lecture-style class to one that incorporated learner-centered teaching. We interviewed the two instructors on multiple occasions; we also interviewed a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) and an undergraduate learning assistant (ULA) to gain their perspectives on teaching the course. We explored the motivation, challenges, and thought processes of the instructors during the interviews. We used several data sources in addition to the interviews to build the case study, including class observations by external observers and student feedback data.

Given that faculty members have difficulty changing their teaching, there are recommendations to use theoretical models of change to examine processes of change ( Connolly and Seymour, 2015 ). We looked for theoretical models of change ( Ellsworth, 2000 ; Rogers, 2003 ; Kezar et al ., 2015 ) and found that the innovation-decision model ( Rogers, 2003 ) has recently been used by science education researchers ( Henderson, 2005 ; Bourrie et al ., 2014 ; Andrews and Lemons, 2015 ). Therefore, we decided to use this model to theoretically approach our data. Specifically, we decided to use the adapted model developed by Andrews and Lemons (2015) , which they modified to represent the change process that biology instructors experience when redesigning a course. This model includes the following stages: 1) knowledge, in which the instructor learns about the innovation and how it functions; 2) persuasion/decision, in which the instructor develops an attitude, positive or negative, toward the innovation and decides whether or not to adopt the innovation; 3) implementation, when the instructor behaviorally implements the innovation; and 4) reflection, in which instructor considers the benefits and challenges of using the innovation. On the basis of reflection, an instructor decides to stay with the present version of the implementation or to start the process once again in an iterative manner by seeking new knowledge (see Figure 1 ). According to Rogers (2003) , a condition to begin the change process is that an instructor must be dissatisfied with his or her current teaching approach. Such dissatisfaction is one contributing factor leading an instructor to begin seeking new knowledge about new teaching strategies. Other external and internal factors usually influence an instructor’s decision to change his or her teaching, including release time, institutional commitment, and instructor attitude ( Andrews and Lemons, 2015 ).

Innovation-decision model adapted from Rogers (2003) , Henderson (2005) , and Andrews and Lemons (2015) .

Context of the Study

This study was conducted at a research-intensive university on the East Coast of the United States. The instructors cotaught Principles of Biology III: Organismal Biology (BSCI207). BSCI207 follows two prerequisite courses, BSCI105 and BSCI106. BSCI105 covers molecular and cellular biology, while BSCI106 covers ecology, evolution, and diversity. BSCI207 requires students to synthesize concepts and principles taught in prerequisite courses, apply them across contexts in biology, and generally engage in higher-order learning (e.g., interdisciplinarity, conceptual understanding, quantitative reasoning). The course enrolls between 100 and 200 students per semester.

In Fall 2013, the provost’s office distributed a call for grant proposals encouraging instructors to redesign their courses to incorporate evidence-based teaching approaches. The call specifically required applicants to design experimental studies to evaluate their course redesign approaches in comparison with their usual teaching approaches. Julie and Alex applied for the grant and were funded. Their proposed evidence-based teaching approach was to incorporate a series of small-group active-engagement (GAE) exercises throughout the semester. The traditional section would retain the usual three 50-minute lectures per week schedule. The experimental section would replace one 50-minute lecture with a shortened 20-minute lecture followed by a 30-minute GAE exercise with content matched to the traditional class occurring that day.

The instructors designed the GAEs to accomplish a series of learning goals that were consistent with Weimar’s five principles of learner-centered teaching. For example, one of the GAE goals was to foster collaboration among students in order to mimic the scientific process of inquiry. This goal was in accord with Weimer’s (2013 ) learner-centered teaching principle of collaboration, creating a learning community with a shared learning agenda, and modeling how experts learn. To accomplish this goal, the instructors implemented the GAEs in a small-group setting and required students to exchange ideas and achieve consensus on a single worksheet.

A second goal, which accords with Weimer’s (2013 ) framework, was to engage students in their learning and motivate them to take responsibility and control over their learning process. For example, one of the GAEs asked students to complete a humorous, fictional case study involving a spaceship captain and deadly neurotoxins. In this activity, students needed to use mathematical equations to calculate membrane potentials and to create simulations of conditions that impact membrane potential. Another activity was to collaboratively create a plot of ion transport rate versus concentration. Students were given a computer simulation that they used to generate data; they then entered the data into a Google documents Excel spreadsheet. This created a classroom database that was used to build the plot, which the instructor displayed using the lecture hall projector at the end of class. This activity involved multiple components of learner-centered teaching, including collaboration, student engagement, and student responsibility for learning. Detailed descriptions of a selection of GAEs are published elsewhere ( Carleton et al ., in press, 2017 ; Haag and Marbach-Ad, in press, 2017 ).

The provost grant offered funding that could be used for various purposes. The instructors decided to use the funding for summer salary to develop GAEs and to pay for support from a science education expert. Grant awardees were required to participate in Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) and teaching workshops arranged by the campus teaching and learning center.

In Fall 2014, the instructors started to implement their experiment. Jeffrey, a third instructor, joined Alex and Julie to teach both sections; each of them was responsible for teaching several topics associated with their specific research expertise. In the GAE class, students were divided into small groups to complete a learning activity pertaining to the course topic. In total, 12 GAE sessions were held during the semester. Both GAE and traditional classes were taught in large auditoriums. For each GAE session, students self-selected into groups of three to five students. Four GTAs circulated among the groups to facilitate group work. Students were asked to leave empty rows around their respective groups to allow GTAs to move throughout the groups. This same topic was covered only by lecture format in the traditional class.

In Fall 2015, the instructors no longer conducted a comparative experiment while teaching. Julie and Alex continued to coteach the course with the GAE format with many modifications to the activities and other aspects of the course (see Results ). Jeffrey continued to teach a different section of the course independently. Henceforth, we will describe the experience of Julie and Alex in their process of transforming the course.

Teaching Staff

Julie and Alex are associate professors. Lisa is a doctoral-level teaching assistant (TA) in the biology department. Lisa was a GTA in the Fall 2014 and Fall 2015 semesters. Jason was a freshman student in the GAE section of the Fall 2014 semester. In Fall 2015, Jason served as a guided study session (GSS) peer leader in BSCI207. GSS leaders are students who have taken a course on implementing evidence-based teaching approaches, and who have also completed the course they are tutoring with a high grade. GSS students are expected to facilitate small-group discussions outside class. Jason also volunteered to attend all GAE sessions to help facilitate.

Data Collection Instruments

Yin (2003) notes that multiple data sources are important in building case studies. As such, we use interview data, class observations, student feedback on the course, and information written in the grant proposal.

Interview Protocol.

Julie and Alex were interviewed independently immediately following Fall 2014 for 20 minutes each. Julie was also interviewed independently in the beginning of Fall 2015 for 1 hour. Julie and Alex were interviewed together immediately following Fall 2015 for approximately 1 hour. Lisa and Jason were also interviewed following Fall 2015 for 20–30 minutes each. We used semistructured interview protocols (see the Supplemental Material) with additional questions to probe for clarification. The questions probed participants’ motivation for change, attitudes toward change, barriers and challenges, administrative supports, details about the implementation, and teaching philosophies.

Class Observations.

Two independent raters conducted class observations. Each year, raters attended six classes. In Fall 2014, they observed GAE class sessions and the parallel, content-matched class sessions that took place in the traditional class (overall 12 sessions). This procedure allowed the raters to compare the class sessions covering the same material but with differing teaching approaches (i.e., learner-centered vs. teacher-centered instruction). The two raters attended each class session together. Once in the class, the raters used a rubric to evaluate the class. In Fall 2014, raters used a rubric based on a previously constructed rubric that was created by the biology department for peer observations ( http://extras.springer.com/2015/978-3-319-01651-1 , in SM-Evaluation of teaching performance.pdf). In Fall 2015, to better document group work, the raters used the rubric developed by Shekhar and colleagues (2015) .

Student Feedback.

Students were invited to reflect on GAEs by providing anonymous written feedback on note cards following the activity. We use some of these data in the present study.

Data Analysis

Interviews were conducted by a science education researcher, audiotaped, and transcribed. A science education researcher and a doctoral student in counseling psychology separately analyzed the interviews and the note cards to define emergent themes. Then, they negotiated the findings until they could agree upon the themes ( Maykut and Morehouse, 1994 ). The instructors were shown the interpretation of data to verify accuracy of interpretations. We present the results in accordance with the adapted Rogers (2003) model presented in Andrews and Lemons (2015) . We slightly adapted the Andrews and Lemons (2015) model to the iterative process through which our instructors progressed to modify the course (see Figure 1 ).

Motivation for Change

Before 2014, the traditional BSCI207 class as taught was a three-credit course with three 50-minute lectures per week. Alex described the traditional course:

Before the GAEs came into being, we taught in the very standard, traditional lecture. We used mostly PowerPoint to show text and images, occasionally we would bring a prop in, like sometimes I would bring a piece of a tree to gesture towards as I was lecturing about water transport or something like that. But it was basically standard lecture.

The instructors were dissatisfied with the traditional lecture format for the following reasons:

• Evidence for inferiority of teacher-centered instruction compared with learner-centered teaching . The instructors expressed awareness of the empirical data documenting the superiority of learner-centered teaching over teacher-centered instruction, “There’s a lot of research that suggests that [teacher-centered instruction] may not be the best way to help the students understand what we’re trying to get them to understand” (Alex).
• Lecture hinders understanding of the process of science. The instructors also expressed a desire to get students to learn the process of science early in their education, rather than to passively receive information. “We are being asked as science professors more and more to try and get our students to understand that science is a process, earlier and earlier in their career, and to model what real science is like in their education” (Alex).
• Lecture promotes overreliance on memorization. The instructors discussed a goal to modify the course so as to decrease focus on memorization and increase emphasis on problem solving and conceptual understanding. Julie described: “BSCI207 is the biology majors’ class, and it’s a lot of what the pre meds are taking, and so, critical thinking I think [is important], we’re constantly trying to get them to not just memorize and regurgitate but to put the ideas together.”

We also rearranged the material. So they [the lectures] used to be in a taxonomic orientation, I would give a whole lecture titled the biology of fungi, and the students complained that this taxonomic focus seemed to resemble the structure of BSCI106 [the prerequisite course]. I decided to explode those taxonomic lectures, and take the bits of content that I still thought were valuable, and spread them into other parts. So for example the stuff on mating types, which is wacky and interesting to me, and I hope to the students, is now in a lecture on sex. And they don’t realize half the lecture is on fungi. So they’re susceptible to packaging I think, and we don’t get the complaint any more that the course is redundant to BSCI106 (Alex).

Organisms don’t care about our disciplinary boundaries of research. The organism doesn’t understand that there’s biophysics, and biochemistry, and evolutionary biology, and ecology, and genetics. All these attributes of their biology have to function simultaneously on several different spatial and temporal scales … if we think they do, then we continually miss things that otherwise would fall out naturally if we were a little less wedded to our disciplines.

Relatedly, the instructors noted that most students enrolled in BSCI207 without having taken introductory physics or chemistry, which they thought was preventing students from drawing upon highly relevant concepts (e.g., thermodynamics) from these courses for biology.

• Underrepresented groups do poorly in traditional classes. The instructors quantitatively examined student performance for specific student subgroups (i.e., underrepresented minority students, female students) in previous BSCI207 semesters. They observed that there were disproportionate D/F/W grades for underrepresented students. Coupled with the science education literature documenting the ability of active learning to help underrepresented groups ( Preszler, 2009 ; Haak et al ., 2011 ; Eddy and Hogan, 2014 ), the instructors speculated that adding active learning to the traditional class might help underrepresented students.

In Fall 2014, the instructors went through the process of course revision that follows the adapted model by Rogers (2003) and Andrews and Lemons (2015 ; see Figure 1 ). In the following sections, we discuss their progression through the innovation-decision model. Table 1 shows a summary of the change process for the Fall 2014 semester.

First Iteration of the instructors’ change process

Before the Fall 2014 semester, the instructors engaged in several efforts to increase knowledge about evidence-based teaching approaches to modify the course. The knowledge sources were as follows:

I will go ask [physics education professional] questions. When something doesn’t go well I’ll meet with the postdocs [from physics education research group (PERG)] over there and say, what are they not getting here, how can we make this better, so I’m always trying to get resources to help.

• Reading the science education literature. As a new instructor, Julie participated in the college workshop for new instructors. The workshop was led by the director of the teaching and learning center, who provided several resources for using evidence-based teaching approaches, including an article giving an overview of learning styles ( Felder, 1993 ), a book on teaching tips ( McKeachie and Svinicki, 2006 ), and the book Scientific Teaching ( Handelsman et al ., 2007 ). In her interview, Julie commented, “So I read a lot of books,… I think it was getting students to think about math, I read one of the books [that the director of the college teaching and learning center] had given me [ Scientific Teaching ].”
• Observing other instructors teaching. The instructors had observed another instructor who implemented evidence-based teaching approaches in a small class of BSCI207 (<40 students). This pilot implementation was successful, and the instructors were interested in investigating whether the learner-centered teaching model used could be scaled up to a large-enrollment class.

Persuasion/Decision.

Following the knowledge-generation phase, the instructors felt prepared to change their teaching to a more learner-centered teaching style. They decided to conduct a comparative experiment during the first implementation of the GAEs (i.e., traditional vs. GAE classes; see Marbach-Ad et al ., in press, 2017 ). Although the instructors were aware of the literature documenting the effectiveness of learner-centered teaching, they had several reasons to execute the experiment:

• Obtain evidence for overall effectiveness. The instructors were unsure whether their activities were the best way to change the course (e.g., they were unsure of the challenges that would emerge, how the intervention would impact students). The instructors also wished to explore cost-effectiveness, since they knew that changing the course would require a high instructor time commitment.
• Convince colleagues to adopt learner-centered teaching approaches. The instructors noted that faculty in the department were unconvinced of the superiority of learner-centered teaching approaches, and they thought that a comparison study bringing empirical evidence might demonstrate that changing one’s teaching style is worthwhile. Alex stated, “[A] lot of my motivation for this experiment was to try to provide some evidence that these approaches were worth the effort, and because there is resistance clearly, from some of our colleagues who have been teaching the course for a long time.”
• Respond to grant award requirements. As mentioned earlier, the institution announced a call for proposals for instructors to revise their teaching. The instructions required applicants to propose comparative experiments during course revision to document effectiveness.

Implementation.

As proposed in the provost grant application, the instructors executed the comparison study. In the traditional class, instructors delivered a 50-minute lecture three times per week. In the GAE class, one lecture was replaced with a GAE. The GAE consisted of a brief 20-minute introductory lecture (a short version of the lecture presented to traditional class students) and a 30-minute group activity. As scientists, the instructors wished to manipulate the addition of the GAE day only and to keep remaining variables constant across classes. Therefore, homework assignments, examinations, optional computer tutorials, and office hours availability were consistent in both classes (see Table 2 ).

Fall 2014 class comparison

In the GAE class, on the day of the GAEs, students were instructed to sit with groups of three to five students (of their own choosing) and to leave empty rows between groups. Students were asked to have at least one laptop per group. As discussed previously, the GAEs were designed to be more learner centered relative to traditional lecture classes. To illustrate this here, we give Alex’s description of the membrane transport GAE: “The students had a little computer simulation, and they used that to generate data that they then entered into a Google docs spreadsheet in real time in the class, and there were enough students in the class that their responses produced this beautiful textbook plot of transport rate versus concentration. They built that relationship in a way that otherwise I would have just told them.”

Reflection.

Following the Fall 2014 semester, the instructors reflected on the various pros and cons of the learner-centered teaching intervention in the interviews. Observers and students also provided feedback that was used by the instructors to reflect on both sections of the course and on the comparative experiment. Several themes emerged from these data:

It’s much less about my spouting facts, it’s about my thinking ahead of time to get them to draw conclusions and get them to cement ideas. My role was partly just to control the chaos sometimes, and to control that the TAs had the information they needed so they could provide guidance to the students.

Importantly, observers noted that the instructors were very actively engaged with student groups throughout the GAEs, helping students to work through problems and understand concepts. Julie also commented that teaching with GAEs requires greater proficiency with material than lecturing: “To use these activities, you have to know the material better than if you’re going to straight lecture. And I think some instructors are maybe still learning BSCI207, what is all the material in it. And until you teach it straight a couple of times you probably don’t have the background to really understand.”

We spent less time talking about dating the origins of life using various methods (fossil record, carbon dating); we got rid of a lecture on prokaryotes and had to shrink some of the nutrient assimilation information from two lectures to one.

The instructors explained that, in order to minimize loss of content coverage, they decided to have a GAE class only once per week and to pick GAEs corresponding to lecture topics for which “there was the least amount of lost material by focusing on a particular exercise” (Alex). An additional solution was to move in-class lectures to online, preclass lectures. Julie described this change: “We also ask students to review some of the material that is lost during lecture time into the prep slides they review ahead of time.” However, Julie wondered whether students would benefit from online lectures to the same degree as in-person lectures: “I am still worried they don’t get so much out of those [online lectures] and so miss much of that information.”

• Engagement in learning. Overall, the instructors reflected that most GAEs provided a space for students to interact with one another, TAs, and instructors: Julie added, “I think it was nice to see the energy in the class and the way the students took to the activities, it was different for them.” Observers noted that the GAE class treatment condition was usually associated with increased student interactivity. Specifically, they noted that students in the GAE class were not only more engaged in the GAEs, but that they also tended to raise more questions during the PowerPoint presentations relative to students in the traditional class. Students reflected on their note cards following GAEs, and in the end-of-semester survey, noting that they felt that many of the GAEs were engaging (see Marbach-Ad et al ., in press, 2017 ).
• Giving students control over learning. The instructors noted, “The GAEs represented a chance to turn the class over to the students for some part of the time, where they could do something actively, instead of just sitting there listening to us” (Alex).

It’s actually a bit more how real science works, right, even as somebody who runs a lab, I don’t go into my lab and sit there and talk to my graduate students for four hours, I mean we have a brief conversation about how they should tackle something, and then they go off and work more on it. So it’s more of a checking in and then separating again. That’s kind of how this class works, the GAEs do give the students a little more of a feel of how collaborative real science works, and how no one person is sort of dictating everything, everyone needs to be a bit independent. … I think that this active model gives the students, for the first time, a real taste of how a real scientist would approach a problem.

Students commented on the opportunity afforded by GAEs to take an active role in their learning: “I learned how to apply what we learn in lecture class to actual problems”; “I kind of felt like a real scientist since I was put in a situation in which I had to make a hypothesis myself.”

• Disengagement. The instructors noted that, for some GAEs, students were disengaged. For example, in the GAE on stress and strain, two students were doing measurements in front of the class for 10–15 minutes, and the remaining students were instructed to input data into Excel files. These data were then used to make calculations. Students also expressed their dissatisfaction with this activity on the note cards that they handed in to the instructors: “I feel I understood the concept well once Dr. Julie wrote the plots on the board. This activity was more tedious and like busy work”; “ We could have easily compared values without experimentally finding them. I didn’t feel this deepened my understanding of concepts.”
• Insufficient time for reflection. The instructors noted that most exercises were too long, which did not leave sufficient time for reflection. Alex noted, “Well I think also making sure that if we get the exercise done in the right, short amount of time, then that does give us time to add a reflection at the end. Connecting the results of our exercise back to some larger idea.”
• Student preparation. The instructors felt that students would gain more from the exercise, if they were to come to GAE classes with better understanding of concepts relevant to the GAE. Then, more time could also be allotted for summary and reflection on important concepts. Alex commented, “We probably will need the students to do a bit of preparation before they come in to these active exercises, so that we can spend less time setting it up, and more time summing it up.”
• Assessments and grading misaligned with GAEs. In this implementation, instructors kept the same assessment plan for both the traditional class and the GAE class in order to compare achievement across classes. This resulted in a mismatch between the course activities and the assessments in the GAE section. For example, there were no final examination questions specifically covering GAE material. Of note, the instructors analyzed their final examination questions before conducting the experiment and saw that the questions required students to demonstrate high levels of thinking ( Bloom and Krathwohl, 1956 ; e.g., knowledge application, quantitative analysis), and they believed the GAEs would improve students’ abilities in these areas. Further, the instructors did not count GAE participation toward final grades, which instructors and observers believed had a detrimental effect on GAE attendance. Julie noted that “on the GAE days, only 60% of the students would come. That was partly because they wouldn’t get any credit for it, and they weren’t seeing that it was helping them learn the material better.” Analyses showed that students with higher grade point averages (GPAs) were those who chose to attend on the GAE days (see Marbach-Ad et al ., in press, 2017 ). Given this, the instructors felt that attendance should be incentivized in future implementations of the learner-centered teaching intervention to motivate and benefit a wider range of students.
• Resistance to learner-centered activities. The instructors felt that students’ low attendance specifically on GAE days may also have been because the students did not perceive the benefit of GAEs for their learning. “I feel sort of parental here, maybe the GAEs are like broccoli and brussels sprouts, they need them, they just don’t know it yet” (Alex).
• Group dysfunction. The instructors and observers noted several issues with the groups. Some groups were not engaged, and some students were not participating within their groups (e.g., one student would be left out). In some activities, some groups would finish the activity very quickly and would subsequently appear bored and waiting for further summary or instruction. Julie was frustrated with these occurrences and noted, “People would be sitting there on their phones.” One reason for student disengagement could be that students groups were unassigned and could include different students each week: students “would sit and associate with whoever was around them” (Julie).
• Auditorium-setting challenges. The instructors commented on the difficulty of doing GAEs in the large auditorium: “It’s still tricky to think about how you actually stage all of this, there is a bit of theater to running a large class with 200 students, how you move from one aspect of the process to another [lecture to group activities] quickly, without losing people, without too much noise and disturbance” (Alex).
• Little impact on grade distributions. Alex and Julie were hopeful that the GAEs would lead to large improvements in students’ grades as compared with traditional learning. However, the effect of GAEs was very small. Alex commented, “This was the biggest outcome from my perspective, and it drove much of the revisions for 2015. This is interesting, as it shows that even though we were unable to realize a big payoff in the first year, we nevertheless saw something that we thought was worth keeping and hopefully improving upon.”
• TA training required. The instructors reflected that they did not provide adequate TA preparation for the GAEs: “We hadn’t really prepared the GAEs enough ahead of time so that we could talk about them with the TAs. The TAs at times were really clueless about what was supposed to be happening” (Julie). TAs, although instructed to guide and facilitate groups, apparently lacked the skills to engage students, as observers noted that most of them passively waited for students to ask questions rather than actively approaching students with questions, instructions, etc.

On the basis of their reflection, Julie and Alex decided to continue teaching with GAEs and to seek new knowledge to improve GAEs. In the following sections, we discuss their continued progression through the innovation-decision model (see Figure 1 ). A summary of the change process in Fall 2015 is shown in Table 3 .

Second iteration of the instructors’ change process

• Learn about methods to form successful groups. The instructors reviewed the literature and consulted with the director of the teaching and learning center and other faculty members in the department to form new strategies on building effective groups in auditorium settings. The literature shows that groups work best when they are permanent and students are held accountable to other group members ( Michaelsen and Black, 1994 ; Michaelsen et al ., 2004 , 2008). The literature also shows that taking student diversity into account is important in creating successful groups ( Watson et al ., 1993 ). For example, Watson and colleagues (1993) reported that, although it takes time, heterogeneous groups outperformed homogeneous groups on several performance measures, including generating perspectives and alternative solutions. The instructors also learned from the director of the teaching and learning center about the Pogil method ( pogil.org ), in which students are assigned different roles during group work (e.g., recorder, facilitator). They weighed the pros and cons of implementing this method in the classroom.
• Learn about methods to flip courses. The instructors learned from models of flipped classes ( Hamdan et al ., 2013 ; Jensen et al ., 2015 ), which highlight how to capitalize on out-of-class time to cover material to prepare for face-to-face active learning. In this regard, instructors sought assistance from the information technology office about presentation software (i.e., Camtasia) that can deliver automated lectures effectively.
• Seek expert guidance. During the summer, the instructors again consulted with science education experts to enhance the GAEs. For example, they consulted with a science education expert on how to revise the concept map assignment. Julie described how this guidance helped her “leave the activity a bit more free form and get the students to make a graphic organizer of their own design rather than trying to fill in some pre-designed boxes.” As another example, the science educator recommended strategies about how to streamline GAEs to maximize time spent on developing conceptual understanding and minimize time spent on the mechanics of exercises.
• Learn about strategies to enhance TA support. The instructors wished to decrease student to TA ratio. However, GTAs require departmental funding, which was unavailable. The teaching and learning center director and the biological sciences administration offered to involve ULAs who are unpaid but receive alternative benefits, such as leadership and teaching experience and undergraduate course credit. This model was reported to be successful in our university ( Schalk et al ., 2009 ) and in other institutions ( Otero et al ., 2010 ).

Following reflection on the comparative experiment, instructors sought to keep improving the course and decided to make several changes:

• Teach all sections with learner-centered teaching. Although the instructors reported that keeping the GAE class format requires more time to prepare relative to lecturing and takes time from their research (“fine tuning the GAEs—that took weeks” [Julie]), they decided to implement the GAEs in all sections and to work to improve them.

[Last semester] I had a couple of students up front doing the experiment, and everyone else was kind of twiddling their thumbs while we gathered the data. We talked about the data but we didn’t really have time [to do data analysis and summarize concepts]. I think this year I’m just going to give them last year’s data, and have each group do some analysis.

As another way to modify GAEs, instructors decided to utilize more outside resources such as published, case-based activities. Julie described, “I’d love to come up with some more case studies that we could do. You know the Buffalo site [ http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection ] has all the case studies for all the science classes. So I’m constantly perusing that. A couple of the GAEs that I developed actually come from there.”

I haven’t figured out what the best prep work is. What Alex has been doing is taking the slides he showed last year and just posting them online. I’m not sure that’s the best, or really enough.… But, then they just read. I mean he tries to put more words on them. I tried to find some videos that I thought were appropriate, and I’m not sure that’s any better. I was going to do some of these with Camtasia. In this way you can actually have the slides and actually talk over them and record. But I couldn’t make the software work. I haven’t really gone there yet, I will have to figure that out.

To encourage students to prepare for the GAEs, the instructors decided to give a preclass quiz covering the out-of-class preparatory materials. Julie described,

We’re also doing a quiz this time, we’re giving that preparatory information, they have to have done it by the morning before, they have to take a little 2-point quiz [before class] to show that they’ve covered that material. Then we have the whole class time [for the GAE] so that we’re not so rushed in trying to do to many things at one time.

• Train the TAs better, add ULAs, and involve both teams in the process of GAE development. The instructors decided to expand the team of assistants to decrease the ratio between students and TAs. Julie described the change from Fall 2014 to Fall 2015: “We have a bigger team. We have two of these ULAs, and then we have three UTAs, and two GTAs. So a team of seven helpers, and each person has a different job. The ULAs are specifically supposed to be trying out the GAEs ahead of time. So we kind of run things past them. And then we meet with all the TAs, and then talk through the GAEs beforehand. They have an assigned part of the class, where each of them is hopefully seeing the same students over and over, and hopefully getting to work with them to develop a rapport, and they go in the middle of the activity, so kind of checking in, so what do you think, kind of getting students to verbalize.” The benefit of this new format, where each TA was responsible for a subsection of the large class, was that it approximated a smaller class discussion session in which students could get to know their TAs more personally.
• Revise group structure. On the basis of the literature and their previous experiences, the instructors decided to assign permanent, diverse groups of four at the beginning of the semester. They also decided to instruct students on how to sit in the auditorium with their groups (in two rows rather than in a single line, to enhance group communication) and to award points for completing group work exercises.

In the Fall 2015 implementation, there were several changes to the course (for a comparison of 2014 and 2015 GAE classes, see Table 4 ).

GAE class comparison between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015

• Modify the activities. The instructors devoted a full weekly class period to the GAE instead of 30 minutes. On the basis of their experiences in the previous semester, they revised some GAEs and adapted them to the time frame. Although they had more time for the GAEs, they wished to make them more efficient and interactive: “I think we had to cut some, with the GAEs, because they were taking way too long, but I think in a few cases we simplified them, took out 1/3 of them or something” (Alex). Instead of the 20-minute pre-GAE lecture that was presented in the Fall 2014 implementation, students were asked to prepare for activities at home by watching videos, reviewing lecture slides, and reading textbook materials. In contrast with Fall 2014, the students were awarded three points for participating in the GAE activity and two points for completing a quiz covering preparatory materials that was due before the GAE class. The instructors wished to assign points to these activities in order to “really give them weight” (Julie). “[The activities] formed a large part of the exams as well. So making the activities more integral to the class was a big change” (Julie).

So the next time I drew a map in the room, [which showed] two students in the front, and two students in the back. When you have a very formal auditorium, you have to try and help them assort with each other and talk with each other. The other thing we did was, we were giving each group two copies of the assignment, so they didn’t each have one. So that kind of helped, that kind of had them sharing things.

Finally, TAs and ULAs were assigned to stay with one section of the lecture hall throughout the semester. Thus, TAs and ULAs developed a rapport with a large group of students throughout the semester and were able to learn their names, which facilitated communication.

• Add more and better-trained TAs. Before Fall 2015, the instructors trained the TAs to better engage with student groups in class. Class observation data showed that, in Fall 2014, some TAs were lacking in their ability to engage actively with students. One observer described, “When I observed the classes last year [Fall 2014], they [TAs] were standing in the side [of the auditorium], and sometimes they got to students, but just students that raised their hands. They weren’t active. They were very passive, most of them, because they didn’t know what to do.” Following the implementation in Fall 2015, the observer noticed a change in TA involvement: “Now, it’s more about instruction, they circulate between groups and encourage them to ask questions, they encourage students that aren’t participating … it’s not enough to throw them [the TAs] in the classroom.”

Overall, instructors noticed improvements in the areas that they targeted to improve, and they also felt there were areas that they wished to continue improving.

• Student preparation. Julie described that although new techniques were put in place to increase student preparation, students often seemed unprepared for the activities: “And my data for that is essentially for the first 20 minutes of the GAE they would spend saying, what are we doing? There was a lot of flailing. It took them a lot longer to get going with the GAE than I thought, and I’m not sure if that’s because the preparatory material is not really preparing them, or that they just took the online quiz and didn’t really go through the preparatory material.” Julie thought about changing the nature of the preparatory lectures, “I would still like to explore turning those into little online lectures rather than having them read the slides.”
• Student attendance . Alex commented that the strategy of assigning points to participating in GAEs “made a big difference in attendance […] by incentivizing their attendance, at least on GAE days, they were coming.” The instructors commented that incentivizing participation in the GAEs and the preactivity quizzes increased the amount of student–instructor interaction regarding point grabbing. Alex stated, “The downside of associating points with everything is that I think we spent the largest fraction of our student interaction time dealing with the points related to the GAEs, excused absences, non-excused absences, anxiety about the points, I mean these are tiny amounts of points, but the students took it very seriously. But I think it was one of the top 3 issues that students came up with this semester.”
• Mechanics of exercises. Julie was very frustrated with how students could not effectively operate Excel software: “And they still don’t know Excel. My biggest frustration was that I thought Excel would make their lives easier, and it made their lives harder. I’m almost ready to go back to pencil and paper, just to get them to plot things and think about things, because they’re not getting back to the scientific inquiry and hard thinking, they’re just so stuck in which box do I click.” Alex added, “My issue is that the preparatory materials do a good job preparing them intellectually for what’s the point, but then they do get stuck on the mechanics, what they’re doing with their hands.”
• Allocating time for reflection. The instructors described that they improved substantially in the area of summarizing major concepts and timing activities: “I think we did a pretty good job of every 15 or 20 minutes bringing them back together and saying ok, you would have done this by now. There were a couple that worked really well, and a couple where we were still pressed for time. I think that generally it was far improved” (Julie). Because the instructors had the full class period to devote to the GAE and did not need to compare learner-centered teaching with teacher-centered instruction, they felt that the timing of the activities was much improved. Julie noted, however, “I always overestimate what students can do. I’m still adjusting.”
• Technical issues. There were difficulties with connecting to the wireless Internet in the lecture hall, particularly among students who failed to download the appropriate tools before coming to class. Further, students have different types of computers and software programs and knowledge of software programs required for the course.

The organized approach helped students see the material as well as make a few friends, in fact, I remember coming onto my dorm floor and seeing four people from my class working together, and they were actually in that GAE group, they had made a study group because they were used to working together. One of the aims of this project gets students communicating instead of competing.

Julie commented that there is still room for improvement in the student groups: “I saw a number of groups where at least one person would be left out. I don’t know if that’s a physical orientation, if we could point them toward each other it would be better. Next year one thing we talked about is going to groups of 3, because with 3 you can always get across each other and be more … everybody can talk to each other.” The instructors considered the benefits of the Pogil. Julie explained that they tried to appoint a different group member to act as the scribe each week during GAE activities as a way to increase student participation in groups. The instructors did not strictly enforce this policy, as they were not sure it was beneficial.

And we also had some undergraduates this year, … and I think they were really helpful because they understand what the students are capable of, more than we do … a lot of times they can give you some insight into what’s going on or what classes undergraduates are most likely taking at the same time. It was very helpful.

Finally, Lisa felt that the level of engagement among the teaching staff was higher than for a standard lecture course: “Everyone was very engaged, it’s a unique class to TA for, because I feel like the TAs and the professors are far more engaged than in a standard lecture course, so it was kind of nice.” Alex reflected that, in the future, “It would be even better,” since they will have “a whole floor of ULAs that had us for 207,” and they “will be well-positioned” to assist in the redesigned course.

This case study examines instructor change processes when moving from teacher-centered instruction toward learner-centered teaching. In this study, we examined the change process through the lens of the innovation-decision model ( Rogers, 2003 ; Andrews and Lemons, 2015 ), which recognizes several stages of change: knowledge, decision/persuasion, implementation, and reflection. The model is iterative, recognizing that transforming courses may require multiple revisions as instructors reflect on the inherent challenges and imperfections that arise when changing a course ( Henderson, 2005 ). Consistent with this literature, the first implementation of learner-centered course revision was fraught with imperfections, and the instructors persisted through two rounds of course revision before gaining satisfaction with their teaching approach, although they plan to continue enhancing the course with each semester.

Andrews and Lemons (2015) note that dissatisfaction with one’s current teaching approach is an important motivator leading instructors to change their teaching. Our instructors were dissatisfied with the lecture mode of teaching in their courses due to personal dislike for it, and the sense that it encouraged student reliance on memorization and hindered interdisciplinary thinking. Other motivators for change included 1) awareness of national recommendations to use learner-centered teaching ( AAAS, 2011 ); 2) a hope that underrepresented students would benefit from learner-centered instruction, based on education literature documenting such benefits ( Okebukola, 1986 ; Seymour and Hewitt, 1997 ); and 3) institutional support (i.e., a provost office grant initiative).

These motivations led the instructors to seek new knowledge about learner-centered teaching approaches and how to implement them, which, according to the adapted innovation-decision model ( Andrews and Lemons, 2015 ), is a first step toward changing a biology course. In the present study, knowledge-seeking strategies included consultation with science education experts and information technology experts, reading the empirical literature, observing other faculty members who had adopted evidence-based teaching practices, and involvement with a discipline-based FLC. Following the knowledge stage, the instructors progressed through the decision/persuasion and implementation stages of change. In the reflection stage, the instructors discussed what worked well, challenges, and areas they wished to improve in the subsequent iteration. We present here implications from this study for instructors seeking to change their courses, and also for administrators wishing to promote learner-centered instruction at their institutions.

IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTORS

Weimer (2013) noted that engaging students in their own learning is messy, unpredictable, and challenging as compared with teacher-centered instruction. The process can be difficult for the faculty members who want to change as well as for the students. First, the instructor must adopt a new role as “instructor-facilitator” ( Weimer, 2013 ), giving up a degree of control to the students to take responsibility for their own learning. Relating to their new role, our instructors reported that, on the one hand, the instructor-facilitator role felt like controlling chaos at times, particularly in the beginning, but that it was markedly beneficial for student learning and for their own teaching. For instance, it gave students an opportunity to be independent learners and to engage with their peers in collaborative problem solving, more closely modeling the process of science. Thus, although it may be intimidating to share control over the learning process with students, it appears that there are benefits for both students and instructors.

Second, learner-centered teaching encourages instructors to cover fewer topics in greater depth, as opposed to more topics in less depth ( Weimer, 2013 ). Despite being uncomfortable with losing content coverage due to the function of BSCI207 as a preparation course for the MCAT and a prerequisite, our instructors decided to remove some course topics and consolidate others into shorter units. Next, they implemented several solutions to the necessary loss of content coverage. First, they moved lecture content to required preclass, online lectures that substituted for in-class content coverage. Second, they were strategic about which course topics they used to redesign as GAEs. Specifically, they selected course topics that were historically conceptually challenging for students (e.g., membrane transport). Our faculty members’ transition process provides an example of how faculty members can identify and implement solutions for concerns about loss of content coverage.

Third, a fundamental principle of learner-centered teaching is to encourage collaboration in the classroom ( Weimer, 2013 ). To this end, our instructors implemented GAEs, a series of group work–based activities. Student collaboration is important, because it promotes sharing of the learning agenda ( Johnson et al ., 1984 ; Weimer, 2013 ), and collaboration is a skill that is essential for the workplace ( Hart Research Associates, 2015 ). Group work is a common and accessible strategy that instructors can use to increase learner-centered teaching in their classrooms. Our instructors experienced various challenges and implemented several revisions to group work activities throughout their change process. The most successful strategies for optimizing group work included 1) increasing the number of TAs and the amount of TA training; 2) creating diverse and permanent student groups to increase accountability ( Michaelsen et al ., 2004 ); 3) assigning grades and preparation assignments for group work activities; and 4) restructuring group work activities to provide more time for whole-class summary and reflection on concepts. Group work is just one type of teaching strategy that can increase learner-centered teaching. Each instructor needs to discover what kinds of approaches are most suitable to increase their level of learner-centered teaching. When selecting and implementing new teaching strategies, it is highly recommended to seek guidance from experts, more experienced faculty members, or from a teaching and learning community.

Transitioning away from lecture-based instruction to learner-centered instruction can be challenging for students as well as instructors. The literature has shown that students resist many learner-centered approaches that require them to engage in the classroom rather than sit anonymously in lecture ( Michaelsen et al ., 2008 ; Shekhar et al ., 2015 ). Our instructors learned about student resistance through several means: 1) student feedback that was collected on note cards at the end of GAE classes, 2) end-of-semester surveys asking students to reflect on each activity, and 3) low attendance on GAE days as compared with lecture class days. It is important for instructors transitioning their courses to monitor student resistance and satisfaction, as our instructors used these data to modify the activities from the first to second iteration.

The instructors used several strategies to reduce student resistance. First, through student feedback, instructors learned that they needed to provide students with better explanations for the purpose of doing GAEs as opposed to sitting in lecture class. Weimer (2013) emphasizes the importance of providing students explicit instruction on how to best learn. Therefore, at the second iteration of the learner-centered implementation, the instructors were explicit about the rationale for the GAEs. At various points throughout the semester, the instructors explained how the GAEs were helpful in enhancing skills (e.g., critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, understanding the interdisciplinary nature of science, relating course material to everyday life and to scientific research) that are recommended by national organizations ( AAAS, 2011 ) and employers ( Hart Research Associates, 2015 ). Second, instructors awarded class participation points for completing GAE exercises and grades for completing the preclass online quiz. This strategy resulted in better alignment between requirements of students and course assessments, which accords with Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) backward design theory. This method of GAE grading resulted in much higher student attendance as compared with the first iteration. Third, instructors used evidence-based strategies to reduce resistance within student groups, including creating permanent, diverse groups at the start of the semester. Fourth, instructors took student feedback into account with regard to their satisfaction with specific activities and modified activities with the goal of maximizing student engagement.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ADMINISTRATORS

Given that changing one’s teaching from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered teaching is challenging, there must be administrative support for these efforts.

First, administrators can play a key role in acknowledging the importance of learner-centered teaching. Historically, universities have failed to encourage faculty members to prioritize teaching to a similar degree as research ( Fairweather et al ., 1996 ). Unfortunately, many tenure-track faculty members at research-intensive universities fear that they may be penalized for investing the time to adopt learner-centered teaching. Research-oriented universities should prioritize teaching in order to support more widespread adoption of evidence-based teaching approaches. Julie reflected on her frustration with the university’s message that teaching is devalued relative to research:

I think for assistant professors, I was actually scolded for putting time into teaching and trying to participate in teaching improvements and so, I think it’s discouraged, perhaps rightly so, because they’re not going to value it, so if that’s going to take away from what’s required to get tenure, to get promoted, they want you to know that. So they’re just being honest perhaps.

As part of a university culture that values learner-centered teaching, administrators (e.g., chairs, promotion committees) should acknowledge instructors who are making the effort to transition their courses and understand if their teaching evaluations are lower during the initial semesters of transition.

Second, as evidenced by our study and by others in the literature, transitioning from lecture-based teaching to learner-centered teaching requires a large time commitment from instructors. Thus, funding and release time are valuable supports that administrators can provide to improve the quality of teaching at their institutions. The provost grant was a fundamental support contributing to our instructors’ success in transitioning a core biology course. Further, the fact that teaching fellowships were awarded from the university provost shows that our research-intensive university is beginning to value faculty members’ adoption of learner-centered teaching. Alex commented on these fellowships:

The message comes through that the university values teaching, otherwise we wouldn’t have these fellowships from the Provost, that’s about as high up as it gets, I mean there is this signal, a voice that says, great, please do this. But then when the rubber meets the road, are you going to get promoted? It is not considered a substitute for quality research productivity as a research-active faculty.

Third, learner-centered instruction requires more human resources relative to teacher-centered instruction (e.g., for grading, facilitating small-group discussions, demonstrations, assisting in revising course activities). Administrators should consider ways to assign more TAs to courses that use learner-centered teaching. TAs and/or ULAs could be compensated through financial means or through other methods like course credit. Our university, for example, has developed a training program for undergraduate TAs, in which they receive training in how to facilitate small groups.

Fourth, in universities where there are state-of-the art facilities for teaching and learning, there should be a priority for courses that adopt innovative teaching approaches. In our university, such facilities are in a state of development, and administrators are planning to incentivize faculty who are using evidence-based teaching approaches by giving them priority to teach in the new, state-of-the art teaching and learning facility, which includes classrooms with round tables, movable seats, and advanced technology.

Finally, universities should provide support for a campus teaching and learning expert and an FLC. These resources were fundamental in the transition process of our faculty members. FLCs may be discipline-based ( Marbach-Ad et al ., 2010 ) or campus-wide ( Cox, 2001 ). FLCs and teaching and learning experts can provide pedagogical and curricular guidance, as well as emotional support for the stressors associated with teaching.

Supplementary Material

Acknowledgments.

This work has been approved by the University of Maryland Institutional Review Board (IRB protocol 601750-2). We thank our teaching team members who participated in the study.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

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

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

How to Approach Writing a Case Study Research Paper

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

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

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

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

Structure and Writing Style

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

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

I.  Introduction

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

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

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

II.  Literature Review

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

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

III.  Method

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

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

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

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

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

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

IV.  Discussion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

V.  Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

Problems to Avoid

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

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

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

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

Writing Tip

At Least Five Misconceptions about Case Study Research

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

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

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

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

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An case study examples on biology is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

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• the presence of a specific topic or question. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems in biology, by definition, cannot be performed in the genre of biology case study topic.
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• in the content of an case study samples on biology , first of all, the author’s personality is assessed - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

The goal of an case study in biology is to develop such skills as independent creative thinking and writing out your own thoughts.

Writing an case study is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn to clearly and correctly formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight causal relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and substantiate his conclusions.

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New study led by Center Co-director, Dr. Scott, sheds light on cancer evolution

The evolution of resistance to diseases, from infectious illnesses to cancers, poses a formidable challenge.

Despite the expectation that resistance-conferring mutations would dwindle in the absence of treatment due to a reduced growth rate, preexisting resistance is pervasive across diseases that evolve—like cancer and pathogens—defying conventional wisdom.

In cancer, it is well known that small numbers of drug-resistant cells likely exist in tumors even before they’re treated. In something of a paradox, before treatment, these mutants have been repeatedly shown to have lower fitness than the surrounding ancestor cells from which they arose. It leads to a scenario that seems to break Darwin’s rules: Why do these least fit cells survive?

In a new study, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic reveal a fascinating discovery: Interactions between these mutants and their ancestors, like two species in an ecosystem, may hold the key to understanding this paradox.

Their findings suggest these ecological interactions play a pivotal role in reducing the costs of resistance, providing a path to survival for preexisting resistance. And not just in lung cancer, but across various biomedical contexts where drug resistance is a challenge, including other cancers, pathogens and even parasites.

Bangladesh’s protests explained: What led to PM’s ouster and the challenges that lie ahead

Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International Service

Disclosure statement

Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

American University School of International Service and American University provide funding as members of The Conversation US.

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Bangladesh’s embattled prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled the country on Aug. 5, 2024, after weeks of protests that have resulted in scores of deaths .

Her departure is a landmark moment, but one that has left the South Asian nation facing a power vacuum into which the army – for the time being, at least – has stepped.

To understand what led to the crisis and what could happen next, The Conversation turned to Tazreena Sajjad , an expert on Bangladeshi politics at American University’s School of International Service.

What sparked the demonstrations in Bangladesh?

The protests stem from long-running resentment over a quota system that saw 56% of government positions in Bangladesh reserved for various groups, including 30% for the descendants of freedom fighters who fought in the 1971 War of Independence .

This quota system has proved an enormous barrier to highly coveted civil service positions for the country’s large youth population, many of whom are unemployed .

It had also become a subject of controversy due to how many of those quota jobs went to supporters of the ruling Awami League party.

Under immense pressure from an earlier student mobilization over the issue , Hasina abolished the entire quota system in 2018.

But in June 2024, the country’s high court ruled that move illegal , sparking a fresh round of protests across the country.

Then, in July, Bangladesh’s public universities saw a series of walkouts by faculty and students over new pension reforms that, if implemented, would involve salary deductions .

Initially, the protests were peaceful, but an incendiary speech by Hasina – in which she suggested that the students were “rajakaar ,” a term used to identify pro-Pakistan collaborators during Bangladesh’s War of Independence – inflamed tensions.

The Bangladesh Chhatra League – the armed wing of the Awami League – began attacking students with tear gas and live bullets, with support from the police. The Rapid Action Battalion, a controversial paramilitary group with a history of extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances , was also deployed.

After a video of one of the first to be killed – a university student named Abu Sayeed – circulated online, more joined the protests, leading to a further violent crackdown by police and armed groups.

It is estimated that about 266 people, mostly students , were killed in the protests, including at least 32 children .

The government closed schools and universities, imposed a curfew and cut internet and telecommunications. Meanwhile, student leaders were arrested and coerced to withdraw their list of demands .

But this only led to the declaration of a total noncooperation movement and a massive uprising of protesters demanding Hasina’s immediate resignation.

As thousands of protesters gathered for a long march to Dhaka in defiance of the curfew, the prime minister resigned and left the country.

Is there a wider context to the political unrest?

Absolutely. While attention has focused largely on the quota protests, a litany of grievances had piled up against the government.

Under Hasina’s rule, Bangladesh has seen GDP growth – but this has not translated into economic well-being for many Bangladeshis. Lack of opportunities, high unemployment rates among youth and soaring inflation have been ongoing sources of tension.

Meanwhile, despite the Awami League espousing a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, money laundering , bribery and nepotism scandals have dogged government ministers .

And since its landslide victory in 2008, the Awami League has eroded the country’s democracy. For example, in 2011 the government ended an arrangement that allowed a 90-day caretaker administration, consisting of technocrats, to organize elections and oversee transfers of power.

Suppression of dissent has also grown. The harassment and detention of activists, opposition figures and human rights defenders have become more frequent. Meanwhile, there has been criminalization of any criticism of the government , including satire and social media posts .

Why is the 1971 war still relevant to Bangladeshi politics?

The War of Independence remains central to Bangladesh’s identity and its politics.

Its seeds were sown decades earlier in the 1947 British partition of the Indian subcontinent . This resulted in the violent division of the state of Bengal, with the eastern part becoming East Pakistan.

After partition, West Pakistan tried to maintain political and economic dominance over East Pakistan, while at the same time attempting to cultivate a singular national identity – based on their common Muslim majority populations – despite separate cultures and linguistic heritages.

Policies to marginalize Bengali – the vernacular of 56% of then East Pakistanis – and “purify” East Pakistan from Hindu influence contributed to a backlash that saw widespread student protests and growing calls for independence.

In 1971, a West Pakistani military incursion aimed at snuffing out pro-independence sentiments resulted in a genocidal war with East Pakistan that lasted nine months and resulted in the deaths of 500,000 to 3 million Bangladeshis .

The circumstances of that war have shaped Bangladesh’s politics ever since. The parties that have dominated the country’s politics, including Hasina’s Awami League, frequently politicized their War of Independence credentials . Political leaders have also used 1971 as a means of legitimizing positions, shoring up support, or delegitimizing opposition parties.

Does Hasina’s exit mark the end of Bangladesh’s political dynasties?

The resignation of Hasina signals – at least for the time being – the end of Awami League rule in Bangladesh.

Countries in South Asia, including Bangladesh, have largely been shaped by political dynasties . So the rejection of the Awami League, and the fact that many are also rejecting other established political parties – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jatiya Party – is extraordinary.

These established parties will no doubt try to regroup. While the Awami League may not be able to effectively organize in the near future given public sentiment, the others will make a concerted effort to participate in the promised forthcoming elections.

For the moment, there may be an opportunity for Bangladesh to have fresh voices and faces in politics, potentially emerging from the student movement.

What should we make of the military taking interim control?

Since Bangladesh’s independence, the army has played a huge role in shaping the political trajectory of the country.

From 1975 to 2011, Bangladesh experienced at least 29 military coups and counter-coups . It also experienced direct military rule from 1977 to 1981 and between 1981 and 1990.

Given the army’s frequent incursion into Bangladesh politics, it is not surprising that it has taken interim control of the country now.

For many Bangladeshis, this may represent some level of stability, given the political vacuum that has opened up and the uncertainty of the moment.

Student leaders, however, have made it clear they do not want military involvement in politics. Seemingly heeding this call, General Waker-uz-Zaman , the army chief of staff, has assured protesters that the army would meet their demands.

But it remains to be seen whether the military will keep its promises and hand over full authority to a civilian interim administration.

What could happen next?

It is too early to speculate what the future holds for Bangladesh – the situation is extremely fluid and unfolding by the minute.

The abrupt departure of Hasina has been a cause of relief and celebration among the millions of protesters who helped bring about an end to her rule.

Protest leaders have expressed a clear vision for an inclusive, corruption-free, democratic government. What they don’t want is an interim government that is formed without their involvement and input. Student leaders have put together a list of candidates they want to see in the interim government. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has accepted a role as chief adviser . Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-i-Islami leaders are vying for positions in the interim government.

But political transitions are extremely challenging and volatile. There have been incidences of looting, arson and violence around the country, as well as attacks on the Hindu community .

Armed wings of the Islamist Jamaat-i-Islami and the Bangladesh Chhatra League are being blamed for much of the violence , which, it is alleged, is carried out to delegitimize the protest movement. In response, students and the general public have stepped in to protect minority places of worship .

Rumors and disinformation campaigns will certainly have some significant impact in a volatile situation.

Meanwhile, the enormous damage done to the country’s economy by the political turmoil and military curfew will also require attention.

Neighboring countries, particularly India, are paying a lot of attention to the volatile situation. International donors and strategic partners including the U.S., EU, and China likewise await what comes next, given Bangladesh’s regional geopolitics and the global economy.

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• Bangladesh protests

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

On the possible use of hydraulic force to assist with building the step pyramid of saqqara

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]

Affiliation Paleotechnic., Paris, France

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, Grenoble, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization

Affiliation Sicame Group, Arnac-Pompadour, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation CEDETE—Centre d’études sur le Développement des Territoires et l’Environnement, Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Affiliation AtoutsCarto, Bourges, France

Roles Methodology, Project administration

Affiliation Verilux International, Brienon-sur-Armançon, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation

• Xavier Landreau, 
• Guillaume Piton, 
• Guillaume Morin, 
• Pascal Bartout, 
• Laurent Touchart, 
• Christophe Giraud, 
• Jean-Claude Barre, 
• Cyrielle Guerin, 
• Alexis Alibert, 
• Charly Lallemand

• Published: August 5, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690
• Reader Comments

The Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, Egypt, is considered the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids built about 4,500 years ago. From transdisciplinary analysis, it was discovered that a hydraulic lift may have been used to build the pyramid. Based on our mapping of the nearby watersheds, we show that one of the unexplained massive Saqqara structures, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, has the features of a check dam with the intent to trap sediment and water. The topography beyond the dam suggests a possible ephemeral lake west of the Djoser complex and water flow inside the ’Dry Moat’ surrounding it. In the southern section of the moat, we show that the monumental linear rock-cut structure consisting of successive, deep compartments combines the technical requirements of a water treatment facility: a settling basin, a retention basin, and a purification system. Together, the Gisr el-Mudir and the Dry Moat’s inner south section work as a unified hydraulic system that improves water quality and regulates flow for practical purposes and human needs. Finally, we identified that the Step Pyramid’s internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism never reported before. The ancient architects may have raised the stones from the pyramid centre in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moat’s south section. Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones. This work opens a new line of research: the use of hydraulic force to erect the massive structures built by Pharaohs.

Citation: Landreau X, Piton G, Morin G, Bartout P, Touchart L, Giraud C, et al. (2024) On the possible use of hydraulic force to assist with building the step pyramid of saqqara. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0306690. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690

Editor: Joe Uziel, Israel Antiquities Authority, ISRAEL

Received: December 7, 2023; Accepted: June 22, 2024; Published: August 5, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Landreau et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. The computer codes are available upon request.

Funding: The Sicame Group, The Atoutscarto Company and The Verilux Company provided support in the form of salaries for GM, CG and J-CM, respectively. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

Competing interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: GM, CG and J-CM are paid employees of The Sicame Group, The Atoutscarto Company and The Verilux Company, respectively. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

1 Introduction

The funerary complex of King Djoser, built at Saqqara in Egypt around 2680 B.C., is considered a significant milestone in monumental architecture. It is the first to disclose two crucial innovations: a pyramid shape for the pharaoh’s grave and the exclusive use of fully dressed stones for masonry. In practice, it is also revolutionary in the ability to extract and raise stones by millions before stacking them with precision [ 1 ]. Djoser’s complex visible achievements are such that its architect, Vizier, and Great Priest of Ra, Imhotep, was deified by the New Kingdom.

The knowledge and innovations implemented in the Djoser mortuary complex profoundly influenced future developments and were widely perfected throughout the Old Kingdom’s III rd and IV th Dynasties, i . e . circa 2680–2460 B.C. These developments resulted in a substantial increase in the megaliths’ size [ 2 ], leading to pyramids of spectacular dimensions, such as those of the Meidum, Dahshur, and Giza plateaus. In less than 150 years, the average weight of the typical large stones was thus multiplied by ≈8 and went from ≈300 kg for Djoser’s pyramid to more than 2.5 tons for Chephren’s pyramid’s structural blocks [ 3 ]. For the largest lintels, the weight increases by two orders of magnitude, with several blocks of ≈50 – 100 tons for Cheops’ pyramid. On this short timeframe on the scale of human history, Egyptians carried and raised some 25 million tons of stones [ 4 ] to build seven monumental pyramids. Assuming an annual work schedule of 300 days at a rate of 10 hours/day, meaning 450,000 hours spread over less than 150 years, this requires a technical and logistical organization capable, on average, of cutting, moving, and adjusting about 50 tons of stone blocks per hour. Even if one admits that not every pyramid’s blocks are fitted with millimeter precision, the amount of work accomplished is truly remarkable. Interestingly, the pyramids later built in Egypt tended to be smaller with time and never reached the volume of the Old Kingdom’s monumental structures again.

As authentic sources from the working sphere of pyramid architects are currently lacking, no generally accepted wholistic model for pyramid construction exists yet. Although many detailed publications dedicated to pyramid-building procedures have given tangible elements [ 5 , 6 ], they usually explain more recent, better documented, but also smaller pyramids [ 7 ]. These techniques could include ramps, cranes, winches, toggle lifts, hoists, pivots, or a combination of them [ 8 – 10 ]. Studies of the pyramid’s construction sites also revealed a high level of expertise in managing the hydraulic and hydrological environment, such as utilizing waterways to deliver materials, constructing ports and locks, or setting up irrigation systems [ 11 , 12 ]. These achievements have led some scholars to refer to ancient Egypt as an ‘early hydraulic civilization [ 11 ].’ However, there is actually very little multidisciplinary analysis combining the rich archaeological findings on pyramids with other disciplines such as hydrology, hydraulics, geotechnics, paleoclimatology, or civil engineering [ 9 ]. Therefore, the topic of water force in the context of pyramid construction remains insufficiently addressed in the academic literature.

Moreover, a second question accentuates the enigma: the Pharaohs who built these pyramids are missing. Until now, neither written record nor physical evidence reports the discovery of one of the III rd and IV th Dynasties’ Pharaohs. Old Kingdom’s ‘big’ pyramids’ rooms were allegedly plundered [ 13 – 15 ] during the millennia that followed the construction of the pyramids, leaving little evidence behind [ 12 ]. The III rd and IV th Dynasties’ rooms present little or no funerary attributes, such as those observed in other high-dignitary figures’ tombs contemporary to the period [ 16 , 17 ], with no King’s remains found inside. In addition, the walls of the pyramids’ chambers do not exhibit any hieroglyphs, paintings, engravings, or drawings, which would allow us to qualify them as funerary with certainty. Despite this lack of evidence, many authors [ 18 ] still support that these rooms can be attributed to Pharaohs’ burials mainly based on royal cartouches or Kings’ names found elsewhere within the pyramid or nearby temples.

Over the recent years, Dormion & Verd’Hurt [ 19 , 20 ], Hamilton [ 21 – 24 ] or others [ 1 , 25 ] were among the first to consider possible non-funerary functions of pyramids’ internal layouts by pointing out some architectural inconsistencies and highlighting the high degree of complexity of several structures, irrelevant for a burial chamber. Their analysis provided both chambers and gallery systems with a technical dimension, emphasizing a level of engineering on the part of the ancient builders that is quite remarkable and sometimes challenges any apparent explanation. This technical level is at once reflected in the geometry of the rooms and ducts, as well as in the stonework, which includes materials selection, extraction, cutting, and then assembling with exceptional accuracy [ 20 ]. This precision involved several advanced sub-techniques, such as inter-block mortar joint realization [ 26 – 29 ] or stone polishing with flatness and roughness values that reach levels of contemporary know-how. Apart from surfaces and interfaces, the builders’ technical ability is also evident throughout sophisticated mechanical systems set up in the pyramids [ 30 ], as swivel stone flaps’ designs in the Meidum and Bent pyramids [ 21 , 24 ] or tilted portcullises found in the Bent pyramid, as well as at Giza [ 20 ]. These elements suggest that, rather than an aesthetic rendering or a funerary use for these layouts, ancient Egyptians intended technical functions for some walls, tunnels, corridors, shafts, and chambers where more straightforward existing techniques were insufficient.

In summary, the analysis of the pyramids’ construction and the investigation of their internal layouts seem to require more research to provide a wholistic explanation to their purpose. This study aims to provide a fresh look at these topics by applying an alternative, multi-disciplinary, wholistic approach. It revisits the Old Kingdom’s pyramids’ construction methodology and seeks to explain the significance of internal layouts during construction. Based on current archaeological knowledge, we demonstrate that the Saqqara’s topography and the layout of several structures are consistent with the hypothesis that a hydraulic system was used to build the pyramid. The paper is divided into three main sections that analyze the current scientific literature to address the following inquiries: (i) Was the plateau of Saqqara supplied with water? (ii) If so, how was it possibly stored and treated? and (iii) How was it used to build the pyramid? A discussion and some concluding remarks and perspectives follow.

2 The saqqara’s hydrologic network

Our study began with the postulate that the larger Cheops’ and Chephren’s pyramids of Giza plateau were the outcomes of technical progress from previous pyramids, with the Step Pyramid as a technological precursor. While many literature studies focus on the construction of Cheops’ pyramid, we found it more relevant to examine the building techniques used for the Step Pyramid first. This would provide insight into the processes used by ancient builders that were later refined in subsequent pyramids. As a first approach, we analyzed potential reasons for the specific building of King Djoser’s Complex on the Saqqara Plateau.

2.1 Water resource from the desert wadis

Although detailed measurements of the Nile flood levels have been reported since the V th Dynasty (2480 B.C.) [ 31 – 33 ], there is very little information available about the hydrology of its desert tributaries, known as ’wadis’, in ancient Egypt. Sedimentological evidence of heavy rainfalls and flash floods exists [ 31 , 34 ] but little is known beyond that.

Determining the rainfall regime that the Saqqara region experienced about 4,700 years B.P. is challenging and uncertain. Past studies demonstrated that, from about 11,000 to 5,000 B.P, during the so-called ‘Green Sahara’ period, the whole Sahara was much wetter than today, and the landscape was savannah rather than desert [ 35 , 36 ]. Around 4500–4800 years B.P. too, the Eastern Mediterranean region was wetter than it is now, despite drying up later [ 37 – 39 ]. A range of annual precipitation value of 50–150 mm/year is assumed in the following calculation to perform crude computations of water resource. It covers the range between the >150 mm/year suggested by Kuper & Kropelin [ 40 ] for the end of the Green Sahara period, before the subsequent drier period, during which rainfall decreased to <50 mm/year. The range of variability, i . e . 50 to 150 mm/yr is also consistent with the typical inter-annual rainfall variability observed in the region [ 38 ].

Then, current hydrological monitoring on Egyptian wadis located further to the north and experiencing comparable annual rainfall ( i . e ., 100–200 mm/yr) showed that only 1–3% of this mean annual precipitation was measured as runoff, i.e., surface flows [ 41 ]. This average range is hereafter used for conservative, first-order estimations of available water volume, referred hereafter to as the ‘water resource’. Note that the infrequent, most intense events can reach 50 mm of rainfall and trigger devastating flash floods where the runoff coefficients have been measured up to 30%, i . e ., one order of magnitude higher than the mean annual [ 41 – 43 ]. Note that these water resource and flash flood hydrology estimates neglect that the soils were probably richer in clay and silt just after the Green Sahara period, with several millennia of a wetter climate and savannah landscape [ 35 , 36 ], which would increase the runoff coefficient and available surface water resource in the wadis.

2.2 The Saqqara site: a plateau with a water supply

The Saqqara necropolis is located on a limestone plateau on the west bank of the Nile River, about 180 km from the Mediterranean Sea ( Fig 1 ). The entire site lies in the desert, less than two kilometers from the plateau’s edge (elevation 40–55 m ASL— Above Sea Level ), which overlooks the Nile floodplain (height ≈ 20 m ASL). Further to the west, the desert rises gently for about 20 km (hills’ top elevation ≈ 200–300 m ASL).

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

(Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g001

The reasons behind the construction of the Djoser complex at Saqqara remain unclear. The contribution of economic, socio-political, and religious factors was previously highlighted [ 44 , 45 ], but environmental factors were also possibly influential. In 2020, Wong provided evidence that the climate, geology, and hydrology would have influenced building choices and may have contributed to, or perhaps accelerated, the emergence of stone architecture on the Saqqara plateau [ 37 ].

From a geological standpoint, the layered structure of the limestone at Saqqara was indeed stressed as a favorable factor for excavating large amounts of construction stones [ 46 , 47 ]. These layers, which consist of 30–60 cm thick sand-rich calcareous beds alternated with calcareous clay and marl layers, made it easy to extract the limestone blocks from their parent beds by vertical cuttings, the original thickness being reflected in the building stones’ thickness of Djoser’s complex.

From a hydrological standpoint, the Abusir wadi is considered a second environmental factor that strongly influenced the Early Dynastic development of the Saqqara necropolis at least [ 45 , 48 – 50 ]. The Abusir wadi is the ephemeral stream draining the hills west of Saqqara ( Fig 1 ) . Before this study, academic research mainly focused on the downstream part of the wadi [ 45 , 48 – 50 ], namely the Abusir Lake [ 51 ] located north of Saqqara Plateau. However, the upstream portion has remained undocumented.

In order to analyze the relationships between the Abusir wadi and the Step Pyramid’s construction project, the drainage networks west of the Saqqara area were mapped for the first time to the best of our knowledge, using various satellite imagery ( Fig 1 ) and Digital Elevation Models (see S1 Fig in S2 File ).

A paleo-drainage system can be identified upstream of the Gisr el-Mudir structure as the origin of the Abusir wadi ( Fig 1 , pink line). The boundaries of this runoff system form a catchment area never reported so far, although easily recognizable from the geomorphological imprints of surface paleochannels in the desert and on historical maps [ 52 ]. Although it currently has a 15 km 2 surface area, we cannot rule out the possibility that the drainage divides shifted and changed due to land alterations and aeolian sand deposits over the past 4,500 years.

The current catchment summit is about 110 m ASL, giving the Abusir wadi a 1% average slope over its slightly more than 6 km length. In the field of hydrology, a 1% gradient is described as ‘rather steep’. With such steep slopes, transportation of sand and gravel is expected during flashfloods, which can cause severe downstream damage (scouring or burying of structures, filling of excavations and ponding areas). In comparison, irrigation channels are rather at least ten times less steep (about 0.1%), and the Nile slope is less than 0.01% (less than 200m of elevation gain between Aswan and Cairo).

2.3 The Wadi Taflah: A possible complementary water supply

Reported since the early 1800s, a former tributary to the Nile called the Bahr Bela Ma [ 53 , 54 ] or ‘ Wadi Taflah’ flowed parallel to the Abusir wadi catchment, less than two kilometers south of the Saqqara plateau. From satellite imagery, we identified that the Wadi Taflah arises from a drainage area of almost 400 km 2 and consists of three main branches ( Fig 2 , numbered black dots) still visible from the desert’s geomorphological marks. This network is also visible on the radar imagery provided by Paillou [ 55 ] that can penetrate multiple meters of sand ( S2 Fig in S2 File ). The similarity of the optical and radar drainage patterns confirms the existence and old age of this hydrological network.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g002

Although no canal was detected from the satellite data, the close proximity of Abusir wadi with the Wadi Taflah ( Fig 2 ) is intriguing and raises the question about a potential ancient, artificial connection between them. According to the 18 th -century maps published by Savary [ 54 ], the Wadi Taflah was ‘closed by an ancient King of Egypt.’ Such a testimony, although imprecise, could suggest the construction of a water diversion by a former ruler. A geophysical investigation could help to find such a structure if existing. The drainage area of Wadi Taflah covers nearly 400 km 2 at an elevation >58 m ASL. This elevation is high enough to allow the diversion of the drainage area toward the Abusir wadi. This would result in an increase in the drained area and associated availability of water resources by a factor of >25 times. Based on the hydrological conditions described in section 2.1, the estimated water resource from Abusir wadi and Wadi Taflah is crudely between 7,500 to 68,000 m 3 /year and 200,000 to 1,800,000 m 3 /year, respectively.

2.4 The Abusir wadi: A structural element in the early dynastic Saqqara’s development

According to the Saqqara topography ( Fig 3 ), the Abusir wadi flowed through the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure before heading north towards the Nile floodplain, where it used to feed an oxbow lake, the Abusir Lake [ 51 ]. With such a localization, the Gisr el-Mudir walls literally dam the Abusir wadi valley’s entire width. The sparse vegetation only growing in the valley bottom upstream of Gisr el-Mudir and not elsewhere in the area evidences this damming and interception of surface and subsurface flows ( Fig 4A , green line). This slight moist area is dominated by plants commonly found in desert margins and wadis, such as Panicum thurgidum and Alhagi graecorum [ 56 ], and is typical of hypodermal flows.

Contour lines extracted from the 1:5,000 topographical map [ 52 ] “Le Caire, sheet H22”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g003

a. The Gisr el-Mudir check dam (Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021); b.: Digital Elevation Model generated from the 1:5,000 topographical map “Le Caire, sheet H22”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g004

Downstream of the Gisr el-Mudir, the Abusir wadi joins the Saqqara Plateau. Its boundaries are defined to the south by an outcropping limestone ridge and to the east by the Sekhemkhet and Djoser’s enclosures ( Fig 3 ).

The landform of this area seems inconsistent with a pure fluvial formation. Instead, the very flat topography on about 2–2.5 km 2 , according to the Saqqara Geophysics Survey Project (SGSP) [ 57 – 60 ] and possibly allowed some ephemeral ponding water which may have resulted in an episodic upper Abusir lake after the most intense rainfalls. However, due to the several-meter deep wind-blown and alluvial sand cover accumulated over the past millennia [ 57 ], the riverbed altitudes during Djoser’s reign are challenging to establish without further investigations, and only broad patterns can be determined from the local topography [ 52 ].

As with many other small wadis, the Early Dynastic hydrology of the Abusir wadi remains largely unknown. According to fluvial sediment analysis in the Abusir Lake area, the Abusir wadi was probably a perennial stream during the Old Kingdom period [ 51 ]. Although the climate is hot and arid nowadays, several studies support a more humid environment during the Old Kingdom [ 34 ] . Multiple strands of evidence indeed suggest that Egypt experienced considerable rainfalls around the reign of Djoser, resulting in frequent flooding and heavy runoffs on the Saqqara Plateau. This climatic feature is supported by sedimentary deposits resulting from flowing water of ‘considerable kinetic force’ contemporary to Djoser’s reign [ 61 , 62 ] . According to Trzciński et al.[ 34 ], the strongly cemented structure L3 found in the Great Trench surrounding the Djoser Complex was due to cyclical watering while the high content of Fe3+ indicates that the region experienced intensive weathering in a warm and humid environment. In 2020, Wong concluded that the ‘ intriguing possibility that the Great Trench that surrounds the Djoser complex may have been filled with water ’ during Djoser’s reign [ 37 ]. If so, this might explain why tombs were built on the northern part of the Saqqara plateau which has a higher altitude [ 45 ] and nothing was constructed inside the Trench until the reign of Userkaf and Unas (V th Dynasty).

3. The saqqara’s water management system

3.1 the gisr el-mudir check dam.

Reported at least since the 18 th century [ 63 ] and extensively described within a decade of a geophysical survey by Mathieson et al ., see also [ 45 ] for a summary, the Gisr el-Mudir is a rectangular enclosure located a few hundred meters west of the Djoser’s complex ( Fig 3 , Fig 4A & 4B ). This monumental structure has a footprint of about 360 m x 620 m, i . e ., larger than the Djoser complex (545 m x 277 m). The walls have an estimated volume of >100,000 m 3 (SGSP, 1992–1993 report), meaning about one-third of the Step Pyramid’s volume. Field inspection and geophysical results from the SGSP [ 57 ] found no construction inside except for a couple of more recent, small graves, thus confirming that the enclosure is mainly empty. Moreover, several elements in the building suggest that this structure predated the Step Pyramid’s complex and was tentatively dated to the late II nd or early III rd Dynasty [ 57 , 64 ], which might turn it into the oldest substantial stone structure in Egypt discovered so far.

Before this study, several conflicting theories about the Gisr el-Mudir’s purpose were put forward [ 59 ]: e . g ., an unfinished pyramid complex (but the lack of a central structure made it improbable to be a funerary monument), a guarded fortress [ 65 ] protecting the Saqqara necropolis from nomadic Bedouin incursions, an embankment to raise a monument to a higher level [ 66 ], a celebration arena [ 64 , 67 ], or even a cattle enclosure. However, given the low level of exploratory work afforded to the structure, no generally accepted explanation exists yet, and its purpose has remained more conjectural than substantiated.

In light of the upstream watershed and its transversal position across the Abusir River, the Gisr el-Mudir’s western wall meets the essential criteria of a check dam, i . e ., a dam intending to manage sediment and water fluxes [ 68 , 69 ]. This comparison is particularly striking regarding its cross-section ( Fig 5 ). According to Mathieson et al . [ 59 ], the basic structure of this wall consists of a hollow construction of two rough-hewn limestone masonry skin-walls, ≈3.2 m high, separated by a 15 m interspace filled with three layers of materials extracted from the surrounding desert bedrock [ 70 ] and cunningly arranged. The first layer ( Fig 5 , ‘ A ’ dot) is made of roughly laid local limestone blocks forming a buttress against the inside of the facing blocks. The secondary fill ( B ) comprises coarse sand and medium to large limestone fragments. Then, the third fill ( C ) consists of rough to fine sand and silt, small limestone fragments, and chippings with pebble and flint nodules. Finally, these A, B, and C backfill layers are positioned symmetrically to the median axis of the wall.

Figure adapted from [ 58 ].

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Civil engineering was used during the Old Kingdom to protect settlements from flash floods, such as the Heit el-Ghurab (’Wall of the Crow’) safeguarding the village of the pyramid builders at Giza [ 71 ]. Regarding the Gisr el-Mudir structure, the abovementioned elements strikingly echo the transversal profile and slope protection of another famous Old Kingdom structure: the Sadd el-Kafara dam built on the Wadi al-Garawi , a colossal building found to be contemporary to that of the Gisr el-Mudir [ 72 – 74 ]. Both structures present the technical signature of zoned earthen dams: a wide embankment made of a central impervious core surrounded by transition filters, i . e ., filling material with coarser grain size, preventing erosion, migration, and potential piping of the core fine material due to seepage. The semi-dressed limestone walls stabilized the inner material and protected it against erosion when water flowed against and above the dam. Both dams have much broader profiles than modern dams. This oversizing could be due to the unavailability of contemporary compaction systems or an empirical and conservative structural design. They both have narrower cores of fine material at the bottom of the dam than at their crest, contradicting modern design [ 75 ]. This can be attributed to the construction phasing that would have started by raising the sidewalls buttressed against the coarse and intermediate filling ( B and C fills in Fig 5 ), followed by a phase of filling the wide core with finer, compacted material [ 72 ].

Finally, the eastern wall’s north-south profile ( Fig 6 , line A-B ) presents a parabolic profile relevant to guide the flows to the basin’s center formed by Gisr el-Mudir. This guidance would have prevented the dam failure by outflanking during flooding events when the dam outlet was saturated. We estimate that the accumulated water crossed the dam through an outlet likely located at the valley’s lowest elevation, i . e ., near 48.7 m ASL ( G1 in Figs 4B and Fig 6 ). In summary, the Gisr el-Mudir’s western wall likely acted as a first check dam to the Abusir wadi flows.

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The excavations performed on the eastern wall of the Gisr el-Mudir highlighted a lower structural quality [ 45 ]. Its shape is similar to that of the western wall, with a distinctive parabolic profile ( Fig 6 , line C-D ). Furthermore, it discloses two topographical singularities: first, its overall altitude is a few meters lower than the western wall ( Fig 7A ). Then, in the southern part of the eastern wall, a geophysics anomaly ( G2 in Figs 4B and Fig 6 ) was found to be a series of massive, roughly cut, ‘L’-shaped megaliths [ 45 , 66 ]. Before our study, these megaliths were thought to possibly be the remains of a monumental gateway–due to their similarities with the Djoser’s complex enclosure’s entrance–but their purpose was not specified [ 66 ]. According to our analysis, these megaliths could be the side elements of the water outlets, possibly slit openings [ 76 ] that were likely closed off by wood beams but could be opened to drain the basin. They are consistently found near a trench that is 2.2 m deep [ 45 ], which we believe is possibly the canal that guided outflowing water. In a nutshell, the eastern wall likely acted as a second check dam to the Abusir flows.

a. West-east elevation profile of the Gisr el-Mudir structure. b: Schematic reconstitution of the profile with water flow.

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In addition to the two dams formed by the western and eastern walls, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure forms a basin ( Fig 4 ). It is closed to the north by another wall made of limestone blocks, though not very tall (likely <2m) because it is built on a natural ridge [ 45 ]. The basin’s southern boundary is also mostly made of a natural ridge. The possible absence of a masonry wall on certain portions on this side was unexplained by previous analyses [ 45 ]. However, it makes perfect sense when considering a reservoir function. Anchoring dams against side slopes is indeed the standard approach to guide flows and prevent outflanking [ 68 ].

In essence, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure exhibits the defining features of a check dam ( Fig 7B ). The catchment it intercepts is large enough (15 km 2 ), plus eventual water derivation from the Wadi Taflah to produce flash floods transporting significant amounts of gravel, sand, mud, and debris due to its slope during intense rainfalls. The valley upstream of the western wall likely served as a first reservoir where the coarsest gravels tended to deposit. The overflowing water then filled the inner basin of the Gisr el-Mudir, where coarse sand would again deposit. Assuming a storage depth between 1 and 2 meters, the retention capacity of the basin would be approximately 220,000–440,000 m 3 . This volume is in line with the overall water volume of a flash flood that could be produced by the Abusir wadi, which is estimated to be about 75,000–225,000 m 3 , assuming 50 mm of rainfall and a 0.30 runoff coefficient. This key, first structure of the Saqqara hydraulic system would have then delivered clear water downstream in normal time, as well as muddy water with an eventually suspended load of fine sand and clay during rainfall events.

3.2 The deep Trench’s water treatment system

3.2.1 general configuration..

The Djoser’s Complex is surrounded by a vast excavation area, commonly referred to as the ’Dry Moat’ since Swelim spotted its outlines [ 77 , 78 ] ( Fig 3 , blue strip). The Dry Moat is alleged to be a continuous trench cut in the bedrock, up to 50 m wide and ≈3 km long, enclosing an area of ≈600 m by ≈750 m around the Djoser complex [ 77 , 79 , 80 ]. When considering an average depth of 20 m for the four sides of the trench [ 61 ], the total excavated volume is estimated at ≈3.5 Mm 3 , approximately ten times the Step Pyramid‘s volume. Due to the thick cover of sand and debris [ 61 ] accumulated over the past millennia, its precise geometry is incompletely characterized. The moat’s east and south channels are particularly debated [ 61 ].

According to Swelim, the moat’s south channel probably split into two parts, known as the Inner and Outer south channels [ 78 ] ( Fig 8 , blue strips). The Inner south channel is relatively shallow (5–7 m deep), 25–30 m wide, and spans approximately 350 m parallel to the southern wall of Djoser’s complex.

Water from the Abusir Lake can follow two parallel circuits.

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The ‘Deep Trench’ [ 81 ] ( Fig 8 , red rectangles and dotted lines) is built inside the Inner south channel, along its south wall. It is a ≈27 m-deep, 3 m-wide, and hundreds of meter-long rock-cut channel with several ‘compartments’. So far, only about 240 m [ 78 ] of its probable 410 m length have been subject to archaeological excavations in 1937–1938 [ 78 ], 1937–1945 [ 81 ], and 1975 [ 82 ]. Consequently, approximately 170 m remains unexplored, mainly due to the presence of the later Old Kingdom two groups of mastabas built above the trench and at risk of collapse if submitted to underground excavation (transparent grey parts in Fig 8 ).

Generally, two leading theories are highlighted in the literature to explain the purpose of the trench: (i) a quarry for the Djoser’s complex [ 47 , 83 ], or (ii) a spiritual function [ 78 , 84 , 85 ]. However, over recent years, authors have pointed out several specificities in the trench’s architectural layout, which seem irrelevant in a religious or mining context [ 1 , 86 , 87 ]. In particular, on the mining aspect, several authors estimate [ 45 , 86 ] that the form of the track suggests that the extraction of stones was not its sole or even primary function, as it does not match with the ancient Egyptian quarrying methods. Reader also considers that some parts of the trench which are ~27 m deep and covered with a rocky ceiling, are wholly unrealistic for quarrying operations and unlikely to have required the paving found near the trench’s bottom [ 45 ]. This point is further emphasized by the narrow width of the excavated Deep Trench (3m), which is impractical in a mining scenario.

On the spiritual aspect, Kuraszkiewicz suggests that the trench may have developed a ritual significance as a gathering place for the souls of the nobles to serve the dead King [ 86 ]. Monnier [ 1 ] considers that the discovery of several niches in the channel does not fully demonstrate the moat’s religious purpose and considers it secondary. The trench’s ritual significance is also regarded as secondary by Reader [ 45 ], who suggests the ritual aspects developed only after the complex’s construction and do not reflect the original function of the structure.

In 2020, based on the archaeological, geological, and climatic evidence, Wong was the first to introduce the idea that the trench may have had a completely different function, being filled with runoff water following downpours [ 37 ]. If so, this would explain why it was not until the reigns of Unas and Userkaf (V th Dynasty) that new graves occupied the moat. The onset of drier climatic conditions [ 31 , 88 ] around the end of the IV th Dynasty would have created more favorable conditions for new constructions inside the moat. Despite the potential impact of Wong’s assumption, it did not receive much attention in the literature. Nonetheless, the current authors believe that Wong’s conclusions make sense when considering Saqqara’s downstream localization of a watershed.

3.2.2 The deep Trench: A series of rock-cut compartments built in a hydrological corridor.

The Inner south channel and the Deep Trench are built inside the Unas Valley, a hydrological corridor connecting the Abusir wadi plain to the Nile floodplain ( Fig 3 ). Both were thus possibly submitted to (un)controlled flooding [ 34 , 61 ] from the Abusir wadi plain.

The Deep Trench connects at least three massive subterranean compartments [ 45 , 47 ] ( Fig 8 , red parts) meticulously carved out with precisely cut surfaces [ 78 ] ( Fig 9 ) and joined by a tunnel [ 77 ] . A fourth compartment, retroactively named compartment-0 ( Fig 10 ), likely exists [ 45 , 78 ]. On a large scale, the perfect geometric alignment of these compartments is remarkable, as well as their parallelism with the Djoser’s complex and their bottom level similar to those of the southern and northern shafts (≈27 m ASL). These spatial relationships have led some authors to consider that the trench was created as a part of Djoser’s Complex [ 86 , 89 , 90 ]. This assumption has been reinforced by Deslandes’ discoveries of at least two east-west pipes, about 80 m long, connecting the Djoser’s Complex’s subterranean layouts to the Dry Moat’s eastern side [ 91 ].

a: View from the west; b: View from the east. The workers in the background provide a sense of the structure’s immense scale and technicity.

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View of the south face.

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Taken together, the Deep Trench architecture highlights technical proficiency and suggests that the ancient Egyptians intended a technical function rather than a spiritual one. Surprisingly, despite the available clues, the Deep Trench has never undergone detailed engineering studies to analyze its features and identify its purpose. The following sections suggest a hydraulic rationale behind the trench’s internal layout (more details in the Supplement ).

3.2.3 Consistency of the Deep Trench architecture with a water treatment system.

Being largely described in the literature [ 77 , 86 , 92 ] , the compartments’ layouts are presented in detail in the Supplement . Considering its architecture and geographical location, the Dry Moat’s southern section combines the technical requirements of a water treatment system, including sedimentation, retention, and purification. Fig 10 illustrates a comprehensive outline of the installation’s functioning process. Similarly to the Gisr el-Mudir, we found that the Deep Trench compartments likely served to transfer water with low suspended sediment concentration to the downstream compartments by overflowing. The process of using a series of connected tanks to filter water and remove sediment is an ancient technique that has been extensively documented in archaeological and scientific literature [ 93 – 96 ]. This method has been employed for centuries to clean water and has played a significant role in the development of water treatment practices.

Compartment-0 presents the minimum requirements of a settling basin (considerable length and width, low entry slope, position at the entry of Unas hydrological corridor) whose purpose is to facilitate the coarse particles’ settling that would overflow from Gisr el-Mudir during heavy rainfalls. The descending ramp along the south wall identified by Swelim [ 97 ] may have permitted workers to dredge the basin and remove the accumulated sediments along the east wall ( Fig 10 ) . The very probable connection [ 45 , 97 ] between compartment-0 and compartment-1, blocked with rough masonry ( Fig 9B and S3 Fig in S2 File ), is consistent with an outlet overflowing structure. Additionally, when the flow rate in compartment-0 was too high, the tunnel or even the northern portion of the trench may have been used as a spillway bypass to evacuate excess water toward the eastern portion of the Unas wadi valley ( Fig 8 , safety circuit).

Compartment-1 is then consistent with a retention basin with > 3000 m 3 capacity ( Fig 10 , left part). The bottom stone paving with mortar joints probably limited water seepage through the bedrock. Its eastern end could go until the compartment-2 [ 45 ] to form a single compartment, but this point remains debated [ 78 , 97 ] .

Compartment-2’s is, unfortunately, largely unexplored ( Fig 10 ). Its downstream position might indicate a second retention basin or possibly an extension [ 45 ] of the first one. The western part of this compartment (stairs area) perfectly aligns with the base levels of the Djoser’s complex south and north shafts, which points towards a connection between the three [ 86 ] . If so, it would be aligned with the recently discovered pipe of a 200 m-long tunnel linking the bottom of Djoser’s Complex’s southern and northern shafts [ 91 ] (see next section, Fig 11 ). Compartment-2 would then be another, or an extended, retention basin equipped with a water outlet toward the north.

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Compartment-3 ( Fig 10 , right part) is likely a side purification basin for drinking water. Its position as an appendix of the primary water circuit connecting Gisr el-Mudir to Djoser’s complex seems optimal to minimize water circulation and maximize water-settling time, thus increasing its purification. The second and third sections likely allowed further settling of particles and would have served as reservoirs during dry periods. The relatively smooth walls of the whole structure would have hindered the growth of microbes, plants, and other contaminants, thereby helping maintain the water’s cleanliness [ 98 ] . Four surface wells allowed access to the end of the last compartment where the water, kept clear and fresh in the shadow of this subterranean monumental cistern, could be used by the building site workforce [ 99 ] .

The excavated volume of the Deep Trench is greater than 14,000 m 3 [ 77 , 86 , 92 ]. If we assume that most of the water available in the Wadi Taflah was diverted toward Saqqara, this volume could be filled about a dozen to more than one hundred times per year on average. We hypothesize a typical filling level of 45 m ASL in the Deep Trench, but an accurate topographical survey is lacking, and the maximum water level could vary between 40–52 m ASL, according to the surrounding terrain elevation.

In essence, we discovered and highlighted for the first time that the Deep Trench’s position and design are consistent with possible use as a water treatment and storage system capable of cleaning and storing thousands of cubic meters of water.

4. The central hydraulic lift system

4.1 overview of the djoser’s complex’ substructure.

The internal and external architecture of the Djoser’s Complex is thoroughly documented [ 1 , 3 , 100 , 101 ]. The Supplement provides an overview of this structure. Basically, the six-step Step Pyramid itself stands slightly off-center in a rectangular enclosure toward the south and reaches a height of approximately 60 m ( Fig 11 ). The pyramid consists of more than 2.3 million limestone blocks, each weighing, on average [ 2 ], 300 kg, resulting in a total estimated weight of 0.69 million tons and a volume of ≈330,400 m 3 .

The substructure features at least 13 shafts, including two significantly sizeable twin shafts located at the north and south of the complex ( Fig 11 , insets 3&4), and an extensive and well-organized network of galleries descending up to 45 m below ground level [ 102 ]. The north shaft is surrounded by four comb-shaped structures distributed on each side and angled 90° apart. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) revealed that the twin shaft layouts are connected [ 91 , 102 ] by a 200 m-long tunnel. Moreover, at least two of the twelve shafts on the pyramid’s east side are connected to the supposed eastern section of the Dry Moat by two 80 m long pipes ( Fig 11 and Supplement ).

From our 3D models, we estimate that ancient architects extracted more than 30,000 tons of limestone from the bedrock to dig the whole underground structure. The total length of the tunnels and subterranean rooms combined is ~6.8 km. However, its layout and purpose remain primarily poorly known and debated [ 6 ].

4.2 The connected twin shafts

The ‘north shaft’ is located under the pyramid of Djoser and is almost aligned with its summit. This shaft is ≈28 m deep and has a square shape with 7 m sides. Its bottom part widens to ≈10 m on the last, deepest 6 m, forming a chamber ( Fig 12 and S6 Fig in S2 File ). On its upper part, the shaft extends above the ground level by at least four meters inside the Step Pyramid in the shape of a hemispherical vault that was recently reinforced ( Fig 11 , inset 5 ). This upper part inside the pyramid body remains unexplored. However, as noticed by Lauer, the shaft sides above ground level display comparable masonry to that of the southern shaft, indicating a possible upward extension [ 3 ]. On the pyramid’s north side, a steep trench with stairs provides access to the shaft.

a.: Granite box of Djoser’s complex north shaft serving as an opening-closing system for the water flow coming from side tunnels -source: [ 113 ]. b.: Limestone piles supporting the box - source: [ 3 ]. c: Diagram of the North Shaft plug system. Redrawn from Lauer sketches [ 108 ].

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The ‘south shaft’ is located ~200 m south of the north shaft, close to the Deep Trench ( Fig 11 , inset 1 ). Its dimensions and internal layout are broadly similar to the north shaft’s. The substructure of the south shaft is entered through a west-facing tunnel-like corridor with a staircase that descends about 30 m before opening up inside the shaft. The staircase then continues east and leads to a network of galleries whose layout imitates the blue chambers below the Step Pyramid. As mentioned earlier, a 200 m-long tunnel connects the lower part of the north and south shafts ( Fig 11 , orange pipe). A series of deep niches located on the south face of the south shaft [ 97 ], the shape of which resembles that of the Deep Trench’s compartments 1 and 2, might indicate a former connection between both. This point remains to be confirmed by additional investigation.

The south shaft is connected to a rectangular shaft to the west via a tunnel-like corridor with a staircase that descends approximately 30 meters before opening up into the south shaft ( Fig 11 , inset 2 ). At the corridor level, a chamber has been cut into the bedrock parallel to the descending passage [ 3 ], towards the south. This chamber features several incompletely excavated niches on its south wall, which could extend under the south wall of the Djoser complex ( Fig 8 ). Pending further excavations, they might indicate a connection with the Deep Trench.

4.3 The twin shafts’ internal layout: two plug-systems topped with maneuvering chambers

The initial purpose of the twin shafts’ granite boxes has been largely debated [ 15 , 100 ]. The presence of two shafts with two similar granite boxes and almost identical substructures was previously explained as a separation of the body and spirit of Djoser [ 100 ]. However, the Pharaoh’s body is actually missing and was not found during modern excavations. Several authors and explorers excluded the possibility of King Djoser’s burial in the north shaft [ 15 , 103 ]. Vyse claimed [ 15 ] that the box’s internal volume was too narrow for moving a coffin without breaking the body. Firth and Quibell considered [ 103 ] the fragments found by Gunn and Lauer [ 104 ] to be of mummies of ‘late date’, possibly belonging to the Middle or New Kingdom. Finally, a thorough radiocarbon dating [ 105 ] on almost all retrieved remains [ 104 , 106 , 107 ] located near the granite box excluded the possibility that ‘ even a single one of them ’[ 105 ] could have belonged to King Djoser. Therefore, although the northern shaft had clear funerary significance much later, its original purpose during the time of Djoser may have been different.

Unfortunately, the main part of the materials that filled the twin shafts was removed during past archaeological excavations, mainly in the 1930s [ 108 ], leaving only the two granite boxes at their bottom ( Fig 11 , insets 3 and 4 ). Therefore, the shafts’ internal layout description is mainly based on the explorers’ archaeological reports and testimonies[ 109 – 111 ].

The two granite boxes are broadly similar in shape and dimensions. Both are made of four layers of granite blocks and present top orifices closed by plugs that weigh several tons ( Fig 12A ). The southern box is slightly smaller, with a plug made of several pieces, making it less versatile. The north box does not lay directly on the underlying bedrock but is perched on several piles of limestone blocks supporting the lower granite beams ( Fig 12B ), tentatively attributed to robbers by Lauer [ 3 ]. The space around the box is connected with four tunnels arranged perpendicularly on each side of the shaft (see Supplement ). This space was filled with several successive layers [ 108 ] ( Fig 12C , grey parts). The lowermost layer consisted of coarse fragments of limestone waste and alabaster, making it permeable. Meanwhile, the upper layer, going up to the box ceiling’s level, was made of limestone jointed with clay mortar [ 108 ], i . e ., less permeable [ 112 ]. This ceiling was itself covered by a 1.50 m thick layer of alabaster and limestone fragments plus overlying filling ( Fig 12C , blue part), except around the plug hole, which was encircled by a diorite lining, a particularly solid rock ( Fig 12C , green part).

Directly above the granite boxes were ‘maneuvering chambers [ 108 ]’ that enabled the plug to be lifted. The plug closing the north shaft’s box has four vertical side grooves, 15 cm in diameter, intended for lifting ropes ( Fig 12C ) and a horizontal one, possibly for sealing. Below the chamber ceiling and just above the orifice, an unsheathed wooden beam was anchored in the east and west walls ( Fig 12C ). This beam likely supported ropes to lift the plug, similar to those found in the south shaft with friction traces [ 108 ].

Interestingly, the granite stones forming the granite box ceiling were bounded by mortar ( Fig 12A ), creating an impermeable barrier with the shaft’s lower part and leaving the plug’s hole as the only possible connection between the shaft and the inside of the box. Conversely, most joints between the box’s side and bottom stones, connected with the permeable bottom layer, were free from mortar.

These details, thoroughly documented during Lauer’s excavation [ 3 , 108 ] and visible on pictures ( Fig 12A and 12B ), clearly point to technical rather than symbolic application. Taken together, the granite box’s architecture and its removable plug surrounded by limestone clay-bound blocks present the technical signature of a water outlet mechanism.

When opened, such a plug system would have allowed the north shaft to be filled with water from the Deep Trench or, in another scenario, from the Dry Moat’s eastern section. The permeable surrounding filling would have permitted water discharge control from the four side tunnels. Then, the water could only seep through the granite box’s lower joints. This design would have prevented water from rushing through the system at high speed and with pressure shocks.

Considering water coming from the Deep Trench (elevation delta: 10–20 m), the retaining walls and the many layers’ cumulated weight stacked over the granite box acted as a lateral blockage and would have prevented the box ceiling from being lifted due to the underlying water pressure.

4.4 Consistency of the internal architecture of the Djoser’s complex with a hydraulic lift mechanism

After gathering all the elements of this study, we deduce that the northern shaft’s layout is consistent with a hydraulic lift mechanism to transport materials and build the pyramid. Elements at our disposal indicate that the south and north shafts could be filled with water from the Dry Moat. A massive float inside the north shaft could then raise stones, allowing the pyramid’s construction from its center in a ‘volcano’ fashion ( Fig 13 ).

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Although a connection between the Compartment -2 and the Djoser shafts has yet to be identified, it is highly probable that sediment-free water from the Deep Trench was used in this system ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 1 ’). This water quality would have reduced the risk of fouling and malfunction because it minimizes the presence of sand and clay that feed into the north shaft. This would prevent the deposition and progressive filling in the tunnels and connections, as well as the clogging of the joints between the bottom and side granite blocks of the box. The 200 m-long underground pipe [ 91 ] that connects the north and south shafts is then consistent with the transfer of water from the Deep Trench’s water treatment system to the north shaft, possibly via the south shaft.

Furthermore, there is a proven connection between the tunnels surrounding the north shaft and the Dry Moat through the Deslandes’ pipes [ 91 ] on the eastern side of the complex ( Figs 11 and 13 ). Pending further investigation, we hypothesize that the water inlet was located to the south ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 1 ’), with the outlet(s) sending water toward the east through two juxtaposed pipes (disk ‘ 2 ’). Several horizontal galleries connected to these two pipes were acacia-cased [ 3 ], a technique commonly used to safeguard the walls in hydraulic works in ancient Egypt. A large stone portcullis [ 108 ] found in one of these galleries may have served as a versatile gate closed during the water filling of the north shaft.

In another scenario, the Deslandes’ juxtaposed pipes ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 2 ’) could be considered as a water inlet for unfiltered water.

Finally, we hypothesize that a hydraulic lift, a massive float that was possibly made of wood and weighed several tons (see Supplement ), should run slowly inside the shaft to prevent instabilities and friction with the sides. The stones could have been elevated by filling and emptying cycles, allowing the lift to move up and down with stones ( Fig 13 ). These stones could have passed along the northern entrance until the central shaft. Recent discoveries have shown that this gallery was kept open until the very end of the pyramid’s construction, after which it was closed [ 1 , 91 ]. In our scenario, the stones could have been transported directly at ground level, corresponding to the pyramid’s first course, or slightly higher through a ramp penetrating in a (currently sealed) corridor some meters above the ground level. This configuration would have had the particular advantage of minimizing the elevation gain for which the hydraulic lift would be required. The stones could have been transported via the so-called ‘Saite gallery [ 114 ]’ in a final scenario. Although Firth [ 114 ] considers this gallery to postdate the III rd Dynasty, it remains possible that it was recut on the basis of an earlier gallery.

4.5 Modelling the hydraulic lift mechanism

We developed a simple numerical model of the hydraulic lift to study its water consumption and loading capacity (see Supplement ). The model was kept as simple as possible to be easily checked and only intended to give relevant orders of magnitudes.

The hydraulic lift is modelled as a float loaded with stones to build the pyramid and with a vertical extension to raise this material at the necessary level. Based on the initial altitude of the lift, Z m , which cannot be below 17m from ground level (the bottom of the shaft was filled with the box and overlying rocks, see Fig 12C ), and assuming a loading of the material on the lift at the ground level, the maximum height that can be reached in one cycle is <17m. To achieve greater heights, we hypothesize that the lift platform was blocked during the float descent, e . g ., using beams (see Fig 14 ). This modification would have allowed the platform to reach higher altitudes by adding or unfolding an extension. For the top of the pyramid, the float could be conversely used as a counterweight when descending, pulling on ropes that would haul the platform after passing over pulleys above the shaft head. A dual-use method involving hauling during shaft draining and elevating during water filling would have been the optimal management approach.

The lift platform (red line), and extension support (orange line) during the unfolding of the lower element are represented. The associated holes are to be localized in further excavation of the upper part of the shaft.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g014

The beginning of the pyramid building was most probably performed using ramps prolonging the path from the local quarry, possibly the Dry Moat [ 44 ]. To provide an upper bound of water consumption, we modelled the pyramid building using the hydraulic lift from the first layer at ground level. Our model suggests that this upper bound value is 18 Mm 3 of water required to build the whole pyramid using the float to lift stones only when the shaft is filled (see Supplement ). A few million were required to build the first 20 m and could be saved if ramps were used instead. The total amount of water needed would have been reduced by about one-third if the float had been used as a counterweight, pulling on ropes to haul stones on a platform suspended in the top part of the shaft rather than being located on a wooden frame extension attached to the float. Finally, if both lifting (when filling the shaft) and hauling (when draining the shaft) were used, the water consumption would decrease by two-thirds. If the loading was not performed at ground level but rather through a ramp and gallery above ground level, about one-quarter of the water would be saved if, for instance, using a 5 m-high ramp and 43% for a 10 m-high ramp. Further investigation above the vault and on the pyramid sides could help to identify such an eventual gallery. If, conversely, the loading was performed about 13 m below ground level in the top part of the northern gallery ( S6 Fig in S2 File ), the water consumption would typically increase by two-thirds.

On the other hand, through our research and calculations, we have determined that the Wadi Taflah catchment had the capacity to supply 4–54 Mm 3 over 20–30 years of construction, therefore not enough when assuming only pessimistic values (lower bound for rainfall and runoff coefficient, fast construction and sub-optimal use of the lift just using it when water rose), but sufficient when assuming intermediate values, and eight-times enough water to meet this demand when assuming optimistic values (upper bounds of parameters and dual lifting-hauling functioning). If further research demonstrates that the higher clay and silt content possibly present at that time shortly after the Green Sahara period probably led to increased runoff coefficients by a factor of 2–3 or even more, the resource would be increased by the same factor.

The climatological conditions on the Saqqara plateau during the III rd Dynasty are still not well understood [ 37 ]. As a first assumption, we estimate that the water supply may have been continuous even without an upper Abusir lake’s permanent existence, thanks to the flow from the wadi Abusir and, more significantly, through a probable derivation system from the nearby Wadi Taflah, assuming this large catchment had a more perennial runoff regime. Pedological investigations would be worthwhile in the plateau area and in the talweg of both wadis to look for evidence of more frequent water flow.

As a result, the hydraulic mechanism may have only been usable when sufficient water supply was available, so it may have only been used periodically. Other techniques, such as ramps and levees, were likely used to bring the stones from the quarries and adjust their positions around the lifting mechanism or when it was not in operation.

5. Discussion

A unified hydraulic system.

Based on a transdisciplinary analysis, this study provides for the first time an explanation of the function and building process of several colossal structures found at the Saqqara site. It is unique in that it aligns with the research results previously published in the scientific literature in several research areas: hydrology, geology, geotechnics, geophysics, and archaeology. In summary, the results show that the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure has the feature of a check dam intended to trap sediment and water, while the Deep Trench combines the technical requirements of a water treatment facility to remove sediments and turbidity. Together, these two structures form a unified hydraulic system that enhances water purity and regulates flow for practical uses and vital needs. Among the possible uses, our analysis shows that this sediment-free water could be used to build the pyramid by a hydraulic elevator system.

By its scale and level of engineering, this work is so significant that it seems beyond just building the Step Pyramid. The architects’ geographical choices reflect their foresight in meeting various civil needs, making the Saqqara site suitable for settling down and engaging in sedentary activities, such as agriculture, with access to water resources and shelter from extreme weather conditions. This included ensuring adequate water quality and quantity for both consumption and irrigation purposes and for transportation, navigation, or construction. Additionally, after its construction, the moat may have represented a major defensive asset, particularly if filled with water, ensuring the security of the Saqqara complex [ 115 ].

The hydraulic lift mechanism seems to be revolutionary for building stone structures and finds no parallel in our civilization. This technology showcases excellent energy management and efficient logistics, which may have provided significant construction opportunities while reducing the need for human labor. Furthermore, it raises the question of whether the other Old Kingdom pyramids, besides the Step Pyramid, were constructed using similar, potentially upgraded processes, a point deserving further investigation.

Overall, the hydraulic lift could have been a complementary construction technique to those in the literature for the Old Kingdom [ 8 , 10 ]. Indeed, it is unlikely that a single, exclusive building technique was used by the ancient architects but that a variety of methods were employed in order to adapt to the various constraints or unforeseen circumstances of a civil engineering site, such as a dry spell. Therefore, the beginning of the pyramid building was most probably performed using ramps prolonging the path from the local quarry. According to petrographic studies [ 47 ], the main limestone quarry of the Saqqara site could correspond to the Dry Moat that encircles the Djoser Complex, providing access on the four sides of the pyramid for the extracted blocks and reducing the average length of the ramps.

An advanced technical and technological level

By their technical level and sheer scale, the Saqqara engineering projects are truly impressive. When considering the technical implications of constructing a dam, water treatment facility, and lift, it is clear that such work results from a long-standing technical tradition. Beyond the technical aspects, it reflects modernity through the interactions between various professions and expertise. Even though basic knowledge in the hydraulics field existed during the early Dynastic period, this work seems to exceed the technical accomplishments mentioned in the literature of that time, like the Foggaras or smaller dams. Moreover, the designs of these technologies, such as the Gisr el-Mudir check-dam, indicate that well-considered choices were made in anticipation of their construction. They suggest that the ancient architects had some empirical and theoretical understanding of the phenomena occurring within these structures.

…questioning the historical line

The level of technological advancement displayed in Saqqara also raises questions about its place in history. When these structures were built remains the priority question to answer . Were all the observed technologies developed during the time of Djoser, or were they present even earlier? Without absolute dating of these works, it is essential to approach their attribution and construction period with caution. Because of the significant range of techniques used to build the Gisr el-Mudir, Reader estimates [ 70 ] that the enclosure may have been a long-term project developed and maintained over several subsequent reigns, a point also supported by the current authors. The water treatment facility follows a similar pattern, with the neatly cut stones being covered and filled with rougher later masonry. Finally, the Djoser Step Pyramid also presents a superposition of perfectly cut stones, sometimes arranged without joints with great precision and covered by other rougher and angular stones [ 3 ]. Some of these elements led some authors [ 6 , 100 ] to claim that Djoser’s pyramid had reused a pre-existing structure.

Some remaining questions

The Deep Trench was intentionally sealed off at some point in history, as evidenced by the pipe blockage between Compartment-0 and Compartment-1. The reasons are unknown and speculative, ranging from a desire to construct buildings (such as the Khenut, Nebet, or Kairer mastabas) above the trench to a technical malfunction or shutdown due to a water shortage. This sealing might also have been done for other cultural or religious purposes.

The current topography of the land around the Djoser complex, although uncertain given the natural or anthropogenic changes that have occurred over the last five millennia, does not support the existence of a trench to the east side. Therefore, our observations join those of Welc et al. [ 61 ] and some of the first explorers [ 63 ], reasonably attributing only three sections to the Dry Moat.

6 Materials and methods

• High-resolution commercial satellite images (Airbus PLEIADES, 50 cm resolution) and digital elevation models (DEM) were computed and analyzed to identify Abusir wadi’s palaeohydrological network impact on Djoser’s construction project. The processing sequence to generate DEM was mainly achieved using the Micmac software [ 116 ] developed by the French National Geographic Institute (IGN) and the open-source cross-platform geographic information system QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . Tisler .
• Geospatial data analysis was performed using the open-source WebGL-based point cloud renderer Potree 1.8.1 and QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . Tisler .
• The 2D CAD profiles of the Step Pyramid Complex presented throughout this article were produced using Solidworks 2020 SP5 (Dassault Systems) , Sketchup Pro 2021 (Trimble) , Blender (Blender Foundation) , and Unreal Engine 5 (Epic Games) , mainly based on dimensions collected by successive archaeological missions during the last two centuries reported in the literature.
• The Wadi Taflah watershed and the catchment area west of Gisr el-Mudir have been identified and characterized using QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . This was done with the help of the Geomeletitiki Basin Analysis Toolbox plugin, developed by Lymperis Efstathios for Geomeletitiki Consulting Engineers S . A . based in Greece.
• The modeling of the hydraulic lift mechanism was performed using the open-source programming software RStudio 2022 . 07 . 2 .

7. Concluding remarks and perspectives

This article discloses several discoveries related to the construction of the Djoser complex, never reported before:

• The authors presented evidence suggesting that the Saqqara site and the Step Pyramid complex have been built downstream of a watershed. This watershed, located west of the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, drains a total area of about 15 km 2 . It is probable that this basin was connected to a larger one with an estimated area of approximately 400 km 2 . This larger basin once formed the Bahr Bela Ma River , also known as Wadi Taflah , a Nile tributary.
• Thorough technical analysis demonstrates that the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure seems to be a massive sediment trap (360 m x 620 m, with a wall thickness of ~15 m, 2 km long) featuring an open check dam. Given its advanced geotechnical design, we estimate that such work results from a technical tradition that largely predates this dam construction. To gain an accurate understanding of the dam’s operating period, the current authors consider it a top priority to conduct geological sampling and analysis both inside and outside the sediment trap. This process would also provide valuable information about the chronological construction sequence of the main structures found on the Saqqara plateau.
• The hydrological and topographical analysis of the dam’s downstream area reveals the potential presence of a dried-up, likely ephemeral lake, which we call Upper Abusir Lake, located west of the Djoser complex. The findings suggest a possible link between this lake and the Unas hydrological corridor, as well as with the ‘Dry Moat’ surrounding the Djoser complex.
• The ‘Dry Moat’ surrounding the Djoser complex is likely to have been filled with water from the Upper Abusir Lake, making it suitable for navigation and material transportation. Our first topographical analysis attributes only three sections to this moat (West, North, and South).
• The Dry Moat’s inner south section is located within the Unas hydrological corridor. The linear rock-cut structure built inside this area, called ‘Deep Trench,’ consisting of successive compartments connected by a rock conduit, combines the technical requirements of a water treatment system: a settling basin, a retention basin, and a purification system.
• Taken as a whole, the Gisr el-Mudir and the Deep Trench form a unified hydraulic system that enhances water purity and regulates flow for practical uses and vital needs.
• We have uncovered a possible explanation for how the pyramids were built involving hydraulic force. The internal architecture of the Step Pyramid is consistent with a hydraulic elevation device never reported before. The current authors hypothesize that the ancient architects could have raised the stones from inside the pyramid, in a volcano fashion. The granite stone boxes at the bottom of the north and south shafts above the Step Pyramid, previously considered as two Djoser’s graves, have the technical signature of an inlet/outlet system for water flow ( Fig 15 ). A simple modeling of the mechanical system was developed to study its water consumption and loading capacity. Considering the estimated water resources of the Wadi Taflah catchment area during the Old Kingdom, the results indicate orders of magnitude consistent with the construction needs for the Step Pyramid.

Graphical conclusion

North Saqqara map showing the relation between the Abusir water course and the Step Pyramid construction process (Inset). The arrows figuring the flow directions are approximate and given for illustrative purposes based on the Franco-Egyptian SFS/IGN survey [ 52 ]. Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g015

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s003

How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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