Page 38 - Introduction & Preamble

The issue here then, is what are the right or trigger

questions? In case study development and usage, it is
tempting to ask the simple (almost standard) questions e.g.

‘With the help of a SWOT analysis assess the position of the

company or ‘Using tools of analysis with which you are

familiar evaluate the position of the company for meeting its
challenges.’ It is debatable whether these questions, though

pertinent but stripped to their essentials, have the richness

to act as triggers for generating the most creative case

solutions. Furthermore, there is always the danger that
asking the wrong question will diminish the effectiveness of

the learning process as it takes just as much effort on the

part of the student to answer a useless question as it does a
useful one.

Essentially, we are trying to get the student to do the things

we want him/her to do. In addition, we are trying to ensure

that the questions set before the students cause them to

effectively engage their understanding, skills, and reasoning.
These, when exercised will ultimately manifest in the

responses and answers submitted by the students which

will, in turn, show that they are indeed doing (or not doing)

the things we want them to do. Consequently, the aim
should be to create questions that naturally fit with the

context and content of the case study so that the issues

central to the case study and its associated theory are also
central to the case context (Taber, 2003).