Decision-forcing cases – decyzyjne studia przypadku

Abstract

A decision-forcing case is an exercise which asks students to solve a problem faced by an actual person at some point in the past. Because the problem is drawn from real life, a decision- forcing case is a type of case study. Because students are asked to provide specific solutions to a concrete problem, a decision-forcing case is also a kind of decision game. In other words, a decision-forcing case is both a case study that asks students to make a decision and a decision-game based on real facts. A case study that describes an event without asking students to make a decision is not a decision-forcing case. Rather, it is a ‘retrospective case study’. Likewise, a decision game based upon an imaginary scenario is not a decision-forcing case, but a ‘fictional decision game’. Decision-forcing cases offer a variety of benefits to students. Some of these benefits are a function of the links between decision-forcing cases and an actual events. Others derive from the requirement that students examine the case from the point of view of a particular individual. Some of the benefits of learning from decision-forcing cases result from the requirement that students make, explain, and defend decisions. Others are a product of the need to make sense of many different kinds of evidence. A few of the benefits of the use of decision-forcing cases – and these tend to be the most important benefits – come from the interaction of these different aspects. One of these is the fact that decision- forcing cases are inherently engaging. Indeed, if taught properly, they are a great deal of fun. The other is that decision-forcing cases do a far better job of imparting factual knowledge than teaching methods that are solely concerned with the delivery of facts.