Case Study Research Strategy and System Dynamics

[Corey Lofdahl]

Ive organized my system dynamics case studies according
to the "reference mode" concept, which breaks model development
into the following five steps:

(1) identify the timeframe and major themes of the study,
(2) describe and develop the theory that motivates and organizes
the study,
(3) identify primary variables and graph their dynamics,
(4) identify sign and magnitude of causal connections among
the variables, and
(5) develop a system dynamics model based on the previously
developed timeframe, themes, theory, variables, dynamics,
and connections.

Note how much prep work is done before the computer is turned
on. The citation I always use is

J. Randers, "Guidelines for model conceptualization". in
J. Randers (ed.) _Elements_of_the_System_Dynamics_Method_
pp. 117-39. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press.

although Id be interested to know if other, more recent references
exist.

--corey
From: corey lofdahl <lofdahl@alum.mit.edu>

[G P Richardson]

The query asked:
"2. Can anyone recommend a case study example that is especially good at
demonstrating the essence of the case study strategy? The ideal case study
would also have a model available that I can download and use for
demonstration purposes."

There are a couple of Harvard Business School cases on People Express
Airline, and John Stermans wonderful flight simulator for PE. Experience
with case study discussions of this case followed by group work with the
flight simulator shows that almost no one in a traditional case study
discussion uncovers the key structures underlying the collapse of PE, and
almost everyone does discover them after work with the flight simulator.

Here at Albany we have and use a case study of a government agency (GORA -
The Governors Office of Regulatory Assistance) which is coupled with a
simple model. We use the case in both traditional case study discussions
(to get the process going), causal-loop mapping exercises (to try to draw
out insightful structure), and lab-like computer simulation experiments
designed to introduce people to system dynamics models and their use in
understanding policy dynamics. The case and model are available if you
write to me, but it is not yet "nicely packaged" so youd have to work out
yourself how to use them. And it is doesnt appear in an article.

...GPR

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George P. Richardson G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Chair of Public Administration and Policy http://www.albany.edu/~gpr
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy Phone: 518-442-5258
University at Albany - SUNY, Albany, NY 12222 Fax: 518-442-5298
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["geoff coyle"]

This doesnt answer all your points but there is a lot on validation in my
1996 book, which also has lots of case studies of modelling. See also a
forthcoming paper Validation of Commercial System Dynamics Models, which
will appear in SDR early next year.

Regards,

Geoff

geoff.coyle@btinternet.com
Professor Geoff Coyle
Consultant in System Dynamics and Strategic Analysis
Tel: (44) 01793 782817 Fax: 01793 783188

["geoff coyle"]

You are absolutely right to do the thinking before the modelling!!!!! When I
run my one-week intensive SD course I fund that the participants always turn
on their computers before I even start talking. I then make them turn them
off as we are going to spend the first two days thinking about problem
formulation before we even get to the boring bit which is clicking icons.
Where possible I even have the computers in another room to which students
are only allowed to go when they have convinced me that they have a
worthwhile, planned, simulation to do. I see so many people these days
simply staring at a screen while they try to think of something to do or,
even worse, while they try to debug a model from the icons and a few graphs.

For a more recent treatment of the process of modelling and the rather
important issue of model validation see my System Dynamics Modelling: A
Practical Approach, Chapman and Hall/CRC 1996. They tell me that it is
finally available on amazon.com but get back to me if you have problems.

Good luck with your work.

Regards,

Geoff

geoff.coyle@btinternet.com
Professor Geoff Coyle
Consultant in System Dynamics and Strategic Analysis
Tel: (44) 01793 782817 Fax: 01793 783188

[Roderick Brown]

I, and some colleagues at London Business School, use a wide variety of
case study + simulation tools for teaching System Dynamics and strategy
(the Dynamics of Strategy or DynoS). George Richardson notes that
traditional case study discussion leaves folk short of understanding key
dynamic structures and this is also my (more limited) observation. We
use the term "Microworld" to encompass this full combination of a
conventional case-study with a simulation. However, we have recently
had some success using "mini-microworlds", small sims with only brief,
generic case-descriptions. (e.g. a fast growth, six month old UK
internet bank, model whistled up in a few days). It seems that
these small simulations, together with an all important "debrief", are
also highly effective in communicating the general principles of dynamic
behaviour without consuming huge amounts of class/management time in
detailed analysis of one industry or firm.

This is not to distract folk from using full case study simulations (I
have a commercial interest in selling some of them so it is not
appropriate for me to cite any of them here!) but to point out it may
sometimes be more (time) efficient to use mini-microworlds, particularly
with management rather than student audiences.

Rod Brown
Global Strategy Dynamics
rod@strategydynamics.com
--

["Johnson, Scott"]

Hello,

Any contributions to the following effort will be greatly appreciated!

In preparation to begin my thesis for a Master of System Dynamics degree at
the University of Bergen, Norway, I have enrolled in a doctoral research
methods course at the University of Colorado at Denver. This course, titled
"The Conduct of Empirical Inquiry" is taught by the Graduate School of
Public Affairs and is not focused on System Dynamics.

One of my assignments (working with several other class members) is to
prepare a two hour presentation and "teach" the essence of the Case Study
research strategy to the remainder of the class. The primary text we are
using is "Case Study Research - Design and Methods", Robert K. Yin. This
book is excellent in laying out the traditional view of case study research
but it does not mention System Dynamics. My goal is to complete my
assignment by focusing on how System Dynamics can enhance research completed
using the Case Study research strategy. Part of my teaching strategy is to
use one or two examples of case studies that incorporate System Dynamics.
At the present time, I am relying on examples that are contained in
"Modelling for Management II: Simulation in Support of Systems Thinking",
George P. Richardson.

Questions

1. Can anyone recommend an article or two that discusses the use
(advantages, disadvantages, etc.) of System Dynamics within the Case Study
research strategy?

2. Can anyone recommend a case study example that is especially good at
demonstrating the essence of the case study strategy? The ideal case study
would also have a model available that I can download and use for
demonstration purposes.

3. Can someone point me in the direction of an annotated bibliography that
contains references to the Case Study research strategy?

4. Can anyone recommend an article that addresses how System Dynamics can
address external validity issues associated with the Case Study research
strategy? Definition - External validity: establishing the domain to which
a studys findings can be generalized.

Thanks,

Scott T. Johnson
email: Scott.T.Johnson@worldnet.att.net

["Jim Hines"]

Harvard University and High Performance Systems have created a couple of
CD-based cases that rely heavily on system dynamics models built right into
the CD. I have heard that one of these cases has become Harvards biggest
selling case (and Harvard sells a lot of cases).

Regards,
Jim Hines
From: "Jim Hines" <jhines@MIT.EDU>

[Khalid Saeed]

Jim,

I have seen some of these CDs and they are excellent teaching tools. It
seems Harvards case study method and its alternative developed at MIT did
come together after all, but at Harvard.

Khalid
_____________________________________
Khalid Saeed
Professor and Department Head
Social Science and Policy Studies
W. P. I., 100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA 01609, USA

Ph: 508-831-5563; fax: 508-831-5896
email: saeed@wpi.edu

SSPS Dept: http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/SSPS/
System Dynamics Society: http://www.albany.edu/cpr/sds/

["Warren Tignor"]

I have two articles on the subject in the proceedings of the 1997 and 1998
International System Dynamics Conference:

1998 - PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IN A LEARNING ORGANIZATION - Case Study and Causal Diagramming

1997 - THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A LEARNING ORGANIZATION: Case
Study and Causal Diagramming.

The primary case studied was the Harvard Business School Xerox case. Hope
that this maybe useful. If there is any other detail that I may provide,
please let me know.

Regards,

Warren Tignor
From: "Warren Tignor" <wtignor@ieee.org>