The case study approach
Using a case study, or a number of case studies, allows the participants to see practically how homelessness can affect an individual, and where an organisation could collaborate and suggest solutions to affect that person’s life (and others like them). This approach can help participants appreciate the issues surrounding homelessness in a real life context. It can also assist in exploring complex issues and identifying opportunities for collaboration in that real life scenario.
It can be a particularly useful tool when the participants do not have first-hand experience of homelessness, working with clients effected by homelessness or their organisation is not directly involved with homelessness.
An example case study can be found within this section.
You can use the example case study and associated questions, discussions and pledges as a starting point for your own case study approach, whereupon you can use the blank templates of the discussion log, pledges and action plan to complete your own work – please see appendix for blank documents.
The example includes:
Jas’ case study (real name changed)
- A set of example questions used to explore the case study
- A completed discussion log
- A set of pledges
- A completed action plan
- An online version of this toolkit can be accessed via www.wmca.org.uk
From this website, you can also download versions of the:
- Blank discussion log template
- Blank pledge template
- Blank action plan template
- Checklist of the example questions, pledges and actions
- Facilitator guide