What is Case Study Question / Paragraph Based Question?
A case study is a scenario in a particular academic / professional context which students are expected to analyse and respond to, guided by specific questions posed concerning the situation. In many cases, the scenario or case study involves a number of issues or problems that must be dealt with in a academic / professional workplace.
Why Case Study Questions are included in academics?
Case study assignments usually require students to identify problems and issues in a scenario, to demonstrate their developing knowledge of theories and academic / professional policies and to make decisions and recommendations based on these to either prevent or solve some of the issues in that scenario.
How to solve Case Study Questions?
There are several steps to writing an answer to a case study assignment:
STEP 1: Read the case study and questions carefully.
- Read the case and associated questions carefully.
- Highlight the main points of the case and any issues that you can identify.
- Read the questions closely and analyse what they are requiring you to do.
- Read the case again, linking the information that is relevant to each question you have been asked.
STEP 2: Identify the issues in the case study.
Case studies describe a situation which may arise in a particular profession or social context. They often involve a number of people in a complex situation. They will often describe a situation which is problematic, possibly in how it is dealt with, or in its complexity. An important part of your answer is to analyse the situation and to identify the issues/actions described in the case which may be problematic. The following questions may help you to do this:
- What actions were taken in the case?
- Were these actions the most appropriate and why?
- Were there any consequences of the actions taken?
- Was anything omitted or not considered?
- Were actions/procedures in line with existing codes of practice, policy or theories?
STEP 3: Link theory to practice.
Use your knowledge of existing codes of practice, theories and/or other academic / professional documents and behaviours to decide what was done appropriately and what was not.
STEP 4: Plan your answer.
It can be useful to use the questions you have been set as headings and to answer each part in turn, reducing the chance of omitting set questions. You can always take out the headings before you submit if you wish. Lecturers usually set questions in a logical order, so answer in the order they are written in your question.
STEP 5: Start writing your case study answer (for theory only)
Like any assignment, you will need an introduction, body sections in which you answer the questions put to you regarding the case study, and a conclusion.
STEP 6: Edit and proofread.
Read through your paper yourself to detect and correct other errors and omissions.
Check you have answered all questions and backed up your answer with relevant passage.
Types of Case Study Questions / Paragraph Based Questions
Case Study Questions / Paragraph Based Questions can be broadly classified into two types:
- MCQs type: In this type, student has to tick the correct option from various options.
- Theory type: In this type, student has to write proper solution / answer in cotext to the case study.
Case Study/ Passage Based Questions Chapter 3 The Making of a Global World
Type 1: MCQ type
Case Study Question 01
Read the text given below and answer the questions that follow:
The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world. The name ‘silk routes’ points to the importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes along this route. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa. They are known to have existed since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till the fifteenth century. But Chinese pottery also travelled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and Southeast Asia. In return, precious metals – gold and silver – flowed from Europe to Asia.
Trade and cultural exchange always went hand in hand. Early Christian missionaries almost certainly travelled this route to Asia, as did early Muslim preachers a few centuries later. Much before all this, Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through intersecting points on the silk routes.
Answer the following MCQs by choosing the most appropriate option:
Question.1. Find out the incorrect statement from the following about the ‘silk route’:
(a) It was a prominent trade route in ancient times.
(b) Silk was the main trading item, that’s why it was called ‘silk route’.
(c) India used this route mainly to export silk to European countries.
(d) There were two silk routes, i.e. inland route and maritime.
Question.2. Find out the incorrect statement from the following:
(a) A route from India met in Central Asia with the main silk route.
(b) Mainly, cotton and spices were supplied from India through this route.
(c) Silk route was not profitable for India but to China.
(d) Silk was costly and used by elite class in Europe.
Question.3. Silk route was never used:
(a) To spread Islam from West Asia to East Asia.
(b) To spread Christianity from Europe to Asia.
(c) To spread Buddhism from East Asia to India.
(d) To explore the knowledge by Chinese travellers.
Question.4. Which of the following religion was first to use ‘silk route’ for expansion:
(a) Christianity
(b) Buddhism
(c) Islam
(d) Jainism
Ans.1. (c) India used this route mainly to export silk to European countries.
Ans.2. (c) Silk route was not profitable for India but to China.
Ans.3. (c) To spread Buddhism from East Asia to India.
Ans.4. (b) Buddhism.
Case Study Question 02
Read the source given below and answer the questions that follow:
Precious metals, particularly silver, from mines located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia. Legends spread in seventeenth-century Europe about South America’s fabled wealth. Many expeditions set off in search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America was decisively under way by the mid-sixteenth century. European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower. In fact, the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a conventional military weapon at all. It was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on their person. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against these diseases that came from Europe.
Smallpox in particular proved a deadly killer. Once introduced, it spread deep into the continent, ahead even of any Europeans reaching there. It killed and decimated whole communities, paving the way for conquest.
Answer the following MCQs by choosing the most appropriate option:
Question.1. The silver obtained from Peru was used in India to buy:
(a) Spices and cotton
(b) Arms and ammunitions
(c) To consolidate colonial rule
(d) Ornaments and jewellery
Question.2. Which of the following material was not acquired by European from America’s?
(a) Gold and silver
(b) Forest resources
(c) Vast open land for agriculture
(d) Human resource for agriculture works
Question.3. Find out the incorrect statement from the following:
(a) Discovery of Americas solved the financial problems of Europeans.
(b) Superior arms and ammunitions played important role in conquering Americas.
(c) Large number of European migrated Americas to do work in agriculture fields.
(d) Americans did not have immunity against the germs carried by Europeans.
Question.4. Which of the following is not correct about smallpox?
(a) Smallpox germs reached Americas accidentally.
(b) Germs were intentionally introduced by Europeans.
(c) Americans didn’t have immunity against smallpox.
(d) Smallpox helped Europeans to kill the enemies whom they could not reach.
Ans.1. (a) Spices and cotton
Ans.2. (d) Human resource for agriculture works.
Ans.3. (c) Large number of European migrated Americas to do work in agriculture fields.
Ans.4. (b) Germs were intentionally introduced by Europeans.
Type 2: Theory Type
Case Study Question 03
Read the source given below and answer the question that follows:
The Second World War broke out a mere two decades after the end of the First World War. It was fought between the Axis Powers (mainly Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy) and the Allies (Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the US). It was a war waged for six years on many fronts, in many places, over land, on sea, in the air. Once again death and destruction was enormous. At least 60 million people, or about 3 per cent of the world’s 1939 population, is believed to have been killed, directly or indirectly, as a result of thewar. Millions more were injured. Unlike in earlier wars, most of these deaths took place outside the battlefields. Many more civilians than soldiers died from war-related causes. Vast parts of Europe and Asia were devastated, and several cities were destroyed by aerial bombardment or relentless artillery attacks. The war caused an immense amount of economic devastation and social disruption.
Reconstruction promised to be long and difficult. Two crucial influences shaped post-war reconstruction. The first was the US’s emergence as the dominant economic, political and military power in the Western world. The second was the dominance of the Soviet Union. It had made huge sacrifices to defeat Nazi Germany, and transformed itself from a backward agricultural country into a world power during the very years when the capitalist world was trapped in the Great Depression.
Question.1. Who were the countries directly involved in the Second World War?
Question.2. Who trapped the world in the Great Depression?
Question.3. What was the duration of the Second World War?
Ans.1.
(i) The Second World War broke out a mere two decades after the end of the First World War.
(ii) It was fought between the Axis Powers (mainly Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy) and the Allies (Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the US).
Ans.2. The capitalists trapped the world in the Great Depression.
Ans.3.
(i) The Second World War broke out a mere two decades after the end of the First World War.
(ii) It was for six years on many fronts, in many places, over land, on sea, in the air.
