Teaching with Case Studies: An Empirical Investigation of Accounting Lecturers' Experiences

Abstract

The case study method has come under increasing attention in recent decades with some writers extolling its potential to promote deeper learning. However, in the area of accounting education, ongoing calls for its use are not matched with similar accounts of successful use. Using a phenomenological approach, this study explores how accounting lecturers at an Irish university experience teaching with case studies. Three categories of description emerge: controller, facilitator, and partner. Of these, only the partners apply the case method with the explicit intention of fostering deeper learning and personal development. This suggests that, to inform the debate on its potential benefits, more extensive consideration needs to be paid to the manner in which accounting educators actually engage with the case method. Research in accounting education should move beyond consideration of teaching method to focus on the underlying affective and institutional factors which colour interpretation of the teaching context.

Keywords:

• Case-based teaching
• lecturer experience
• teaching approach

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of three anonymous reviewers, Editor Richard Wilson and participants at the 2007 Annual Conference of the British Accounting Association's Special Interest Group on Accounting Education.