The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
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Step 2 in the Create Your Own Case Toolkit is to identify a mismatch. Read more about this step and complete an exercise designed to help you think about a mismatch for your case. |
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of a case is to teach something to others. When you write your case, you will need to keep in mind that you are helping your readers develop the knowledge, skills, and beliefs that they need to engage families effectively. A case does this by challenging readers to think critically about differences in perspectives among people in a certain situation—what we call mismatches. A mismatch might be the result of a breakdown in communication, or differences between what people want, or, what they think people might need. Your mismatch might force readers to think about spending more time building relationships with families or finding better ways to connect. Your case might ask readers to challenge assumptions about how families are engaged in their children’s learning.
Your mismatch is important because it is what you want others to learn more about. Identifying a mismatch is not always easy. In writing your case, you won’t identify the resolution to the mismatch up front, but you will instead provide enough information so that readers can come up with reasonable actions by themselves to move the family forward. In a case, there is no one right course of action.
READ:
Case 1: When You Need to Change Your Strategy, by Carrine Bury. As you read, think about the mismatch she writes about. You’ll notice that Carrine, the outreach worker, is doing all she thinks she can to encourage a mother in her community to participate in parenting workshops; however, the mother continues not to participate. There is clearly a mismatch between the information that Carrine is sending to the mother and the messages that the mother is hearing. It is not until Carrine spends time building a relationship with all members of the family and listens to their individual perspectives that she becomes aware of the mismatch. She realizes that the mother is not participating in the workshops, not because she was not interested or not engaged, but rather, because she thought Carrine was trying to break her marriage apart. Carrine works to repair her missteps and slowly develops a strong relationship with the family.
COMPLETE:
Exercise 2: Identifying Mismatches. This exercise will help you think about a mismatch for your case.
THINK ABOUT:
When you’ve completed Exercise 2, ask yourself: Which mismatch do I feel most comfortable writing about? Does this mismatch have the potential to teach my readers about ways to engage families?
If the mismatch you choose to write about occurred during your work with a family that you did not reflect on in Step 1, you might consider returning to Exercise 1.1 or Exercise 1.2, with this new family in mind.
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