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 3 in the Create Your Own Case Toolkit is to choose people and information to include in your case. Read more about this step and complete an exercise designed to help you elaborate on different people’s perspectives. |
INTRODUCTION:
By now, you have chosen a family that you would like to write your case about. You have also identified the mismatch you would like to focus on. At this point, your job is to start thinking about the individual people and the information you would like to include in your case.
Through the people you choose to write about and the information you present, you are helping your readers consider other people’s perspectives. Looking at situations as others might see them is an important component of building relationships with families, recognizing family strengths, and overcoming mismatches. Each person in your case has a different point of view and a different perspective on what is going on. You will want to include enough information in your case so that readers can imagine what it might be like to be in different people’s shoes. This will help readers develop their own judgments and ideas. It is often most effective to limit the number of people in your case to help keep it focused.
READ:
Case 4: Making Your Intent Clear, by Tagasech Wabeto. You’ll notice that there are only two people with active roles in this case—the mother and the outreach worker. However, readers learn a lot from both of these people. Readers learn how two people might have two entirely different perspectives on the same set of events: a mother who fears that an outreach worker is attempting to convert her religion and an outreach worker who feels that a mother is hard to reach. Readers also come to understand through the information provided in the case that working with families effectively involves understanding a family’s cultural background and life experiences and the ways that these might impact decisions that the family makes.
COMPLETE:
Exercise 3: Choosing People and Information for Your Case. This exercise will help you think about the people you might want to include in your case and the information that will be helpful in revealing each person’s different perspectives about various events.
THINK ABOUT:
When you’ve completed Exercise 3, ask yourself: Which people are most important to include in my case? Is it clear how each of these people hold different perspectives on critical events? What are the most important events to include in my case so that readers can make informed decisions about the mismatch that arises?
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