In every research project there will always be a way to measure what is going on and how even a slight change could impact the outcome. A review was performed by Franz Bocker, from the School of Business University of Regensburg, on the comparison of teaching types of case verses lecture in Business Administration. In all school environments the importance of motivating a student to actually understand the course is the intended goal of all institutes. In this synopsis we will be looking at the independent and dependent variables described throughout the study. As well as the subjects used, how they were chosen and was the study valid and reliable. The idea to perform such a study was based on proving three hypotheses by reviewing what would be the better motivator to students, case versus lecture teaching. These hypotheses that were reviewed were: • “Case teaching develops the ability to reproduce knowledge learned skills better than lecture teaching. • Case teaching develops the ability to apply knowledge and learned skills to unknown problems better than lecture teaching. • Case teaching motivates students to learn managerial information more than lecture teaching does” (Bocker, 1987).
The three hypotheses were developed to confirm that case teaching is better suited to teach students in a business administration degree than a lecture structure. In every experiment there is at least one independent variable and one dependent variable. An independent variable is what the researchers or experimenters change or enables in order to perform the analysis. A dependent variable is what the change effects or “what changes when the independent changes” (Cool-Science-Projects.com, 2011) Independent and dependent are the influence and result of the influence In the case study by Franz Bocker the independent is the teaching method. The dependent variables in this study are the different tests performed and the increase of motivation. According to the research article utilizing the test scores at beginning and end or course for each style made for a very “interesting dependent variables for the cognitive variables” (Bocker, 1987). Developments of students are based on how well teacher methods and performances are. Each variable indicates how the two styles being reviewed, case verses lecture, and the effects they cause to student development or how the student learns and retains the knowledge. Sampling is important to any research and/or experiment. Sampling gives the researcher a certain amount to compare and analysis the fact to come to a conclusion. Sampling helps to lower costs on research projects and improve the accuracy of the outcome. Bocker utilized a small sample size and only one teacher to perform the review. Also the sampling was not with multiple colleges it was based off of one university. The experiment consisted of four classes. Two classes were graduate students that worked on learning and problem solving through cases teaching. The other two classes were taught by lecture learning. “The course topic for all groups was marketing planning and control. The aims, the reading lists, and the teacher for all four classes were identical” (Bocker, 1987). For this particular study it wasn’t entirely successful. They did prove that the case teaching does present a better understanding to students but the study as a whole was not conclusive. Some suggest was that it was due to the sample sizes being so small and towards one university. Another major issue was that they utilized the same teacher. This can cause many problems to prove a theory because that teacher may not be as proficient in teaching by lecture style then by case style. It is only basic human knowledge that people tend to remember facts when presented with real life examples. How though it was presented and teacher interaction was the key to analyzing the facts and coming up with a conclusive result. As a result more research is an absolute necessity if the hypotheses are to be proven. Also a variety of people are needed to conduct a strong research with both teachers, students and possibly course material. Though case teaching seems to be the better motivator of the two studies; Bocker study showed that it takes more time to get through specific topics and could cause a delay in coursework and learning.
References
Böcker, F. (1987). Is Case Teaching More Effective than Lecture Teaching in Business Administration? An Exploratory Analysis. Interfaces, 17(5), 64-71. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Cool-Science-Projects.com. (2011). Independent and Dependent. Retrieved on January 24, 2011 from http://www.cool-science-projects.com/independent-and-dependent-variables.html