"Case example" or "example case"

Question

Can you say "case example" or does it need to be "example case" or are both correct?

I have not found "case example" in the Oxford Dictionary, but I find a lot of hits on the internet. I would rather thrust the Oxford Dictionary though

Any comments?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Both phrases sound awkward to me. Can you show us a complete sentence?

We normally just speak of 'an example', or 'a case as an example'.

Clive

Jochenvdk · Answer

Hi Clive,
Thank you for your reply. I actually mean case studies. This is the word I would use. But I am on a translation job and I see the word "case example", as in "the following case example shows that...."
Best regards, Jochen

Clive · Answer

Hi,

case example here is poor English, to the point where I'd call it incorrect.

case study is fine, but it suggests a lengthy and very realistic example.

Clive

Jochenvdk · Answer

Thanks Clive! I agree with you.

Is there someone that disagrees or can we conclude that "case example" should not be used?

Jochenvdk · Answer

Actually a search on Google shows more than 1,000,000 hits for "case example". I have checked some of them (of course, Google is not my reference for English language!) and this made me doubt again, it seems there are a lot of native speakers using this form anyway.

Any further comments please?

Enoon · Answer

jochenvdkActually a search on Google shows more than 1,000,000 hits for "case example". I have checked some of them (of course, Google is not my reference for English language!) and this made me doubt again, it seems there are a lot of native speakers using this form anyway.Any further comments please?

About half of the Internet search hits seem to be from medicine, where a case is a patient and his illness. That seems to be legitimate use. Many of the rest are coincidental, like "best-case example" and "Select Case example", where "Select Case" is a computer command. The rest seem to be what we are dreading, business jargon at its worst, an illegitimate extension of "case study".

What is the exact context in which you found the term?

Jochenvdk · Answer

The discussion arose during the editing of an article that needs to be written in perfect English language. The article tells about a research project in civil engineering - nothing to do with medicine. We have tested a newly developed calculation tool in a number of different situations. Each of the situations is described in "case studies" in the article.

So the article goes as follows:

Case example 1
In this case example, we are testing the tool under the following conditions: .........
The case example clearly shows that the quality of the end product can significantly be improved.

Case example 2
.....

Case example 3
......

Enoon · Answer

That looks like Newspeak. In that context, I think the reader will not only understand "case example", he will expect nothing more helpfully descriptive. I'm guessing that "Case example 1" is the example that goes with case study number one. If so, I would call it "Example for Case Study 1", but there is a reason I'm typing this instead of earning the big bucks at a think tank communications office.

Shape5 · Answer

Since this is a decade after your question, you won’t be using it for your article, but here are the 3 terms explained:

“Case example” and “case study” are both certainly legitimate and widely used terms which is why they turn up so many search results. However, when to apply them should be based on their definitions, not grammar, as all 3 are grammatically correct in stand-alone form.

– Case study: This is a formal research study used for science, medicine, and other fields. See here for extensive definitions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3141799

“A case study is a research approach that is used to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in its real-life context. It is an established research design that is used extensively in a wide variety of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences.”

– Case example: This is not an actual study, but rather an instance of a relatively complex situation that has been analyzed and reported, often using data, and would require a bit of reading to learn and understand. It’s frequently used in law, as in legal case example, and also business, medicine, science, education, and politics, usually in attempting to seek solutions to documented problems. It could reference a study but isn’t the study itself. For ex:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/rm/caseexamples.asp

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/thegeocodingproject/case-example

https://www.apa.org/depression-guideline/case-examples

(Moderator's note: For some reason the above links don't work properly on here. Put https and then :// and then www. in front of each of the lines below to go to the relevant web page.)

cde.ca.gov/sp/el/rm/caseexamples.asp

hsph.harvard.edu/thegeocodingproject/case-example

apa.org/depression-guideline/case-examples

– Example: The most simplistic of the 3 which is used for everyday items, methods, concepts, etc.: For example, 3 common tools found in toolboxes: hammer, wrench, pliers, or 3 different methods of transportation to get from point A to B: car, plane, train.

In order to be technically accurate, I would have used “example” in the instance you listed for civil engineering.

Shape5 · Answer

It was a followup reply to my previous post just above it which has inactive/broken hyperlinks. I emailed them days ago to ask how I can edit and fix my post and they haven't replied.

"Case example" or "example case"

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