Spot the patterns that repeat across many case studies
One case study tells you what happened to one organization; a set of them can show what keeps happening. Upload the cases to one Search+ workspace, ask which causes, decisions and outcomes recur across them, and open the citations to check that each pattern really appears in each case rather than in only one vivid example.
Creating an account needs no payment.
Last updated October 2026
How to find patterns across case studies
- Collect the cases on one topic
Upload the case studies you want to compare, for example a dozen product launches or a set of public health interventions, up to 10 files at a time. PDFs, Word files and scanned copies can sit in the same workspace.
- Write the lens as standing instructions
In Workspace Context, state what counts as a pattern for you, such as "Look for causes of failure that appear in at least two cases, and keep the context of each case". It applies to every question.
- Ask for patterns, then check each case
Ask which factors recur, then ask about each factor case by case. Open the citations so a pattern you report is backed by passages from more than one case.
Cross-case questions
Which factors do the successful cases have in common that the unsuccessful ones lack?
In how many of these cases does the failure trace back to underestimating costs, and where is it described?
At what kind of moment do the protagonists usually make the decisive choice?
Do the same patterns hold for the small organizations as for the large ones in this set?
Which case contradicts the pattern the others show, and why does the case say it turned out differently?
What to look for across a set of cases
Patterns are only meaningful across cases that are similar enough to compare. Check each case's setting, size and period before treating a factor as common to them.
Case collections are often chosen because the cases are dramatic or successful. Ask what the cases leave out, and be careful about general claims from a hand-picked set.
Knowing how a case ended makes earlier choices look obviously right or wrong. Ask what the people in the case knew at the time of the decision.
A single case that breaks a pattern can be the most instructive. Ask which cases do not fit before writing up the pattern.
Ask across every case in the workspace or about one case alone, and each answer cites the case passages it relied on.
Search+ finds repeated claims and themes across documents in chat, and you can trace each one back to its supporting text.
Pattern types across case studies
| Pattern type | An example | A question to ask Search+ |
|---|---|---|
| Common cause | The same root cause behind several failures | Which cases name poor communication as a cause? |
| Common response | Organizations reacting the same way | How did each company respond to the first sign of trouble? |
| Contrasting outcomes | Similar choices, different results | Which cases made the same choice but got different outcomes? |
| Timing | When in the story the turning point comes | At what stage does each case reach its turning point? |
| Stakeholder conflict | The same groups clashing in different cases | Where do finance and operations disagree across these cases? |
What is pattern-finding across case studies in Search+?
Pattern-finding across case studies in Search+ means asking questions across a set of cases in one workspace and receiving written answers that name recurring causes, decisions and outcomes, each with citations to the cases that show them. Deep Analysis (beta) is another way to ask Search+ to synthesize across the whole set, again with cited answers.
Questions about patterns across case studies
Can Search+ do a cross-case analysis?
How does it show which cases support a pattern?
Can it find cases that break the pattern?
Can I keep adding cases later?
Can scanned cases be part of the set?
Are the patterns guaranteed to be complete?
Learn what the cases teach together
Start a workspace, upload the cases, and ask which lessons keep coming back.
Start a workspace