How to track down case studies for your next article

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Lily Canter is an experienced freelance money, health and lifestyle journalist, and a senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. She is also the co-author of Freelancing for Journalists and co-host of the podcast of the same name.

Whether it's a woman who bought a divorce horse or a parent homeschooling five children, finding a case study can sometimes feel like more of an art than a science.

Yet human experience is at the heart of journalism and it is a vital skill to be able to track down individuals with compelling stories.

There are a number of methods that can be deployed to find the right person to illustrate a story, no matter how obscure the request may seem.

Social media

It goes without saying that social media is the number one platform for finding case studies but it is not as simple as putting out a post on your Instagram, X or Facebook feed.

Your request needs to reach beyond your own inner circle particularly if you want diverse representation.

Although X has far less engagement than when it was once called Twitter, it is still worth using the hashtag #journorequest on X when trying to find a relevant case study. This hashtag will put your request in front of people keen to share their story or PRs with relevant clients. Keep your DMs open and you can quickly filter through any responses or even better add your email address in case they can’t send you a DM.

Using this approach helped me to secure a fairly niche case study for a Mail on Sunday story about homeowners struggling to find an approved Green Home Grant installer.

And sometimes just a general call out will work. More recently I posted on X to find GPs with concerns over schools requesting doctor’s notes when children are absent with minor illnesses, for this doctors.net.uk article.

When it comes to Facebook there are a number of pages and groups set up specifically to link journalists with the public such as Feature Me! UK and Lightbulb.

It is also a great idea to join niche groups to find exactly the person you are looking for. Need someone who invests in cryptocurrency? Join a crypto Facebook group. Writing an article about what women in Hong Kong do with excess breast milk? Join a Hong Kong moms Facebook group.

Award-winning journalist Donna Ferguson often employs this technique.

"Any Facebook group with 5,000 members or more is brilliant for case studies whether it is a group for parents, for pets, whatever."

Also think about where your case studies might hangout online, whether it is Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat or another platform. They might not be on X or Facebook but they probably have a profile somewhere.

For a Runner’s World article on overcoming physical disabilities, I discovered Instagram was the best place to find case studies and I used the search function to track down individuals before sending them a direct message. As engagement on X has fallen off a cliff I now spend far more contacting people on Instagram directly or occasionally posting direct call outs like this.

Another tactic is to target people associated with those you are trying to find. For a Guardian article on teen entrepreneurs I posted in business Facebook groups with the aim of reaching parents and family friends who then put me in contact with relevant teenagers.

Online forums

Vocal individuals also tend to reside in online forums such as Reddit, Netmums and MoneySavingExpert. They can be a good place to hunt for someone complaining about a niche subject or to put a call out.

Make sure you read the forum rules first (the same goes for Facebook groups) because some don't allow media shout outs. One such forum saved the day when I had exhausted all options for a story on restrictive covenants.

Freelance journalist Jack Wynn has even used the Nextdoor app to find local business owners in the Vale of Glamorgan.

"I was writing a story about local business grants. From the Nextdoor request I managed to find an accountant, a restaurant owner, a clothing shop owner and a freelance graphic designer."

Press offices and PR agencies

Asking press officers and public relation officers to find case studies is also a legitimate approach. They will often have a bank of people they can call on who have already given their consent to be identified and photographed for the media.

If you receive a press release on a topic you would like to cover, go back to the sender and ask them to source a case study for you. This case study driven story for Metro evolved from a couple of lines in a press release.

Charities can be a great source of emotive case studies and advocacy groups can be an excellent way to source more diverse stories. I often contact Black Trail Runners or Black Girls Do Run when looking for running-related case studies. They recently helped me to source women for an article in Women’s Running magazine about training for overseas races and another piece about running later in life for Metro.

You can also use services like Ask Charity which link journalists up with case studies and spokespeople.

But this approach does come with a big caveat. Never assume that a case study has been fully briefed before they speak to you and be prepared for some dramatic u-turns. This has happened to me on countless occasions and there are now certain case studies I will never source via a PR agency.

Databases

Each week a new database promising to provide journalists with expert sources appears to pop up online. The list includes Qwoted, ResponseSource, JournoLink, PressPlugs, Gorkana, Help A Reporter Out, SourceBottle, Synapse plus many more around the globe.

Through websites or portals you enter your details, the request, the deadline and the media outlet you are working for and it is sent to relevant contacts who then respond directly to you.

In my experience these services tend to be better for sourcing experts rather than case studies but they are always worth a try.

A top tip would be to set up a separate email account to deal with responses because certain topics will attract hundreds of emails. And remember there is no obligation to respond to them all.

Also be wary of AI responses. Whenever you can speak to the person on the phone or via a video call rather than accepting an email quote.

Friends and family

Using friends and family may be fruitful but I would always leave this as a last resort. You always have to tread more carefully with people you are close to because you never quite know what the repercussions of a story may be.

Want to learn more about how to create a successful freelance journalism career? Sign up to the Freelancing for Journalists Substack for free.

This article was first published on 5 February 2021 and has been updated on 18 August 2025 with new examples and advice