CASE TECHNOLOGY AS A MEANS OF FORMING RESEARCH ABILITIES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: EVIDENCE FROM HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA AND CENTRAL ASIA

The cultivation of university students’ research ability has become a central objective of higher education reform, particularly in systems transitioning toward research- and innovation-oriented learning. This study investigates the effect of case technology on university students’ research ability and examines the mediating role of critical thinking in higher education contexts in China and Central Asia. Grounded in inquiry-based learning theory, a conceptual framework was proposed in which case technology functions as the independent variable, research ability as the dependent variable, and critical thinking as the mediating variable. A quantitative research design was employed, with data collected from 312 undergraduate students enrolled in universities in China and Kazakhstan. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and mediation analysis were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that case technology has a significant positive effect on both research ability and critical thinking. Critical thinking was also found to significantly predict research ability. Moreover, mediation analysis revealed that critical thinking partially mediates the relationship between case technology and research ability. The findings demonstrate that case technology enhances students’ research ability not only through direct engagement with research-oriented learning activities but also indirectly by fostering critical thinking. This study contributes to the literature on research-oriented pedagogy by clarifying the cognitive mechanism underlying the effectiveness of case-based instruction and provides practical implications for integrating inquiry-oriented teaching approaches in higher education curricula in China and Central Asia.