This exploratory study integrated information from quantitative and qualitative data sources to highlight how different students responded to, and learned from, case-based instruction. Fifty-eight first-year veterinary students, enrolled in a biochemistry laboratory course which utilized case studies as one of the primary methods of instruction, participated in the study. Quantitative data, gathered from students' pre-course performances on two learning inventories, were used to classify students according to their initial levels of self-regulation. By identifying those students who fell at both ends of the inventory scales, comparisons could be made between different types of learners. Nine students, representing high and low self-regulators, were interviewed at three different times during the semester to explore initial and changing responses to case-based instruction. Using a constant comparative method of analysis, an analytical framework was developed which identified critical factors which seemed to facilitate, or limit, students' ability to learn from this method. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/AEF)