Instructions for Mini-project and Final Project
In your final project, you will take what you have learned about the professional responsibilities of scientists and engineers to address a problem of professional responsibility that is of particular interest to you. This final project may combine ethical reflection with investigation of sources of ethical support in a mix that is appropriate to your topic and your interests. This is not a research paper nor is it a study of ethical opinions, but if you are investigating an area in which some ethical norms are explicitly stated, as in a professional code of ethics, it is appropriate to briefly state and comment on those norms. You should not go to the law school to look up such material, but consult sources written for scientists and engineers or the general public, such as codes or articles published by your professional society, the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science, or the news media.
To fulfill his or her professional responsibilities the engineer or scientist needs not only the technical competence to anticipate potential safety problems and distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate research conduct, but also skill to elicit support from her organization to carry out investigation of potential safety problems and to remedy those problems that are found to exist. You will do a mini-project at the beginning of the course, and later do a more extensive final project. These projects are designed to give you practical experience in identifying, employing and evaluating the avenues open to you in various corporate and research settings for getting an appropriate response to your safety concerns. It is recommended that students, especially those who have never done projects before, do the mini-project on safety or scientific misconduct. You may do your mini-project on another topic with the prior permission of the instructor. You may do your major project on any topic listed on the course syllabus or (with the permission of the instructor) on another ethical issue might arise for you on the job.
For the Mini-project you will:
- Develop a brief (300-400 word) hypothetical scenario--see below-- and questions in which you as an engineer or scientist in some organization discover what looks like an ethical problem. This will usually be a safety problem or an instance of research misconduct. The safety problem may present a hazard for any number of reasons e.g., because of the design, manufacture, its possible use in ways or in environments other than those for which it was designed, etc., and may present risks to your fellow workers or to unknown operators or consumers. Similarly, the suspected misconduct may take any of a number of forms. Working individually, you will develop the scenario and questions. (For the final project you may work alone or with the two or three other class members.)
- Present the scenario to someone at Case who is knowledgeable about the situation you present.
- In your oral reports, you should begin by displaying your scenario on an overhead or handing out copies of your scenario and questions, and reading it aloud. Next, give a brief report on both the interview(s) that you conducted and the conclusions that you drew based on the interview.
- For your mini-project, you will give an oral report only. You need only interview one Case person for your mini-project. One purpose of the mini-project is to give you practice doing this sort of project. Another is to give you information that you want to have, and give you experience in getting it. You will have 6 minutes to present your mini-project.
In each of your projects, you should be prepared to tell the other members of the class whom you interviewed. Names will not be used outside of class or in public presentations. If there are special reasons for disclosing the name of the interviewee only to the instructor, this should be discussed with the instructor ahead of time. In that case, the names may be handed in on a separate sheet of paper. Names and positions of interviewees must be disclosed, since the value of your report depends in part on interviewing a knowledgeable person.
For the Final Project you will:
- Develop a brief (300-400 word) hypothetical scenario and questions in which you, as an engineer or scientist face an ethically significant practical problem. You may do your major project on any topic listed on the course syllabus or any other ethical problem that might arise for you in the technical workplace or in graduate school. You will bring this to class this to the instructor immediately after Fall Break and the instructor will work with you to refine your scenario and choose interviewees for your final project.
- Present the scenario to people who have experience in the sort of work environment that you wish to examine, whether a corporation, university or research facility. (It would be a serious mistake to interview other students who have little or no experience in the work environment you have selected.) Explore with your interviewees the best way for a scientist or engineer in their organization to respond to the problem in the scenario you present. For your final project, you will take one scenario to different people, people outside of Case (and, perhaps some Case people as well). The instructor has an extensive list of corporate representatives. You may wish to interview one of these representatives and a recent Case graduate working at this corporation, for example.
- In your oral reports, you (or your team, if you work with others) should begin by distributing your scenario or displaying it on an overhead and reading it aloud. Display but do not read your questions. Each person (member of your team) will give a brief report on the interviews that s/he conducted and the conclusions that s/he drew based on the interview. If you work in a team, the team will then present a brief comparison of the team's interview experiences in any way that seems appropriate.
- You will have 10 minutes to present your final project if you are working alone. If you are working with other students, you will have 8 additional minutes for each additional person in your group. You will submit a written version, as well as present an oral version of your final project. The oral version of your final project will be graded by your fellow students. The written version will be graded by the course instructor.
In each of your projects, you should be prepared to tell the other members of the class whom you interviewed. Names will not be used outside of class or in public presentations. If there are special reasons for disclosing the name of the interviewee only to the instructors, this should be discussed with the instructor ahead of time. In that case, the names may be handed in on a separate sheet of paper. Names and positions of interviewees must be disclosed, since the value of your report depends in part on interviewing a knowledgeable person.
What Makes A Good Scenario?
- Write it from the position of an engineer or scientist who actually experiences the problem. Be sure to describe your (the engineer or scientist's) position and experience.
- The scenario should raise an issue you care about, so you can really put yourself in the place of the engineer or scientist in the story - perhaps because something like it happened to you or a friend or relative. The more you can empathize with the engineer, the easier it is to conduct a good interview. The scenario does not have to be particularly novel. The point is to give you practical experience in raising real concerns and getting answers, not to entertain the instructor or audience.
- It should be open-ended - Do not tell a complete story. Do not specify too much of the organization's response, e.g., do not specify that all the officers of the corporation refuse to listen to the engineer. Leave the representative room to tell you the best way to proceed in his or her organization.
- It should be realistic - Present the kind of situation that you might actually face on the job. The scenario is more plausible if you do not make out anyone to be extraordinarily stupid or corrupt. For example, in case of a risk under special circumstances, such as very cold temperature, it is more reasonable for a manager to decide to at least warn users/customers about the dangers of using the product in those circumstances rather than totally ignore the problem. However, because many people do not read or heed warnings, an engineer might be justified in thinking further action was needed. Although there certainly are some very stupid or corrupt people in the world, for each of those there are many more who do pretty well most of the time and just make some avoidable errors and occasionally have moral lapses.
Choose numbers that are believable. A one-percent failure rate that is likely to produce a serious accident is very high. The details of scenario can be negotiated with the representative of the organization whom you will interview. Therefore, although you should try to make your scenario realistic, you do not have to anticipate exactly what would happen at the organization that you interview.
What Makes a Good Interview?
- Ask what resources would be available to you to help resolve the problem. Get as much specific advice as you can, e.g., whom do you approach first? When should you speak with people and when should you put things in writing (you can expect a great variation among companies on this point) and when or whether to send copies of your memos to other individuals? Remember this is project is primarily about responsible ways of addressing ethical problems, and secondarily about the procedures that are customary in an organization or in an industry for seeing that safety or other problems never arise. Knowing about procedures is relevant to being responsible and formulating wise responses, so the secondary focus is relevant to the first, but do not get lost in the details of procedures.
- Select an issue and organization about which you are genuinely curious, or at least one that is representative of the kind of organization you might join (as an employee or graduate student) after you graduate from Case.
- Call your interviewee as soon as possible. Leave your name, number, and times at which you will be at that number, if you have to leave a message. You may want to send a written copy of your scenario without questions to the representative. This is a good idea if your scenario is long or complicated. Withhold the questions until the interview, so that the interviewee's answers will be more spontaneous.
- Interview your subject in person, if possible, or by telephone. Avoid conducting a written interview, since then you will have fewer non-verbal signals by which to judge the candor and sincerity of your informant.
- Listen carefully to what the interviewee actually says.
- Phrase your questions in a way that is courteous and specific about your concerns. Questions should be open-ended about possible company responses, and does not allow a simple yes or no answer, e.g., "How would a new employee know what to do in this situation?" not, "Does the company have a handbook for new employees?"
Questions
Ask questions that are open-ended (rather than short answer questions that can be answered "yes" or "no"). Do not bother to ask questions with an obvious "right answer" such as "Does your company put a high priority on safety?" Instead, ask something like "How does your company weigh consideration of cost, performance and safety against one another?" Faculty and fellow students will be relatively easy to interview. Interviews with people who are not used to talking with students will require some thought.
Here are Sample Questions & Topics for an interview with someone in industry about responding to a safety problem:
- What would be the best way for me to resolve this problem if I were working in your company (were a graduate student in your department)? If the representative says that what you have described could not happen at her organization, ask what is the closest scenario that could happen there. Get as much information as you can about their ideas of the best way to do things, e.g., about whom you approach first, how you approach them, and when? In writing? By telephone? By E-mail? In person? In private? At meetings? Companies differ greatly in their views about when you should put things in writing.
- How long has this office/procedure/policy been in place? If it was put in or substantially changed within the last fifteen years, what led to those changes? Some policies and procedures are relatively new and were a response to accidents or government anti-fraud measures.
- How would an engineer know or learn to do this?
- What would be the likely repercussions for the engineer for taking this action?
- When, if ever, should an engineer report his or her safety concerns to those outside the company? Is there any particular agency that oversees safety in this area? (Most representatives will give you a good problem-solving response to this question. Occasionally, one will give a condemnation of whistle blowing.)
Other questions will depend on the nature of your scenario.