Case Study Collection

The Case Study Collection is a database of ethics cases from the fields of engineering, science, the social sciences, and business. The cases have been drawn from all over the web, especially from pages maintained by professional societies and academic institutions. All case studies included in this collection have been reviewed by CSEP staff, and include a short description of the case and a link to either a full text version of the case or to its location on a web site maintained by another ethics organization. The majority of the cases have come from the following sites:

• Online Ethics Center of the National Academy of Engineering (Engineering & Science)
• National Institute for Engineering Ethics (Engineering)
• Teaching Ethics for Research, Scholarship, & Practice, University of Minnesota (Research Ethics in Science and the Social Sciences)
• Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice (Engineering)
• Texas A&M University “Introducing Ethics Case Studies Into Required Undergraduate Engineering Courses” (Engineering)
• Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Case Collection (Business, Journalism, Medicine)

The cases can be searched by keyword, subject, or discipline. We also invite you to recommend or submit cases that you have developed to be included in the collection.

For information about how to lead a case study discussion, click here to conduct a search for “case study method.” This will search the Library for materials on how to use case studies in an ethics course, workshop, or ethics module.