In my search for case studies, I've found few that focus on problems undergraduate students are likely to run into, so I asked students in a Physics Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program to submit some case studies. The following are modeled on their submissions. (Permission to publish these anonymously was received from the students).
Letter of recommendation. An undergraduate asks for a letter of recommendation for graduate school from a professor. The professor agrees, but tells the student to write the letter him/herself, and the professor will sign it. Is this acceptable for the professor to do? What should the student do? Would it be more acceptable if this were a graduate student asking for a reference for a post-doc?
Lazy professor. The professor is not meeting the objectives of the course as the semester goes by, and the course is an important one for future graduate studies. The professor "has" office hours but is never in his/her office, so the students cannot get help or talk to the professor. What should the students do?
Academic dishonesty. You are currently an undergraduate taking a required course in mechanics. The level of difficulty of the course is much higher than in your introductory courses, and half of the class typically never makes it through. You have an instructor’s solutions manual to the textbook that most of the homework problems come from. The solutions given are usually only a few steps long, but the full solution takes numerous pages to get to. Without a complete solution, your professor gives only 10-20% credit. You use the solutions manual as a guide to reference when needed and always reach a completed solution, including the many steps left out by the solutions manual. However, there are many others in the class who merely copy straight from the book. The professor announces to the class that he knows which students are using the solutions manual and will fail them if he catches them using it in future homework assignments.
You are unsure if you are among the students that your professor “knows” use the solutions manual. Should you continue to use the manual as a guide? Is using the manual in the way you do unethical or grounds for failure of the course?
Tough grader. You're taking a physics class, and you notice that despite all of your studying and hard efforts, your grades still seem to be a lot lower than in other physics classes. Because you’ve done the homework and read the book, you know that the material is not necessarily harder than in any of the other classes you’ve taken. You talk to your fellow classmates and they say the same thing. You decide to talk to the professor about why you and your classmates are doing so poorly. During that conversation the teacher mentions that he is trying to grade as a graduate school teacher would. You realize a number of problems with this statement right away. Among them, the fact that graduate teachers often curve while he doesn’t, you’re an undergraduate (and if grades are any indication, not a very good one), your teacher’s grading practice could keep you out of that top school, and not all of your classmates even want to go to graduate school. Should you address these issues? Should you just accept whatever grade you get?
Discrimination. Professor Panda and Assistant Professor Elephant are talking, and Bunny, an undergraduate, walks by. Bunny overhears Professor Panda talking about how woodland critters are less reliable and not as smart as jungle creatures. Bunny is offended, but really needs a recommendation letter from Professor Panda. What should Bunny do?
Lab partners. In undergraduate labs, often there is not enough equipment or supplies for students to work individually, thus having one or more partners. One young man named Clarence is a hard worker and has been assigned Ida as his partner. Ida is also hard working but does not like to include Clarence in her work. During presentations, Ida often emphasizes that she performed a particular duty herself. Clarence is very passive and does not know how to confront Ida about the situation. When he finally gets the courage to tell Ida that he feels she is not performing the way a partner should, she storms out. What should Clarence do?
Back to research ethics resources.
If you have suggestions for more case studies, please email me at alara (at) ksu (dot) edu.
(Page last updated 8/24/09)