Case Studies

Case studies
Case studies can be selected because they are representative of wider trends. They allow you to describe a situation in some detail - a highly effective way of presenting information because it allows you to consider all the important implications of a particular case.
When you use a case study, it is good practice to make it clear to the reader why you are selecting this particular example. Notice how this is done on the following example before the case study itself.
EXAMPLE

The Exxon Valdez disaster is a particularly important case study because it demonstrates the disastrous consequences of what happens when engineers, scientists, users, and policymakers do not work together.
Case Study: The Exxon Valdez Disaster
Just after midnight on March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez, loaded with 50 million gallons of Alaska crude oil, fetched up on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound and spilled its guts. For five hours, oil surged from the torn bottom at an incredible rate of 1,000 gallons per second. Attention quickly focused on the enormity of environmental damage and on blunders of the ship operators. The captain had a history of alcohol abuse, but was in his cabin at impact. There was much finger pointing as people questioned how the accident could happen during a routine run on a clear night. Answers were sought by the National Transportation Safety Board and by a state of Alaska commission to which I was appointed. That blame game still continues in the courts.
The Exxon Valdez proved to be an archetype of avoidable risk. Whatever the weaknesses in the engineered hardware, the accident was largely due to internal cultures of large corporations obsessed with the bottom line and determined to get their way, a U.S. Coast Guard vulnerable to political tampering and unable to realize its own ethic, a shipping system infected with a virus of tradition, and a cast of characters lulled into complacency that defeated efforts at prevention.
Lessons
These examples of technological delivery systems have unexpected commonalities. Space telecommunications and sea preservation and exploitation were well beyond the purview of just those engineers and scientists working on the projects; they involved national policy and required interaction between engineers, scientists, users, and policymakers. The Exxon Valdez disaster showed what happens when these groups do not work together. No matter how conscientious a ship designer is about safety, it is necessary to anticipate the weaknesses of fallibility and the darker side of selfcentered, short-term ambition.

Academic Writer 2000