Ethics/Day-in-the-life scenarios

Day-in-the-life scenarios are a part of the methods section of our ethical analysis. In these write-ups, we describe the "what-ifs," and generally outline what happens in each typical scenario. For instance, for crash recovery, the write-up might describe the steps taken to bring the failed component back online.

The below is taken from Professor Brown's write-up.

Here are some suggestions for day-in-the-life scenarios.

  Consider writing a brief intro paragraph that describes the context of the ethical analysis, the nature of the day-in-the-life scenarios, and the scenario you are writing. Also, identify yourself as the (primary) author of this scenario. This would help a reader, but also would help you to check/discover just what the assignment is. 

 Writing a day-in-the-life scenario is useful because it makes you think about the issues in some structured and recorded detail. Think up ways to take advantage of this exercise: for example, if you think of some procedure that will need documentation, make a link to it from your scenario---someone can fill in the documentation later, but the link in the scenario will help people know what documentation is needed. 

 Read each others scenarios, and provide feedback   Is the scenario realistic? 

 Does the scenario say enough? Does it say too much for what this project needs? 

 Is the information in the scenario correct? 

 

 Cite the scenarios in your ethical analysis when addressing its questions. For example, Elizabeth's scenarios gives an indication of how much work an administrator needs to do. It raises questions about whether student work (in addition to the other things a student needs to do) will be feasible for the administrator. The Nov. 27 story tells about the impact of cluster downtime on students in their classes. </li>

 Here are options for writing scenarios <dl>

<dt> Time scale </dt> <dd>Could range from an hour (or less) to a year (or more)</dd>

<dt> Viewpoint </dt> <dd>You could write in the first, second, or third person. Choice of who or what is the focus.</dd>

<dt> Format </dt> <dd>Examples: Diary, narrative, analysis document, outline.</dd>

</dl>

</li>

</ul>