• Question: do you like to plan experiments or just do whatever you feel like?

    Asked by adebayorisagod to Roy, Rowena, Nicola, Kieren, Kate on 7 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Kate Nicholson

      Kate Nicholson answered on 7 Mar 2014:

      I like to plan my work, so I can make the best use of my time with the books. I do have to be flexible though, and if I discover something interesting a little time spent looking at that can give the most valuable results.

    • Photo: Rowena Fletcher-Wood

      Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 8 Mar 2014:

      I have to plan my experiments a little bit so I know how much of things to weigh out. I also have to keep a record of all my experiments carefully, so if I invented something amazing there would be evidence to show how I came up with it.

      That’s not to say all science is carefully planned! I often decide how I am changing the experiment as I am doing it, and some days I go in, feel like experimenting and just head for the lab to see what equipment is available to use. These are the days I come out with all the amounts of materials I used written on my lab glove and have to copy them into my lab book afterwards.

    • Photo: Nicola Rogers

      Nicola Rogers answered on 8 Mar 2014:

      I like to plan my experiments so that I can use my time wisely, but sometimes things don’t go to plan, or you don’t get the result that you expect – this is exciting because it means that you have found something out that you didn’t know before! It is always really important to write very detailed notes of exactly what you are doing, otherwise you can’t always repeat an experiment and get the same result!

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