• Question: Do you predict your results before doing an experiment?

    Asked by gugugaga to Suzi, Rachael on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      @gugugaga

      Good question
      You think about the results you might get before you do the experiment – whether they will prove or disprove your hypothesis. And often you can be very wrong which is quite exciting.
      You may also try to plan what to do if the answer is A or B but you can never predict for sure what the results will be – thats what makes doing the experiment so much fun!

      Hope this answers your question

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Hi @gugugaga
      I agree with Rachael.
      However, in medical research there is something called Clinical Equipoise, which is a fancy word that means you should not strongly know in which direction your results will go. Which means you shouldn’t really predict your results before you experiment. The reason for this is that if you’re testing a drug you’re already pretty sure doesn’t work, you have to stop people from taking any other treatment in order to test it, which means you’re knowingly putting them on a treatment you don’t think works. So you’re knowingly putting them in danger.
      This obviously is unethical, so it’s not allowed in medicine. It’s slightly less of a problem when you’re not running experiments where peoples health is at risk.

      Hope this helps 🙂

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