• Question: @How will publishing your research help others to learn about the job you do ? :D

    Asked by aislinnfleming to Suzi on 24 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      Hi @aislinnfleming

      Thanks for this question – it’s brilliant!
      Scientists publish work for a number of reasons. Firstly, in order to get published, your paper has to be assessed by other scientists in your field. This is called peer review, and it’s really important that someone else checks that your methods are good, your results are accurate, and you’re not trying to make any wild claims that your results don’t support.

      Also, it’s important to know what research has already been done, so you don’t waste your time on a theory that’s already been proved or disproved. That said, in order to give your work more validity, repeating experiments to make sure you get the same or similar findings is really important, as you can sometimes get findings by chance, which are incorrect. Looking back at previous research you can see what the current findings in the field are, and whether your findings support the evidence or go against it.

      Finally, when you have an idea for research, it’s really useful to see what’s been done before in the area, and how, to help improve your research question and the design of your experiment.

      I hope this answers your question – if you want more info please ask! Do you think publishing our work is a good way for scientists to inform others?

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