General Interview Questions - Experimental Savvy

1. Describe the role of positive and negative controls in an experiment

2. How many times does an experiment have to be reproduced to be believable?  When can you legitimately discard observations? 
 
Concept
Statements
Emphasis in
your teaching
General
importance

1. Without positive and negative controls, experimental results are almost always uninterpretable.

2. An well designed hypothesis leads to clear and distinct predictions that can be validated or disproven by experimental observation. 

3. Unconscious bias can enter many types of experiments; it can be best controlled for through the use of 'double-blind' experimental protocols and placebo-controls.

4. The ability to reproduce an experiment is key; an experiment that cannot be reproduced cannot be interpreted.
5. Investigators must honestly report their methods, observations and interpretation so that other can reproduce them.
6. Keeping of a legible, well-dated, and complete record of experiments is important not only in terms of enabling others to reproduce or reconstruct previous experiments, but in establishing the priority of specific discoveries.
7. Work performed in a lab, either University, public or private sector, is the property of the lab, not the investigator (this needs to be stated more accurately).
8. To withhold information that clearly argues against the conclusions of an experimental study is as dishonest as fabricating data that supports the desired conclusion.
9. Failure to acknowledge the contributions of others, whether past workers or co-workers is plagiarism.

your email for tracking & responding only
 
Where do you teach?
I do not teach I teach, but not biology
I am researcher in the private sector
I teach elementary secondary college level biology

   
I would add the following statement to the list:
 

jump to top | created - MK -23 April 2004 |