Last year, I committed one of the deadly sins of scientific method. I said “I hope” in place of “I hypothesize.”
Let me set the stage. I am but a mere undergraduate, frightened and nervous to be presenting a research plan to a lab full of esteemed PhD and masters degree holders. The lab meeting has gone surprisingly well- they have asked a lot of pointed questions, and none of them stumped me. After an hour or so of discussion, I’m feeling pretty confident and start speaking a little more freely. And then I say it…
“I hope to find significant variation within….”
I stop mid-sentence. I glance from face to face, slowly realizing what I had just done.
“I mean I hypothesize that I will find significant variation. I hypothesize. “
The damage had been done. The cardinal rule of scientific investigation: Experimenters must remain unbiased in order to obtain valid results. I know this; it has been drilled into my head relentlessly. What was I thinking?
After reflecting on my slip-up for the rest of the day, I realized that I knew exactly what I was thinking when I used the dreaded phrase. I was thinking how COOL it would be if I found that two salamanders species had evolved divergently so they didn’t compete with each other for food. That is remarkable. Somehow, the phrase “I hypothesize” just didn’t convey how cool this research question is.
I fully appreciate the necessity of indifference in scientific investigations. But come on people; it’s human to hope. Just don’t say it out loud- especially at a lab meeting.
How's that research going now? Were y'all using Molecular tests? This reminds me of one of my professor's research. His lab is studying the apparent hybridization of alligator and crocodile species. Basically they're finding that in certain parts of the world, crocodiles are actually mating with alligators and producing viable offspring.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I wrote a really long comment on one of your blogs and I don't think it ever posted. Now I'm too lazy to re-write it but I'll have to touch on it again in our correspondences.
Hi Daniel!
ReplyDeleteIt is going well- we're in the stats portion of the project, and unfortunately have not found anything mind blowing. No molecular tests- just geometric morphometrics and diet analysis as variables. I'll write you about it in more detail later if you're interested. :)
I certainly think you should start your own blog! Keep me posted.