• Question: have you ever been unable to find an explanation for data you are analysing?

    Asked by sazzle to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 25 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by jadeirelandkuyt.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Hi sazzle,

      I’ve been fortunate so far that I haven’t ever been in the situation of not being able to find an answer to the data I have produced from my research, but that won’t last for ever, I guess in science you are always just waiting to see what happens and always prepared for things to not produce a result you are expecting!

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hi sazzle,
      There should always be an explanation for the data to collect. Sometimes, if it’s bad data, that explanation might be “the experiment didn’t work, because x,y, and z didn’t go as planned”. If the data don’t show what you were expecting, you have to go away and have a think about what might have happened. It’s an important part of science – experiments don’t always go as expected, but sometimes that can lead to the development of new theories and ideas in order to explain the unexpected observations.

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