Question: Is your data accurate?

Georgia Campbell answered on 15 Jun 2011:

I hope so!

As small changes to results can make a big difference to how the data is interpreted, we as scientists have to be very careful that all of our work is is accurate as possible. I try to repeat each experiment to get the same result 2 or 3 times before I will accept a result, to make my results as accurate as possible.

The way that a lot of research runs, your results from one piece of work will influence where you go next with the study, which is another reason its important tomake your data as accurate as possible – your results might not just be a bit wrong, but could also cause you to waste a lot of time down the wrong research route!