• Question: favourite method to record results

    Asked by anon-328813 on 9 Jun 2022.
    • Photo: Ryan Devlin

      Ryan Devlin answered on 9 Jun 2022:

      That is a great question. When recording my results, I like to use a lot of graphs. You may be using bar graphs right now, and a lot of scientists are still using them to show differences in experiments. My favourite graph, however, is called a superplot, which can not only show your results, but can help you to show that your experimental results are repeatable.

      This is an important aspect of science – can you successfully repeat a result with the same methods? For example, if you run in a race, and beat your friend once, are you able to reliably say that you are faster than them? You can run the race again, under the same conditions, and if you still beat them, and again, you can more reliably say that you are faster. That is what a repeat experiment tests – making sure that our results/answers to questions are reliable – and that is why superplots are my favourite method to record results.

    • Photo: Karin Purshouse

      Karin Purshouse answered on 9 Jun 2022:

      I keep an electronic lab-book – people think this is because I am organised. It’s actually the opposite – I find it REALLY hard to be organised! But being organised is just a necessity of life, so I have tried to find ways to make it as easy as possible for me to be organised with minimal effort. An electronic lab book is just a way of keeping notes on a webpage. It means I can search within all my results – so if I did an experiment two years ago, I can still find what I did very easily!

    • Photo: Rachel Harris

      Rachel Harris answered on 10 Jun 2022:

      Ooh that’s an interesting question. I really like doing some chemical assays (like the BCA or lowry assay). It’s not a very sophisticated technique but it makes some pretty colors as indicators so that’s fun. Also, anything involving a “high-throughput” technique – basically just involving a large number of numbers so big that a human couldn’t go through it all we need to use a computer. That’s always a good challenge because you get to try to come up with exciting new ways to represent things you found from the data.

    • Photo: Chelsea Gerada

      Chelsea Gerada answered on 13 Jun 2022:

      I like using lab archives which is an online lab book where you can write up your methods and link them to the results you produce. I use different types of software to analyse/ generate different data from different experimental techniques but I can compile it all using lab archives depending on which project I’m working on or what question I’m trying to answer.

    • Photo: Maria Peiris Pages

      Maria Peiris Pages answered on 13 Jun 2022:

      In the lab we usually keep a lab book where we record all the experiments, designs, and results that we do. All raw data is stored in the relevant software in the computer as well. Images in a folder, numbers in an Excel spreadsheet, statistics in Graphpad, presentations in Powerpoint, etc

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