• Question: Are yours fully tell the truth and do things all right all the time ? x

    Asked by 296sprg52 to Stephanie, LauraAnne, Katy, Helen, Emilia, Dan, Andrew on 3 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Helen Hanstock

      Helen Hanstock answered on 3 Nov 2016:

      Okay, so I guess this question has two parts…

      Do I fully tell the truth? Yes. Mostly because I am the world’s worst liar. I can’t tell a lie and keep a straight face. So I am very truthful in my personality and that carries through to my work.

      Do I do things right all the time? Absolutely not! As a scientist you always strive to do tasks correctly and as accurately as you can, but it doesn’t always work out like that! Some of the jobs that I do in the lab require a lot of concentration and double-checking to make sure that you don’t mess up your studies or your data. But, we all make mistakes and mistakes are often the best way to learn! Once you mess something up once you learn how to avoid doing it again. Me and my colleagues learn from each others’ mistakes too!

    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 4 Nov 2016:

      What a fascinating question. The first part you have asked about relates to do tell the truth. The simple answer is yes. As a scientist I am bound by facts, it is my responsibility to report my findings even if they do not show what I had hoped or anticipated, this is very much the first rue of science, be honest in your findings.
      The second part is also an interesting question. My simple answer is no, I don’t always get things right. There will always be someone who knows more than you do. That means that I will always ask for help. You should never be afraid to make mistakes, that’s part of learning as long as you reflect on the mistakes and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you are stuck. So I try to avoid making mistakes but they happen, I just have to continue to learn from them.

    • Photo: Stephanie Millward

      Stephanie Millward answered on 4 Nov 2016:

      Yes I try to tell the truth all the time and I also try to do do things right as much as possible!!

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 4 Nov 2016:

      Yes to fully telling the truth, firstly I’m very bad at lying and secondly, you have to be honest about what you find in the lab and what your results actually mean. It’s important that we are open and honest about what we did, how we did it, why we did it and what we found, so others can learn from us, and also so that we don’t end up hurting or misleading people into thinking something works when it doesn’t.

      I try to do things as correctly as I can as much of the time as I can, but I’ve made lots of mistakes in the past and I’m sure I’ll make more in the future. I’ve learnt a lot from making mistakes so it’s not something to worry about. If we are trying to do something new that hasn’t been done before, even if we think doing something a particular way will work unfortunately that isn’t always the case and we often spend hours in the lab trying to get an experiment running as it should, this is called pilot work. Doing all the pilot work means that when we come to doing the study properly, it’s been well practiced so everything is correct and our data is accurate!

    • Photo: Emilia McAllister-Jepps

      Emilia McAllister-Jepps answered on 6 Nov 2016:

      Hi, this is a question that we often ask ourselves at training!

      In order to make the most of the time we have to train, we often have to ask ourself if we are being honest about how hard we are finding the training. There are measures which we use to try and keep track of how easy or difficult a training session is, we complete a questionnaire and the results are tracked after each session everyday to make sure we are working to the right level.

      This makes it very important for us to be honest and do things properly, there is no secret to getting good results in sport. A lot of it is down to doing the right things well and at the right time.

    • Photo: Katy Griggs

      Katy Griggs answered on 6 Nov 2016:

      Yes to fully telling the truth. Plus you always get caught out when you lie.

      No i don’t get things right all the time but like the others have already mentioned that’s part of the process of being a Scientist. Some of the time to answer a research question, you need to use a bit of trial and error to start with or assess problems with equipment. So you don’t also get things right.

      When you make a mistake when testing it is important to be honest and depending on the mistake, think on your feet to assess the problem as quick as possible.

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