Simple Experimental Design

Abstract

Not sure you can run your own experiments? Sure you can!

Remember, the scientific method is counter-intuitive. No one should expect you to be able to use it correctly the first time you try… or even the second. This book isn’t trying to replace real training, it’s just trying to introduce you to the idea of thinking and adapting your technology according to the principles of Anthropology-Based Computing. Don’t let the little protoprosimian in your head convince you to be afraid… I promise you both that this is going to be fun. Now, maybe what you both need is to ease into it with a little unofficial experiment. This chapter offers a simple experiment for you to run, just to see what it’s like.

You don’t need to wear a lab coat or to a spill a bowl of alphabet soup after your name. The scientific method just means doing things carefully so as to make sure that you are only measuring what you think you’re measuring, and to describe them fully, so as to make sure that your experiment can be accurately recreated by another knowledgeable and clever person.

But if you have a lab coat, and you want to put it on, go ahead. Lab coats are cool.

Obviously, safety glasses are also cool and can be a great compliment to formal wear.

The great Jean Piaget developed a really cool test that demonstrates how little we know compared to what we think we know… y’know?