The good experiment

Abstract

Doing almost any experiment requires much effort and expense. There is no point in spending a lot of time and money unless the result really helps solve some geological problem. This means setting up the experiment to minimize uncertainties in the technique itself. But, because there is usually a trade-off between time and precision, it is also important to know the level of precision and accuracy required of the experiment before beginning. In this chapter we discuss what we think are important things to do, and to avoid, in the process of planning and executing experiments.