Question • Test • Repeat / Field kit
Good records.
Better research.
A practical set of worksheets to take from your first question to a result someone else can check. Print a page, bring a notebook, and make it your own.
Worksheets are blank by design. Write your own project details; do not treat the prompts as completed records. The print view includes writing space.
01 / Experiment plan
Make the important decisions before seeing your results.
- Question and why it matters
- Sources consulted and their limitations
- Prediction or descriptive aim
- Outcome, units, and how it will be measured
- Experimental unit; independent samples versus repeated readings
- Variables to change, hold constant, and monitor
- Comparison, controls, and reference materials
- Allocation/order, blinding where feasible, and sample-size rationale
- Analysis plan, acceptance criteria with basis, and stopping/exclusion rules
- Method version, author, date, and changes made after starting
02 / Readiness & risk assessment
Use for a specific activity in a specific workspace. An unresolved control is a reason to pause.
- Activity, location, person responsible, and date
- Materials/equipment and current manufacturer instructions or SDS references
- Hazards and credible exposure or failure scenarios
- Who could be affected and how
- Elimination/substitution and engineering or work-practice controls
- PPE selected for the actual hazards and why
- Training/supervision, equipment condition, and readiness checks
- Spill, injury, and emergency response arrangements for this location
- Waste identity, segregation, and approved disposal route
- Stop conditions, unresolved questions, and review before starting
03 / Laboratory notebook entry
Record what happened while it happens. Preserve the original when making a correction.
- Date/time, author, page or entry ID, and project
- Question and method/version used
- Sample IDs and label key
- Equipment ID, range/resolution, and relevant checks
- Materials, source identifiers, amounts, and units
- Conditions and actual sequence of work
- Raw readings and observations, including unexpected ones
- Deviations: time, event, affected samples, and action
- Calculations and links to original data files
- Interpretation, limitations, next action, and dated corrections
04 / Report & repeat checklist
Make it possible for another reader to check both the answer and how you reached it.
- Question, context, and prediction
- Design and sampling rationale
- Equipment, method/version, conditions, and deviations
- Raw-data location, file versions, and any missing observations
- Results table/figure with units and clearly defined error bars
- Calculations, analysis choices, and exclusions with reasons
- Conclusion limited to the evidence
- Uncertainty, confounders, and generalization limits
- Sources, contributions, and any sponsorship or conflict
- Next question, proposed repeat, and the change it would test
Capstone companion
One dataset. A checkable conclusion.
These numbers are synthetic teaching data, not experimental evidence or equipment specifications. Each row represents a fresh nominal 10 mL water delivery in an imagined one-operator session. Method A uses a graduated cylinder; B uses a suitable graduated pipette and mechanical controller. The outcome is delivered mass in grams. There is no reference for assessing accuracy.
| Trial | Method | Mass (g) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 9.80 |
| 2 | B | 9.98 |
| 3 | B | 9.99 |
| 4 | A | 10.04 |
| 5 | A | 9.94 |
| 6 | B | 9.97 |
| 7 | B | 10.00 |
| 8 | A | 10.10 |
| 9 | A | 9.87 |
| 10 | B | 9.99 |
| 11 | B | 9.98 |
| 12 | A | 10.01 |
Words worth knowing
A working scientific vocabulary
Short explanations for this course. Measurement terminology can be more specific within a formal method; use the definitions required by that method.
- Accuracy
- Agreement with a suitable reference or true value. A tightly grouped set of readings can still be biased.
- Blank
- A sample lacking the analyte or intended signal, carried through the relevant steps to reveal background or contamination.
- Calibration
- Establishing the relationship between an instrument's indications and reference values, including uncertainty. It is distinct from adjustment.
- Confounder
- A factor that varies with the condition of interest and can offer an alternative explanation for the observed difference.
- Control
- A comparison condition used to help interpret an experiment. Choose controls that address the actual alternative explanations.
- Experimental unit
- The entity independently assigned to a condition. Repeated readings of one unit do not create new independent units.
- Hypothesis
- A proposed explanation or relationship that can be tested against observations.
- Operational definition
- A precise statement of how a concept will be observed or measured in this study.
- Precision
- Agreement among repeated measurements under specified conditions; describe those conditions when reporting it.
- Randomization
- Using a chance-based assignment or order to reduce systematic allocation effects; it does not guarantee identical groups.
- Repeatability
- Measurement precision under closely controlled, specified conditions such as the same method, operator, and short time interval.
- Resolution
- The smallest change an instrument can distinguish in its indication. It does not by itself establish accuracy.
- Standard deviation
- A measure of the spread of observations. State whether it describes samples, repeated readings, or another set of values.
- Standard error
- An estimate of the variability of an estimator, such as a mean. It does not describe the spread of the raw observations.
- Traceability of records
- The ability to follow a reported result back through the method, sample identity, readings, and calculations.
- Measurement uncertainty
- A quantified description of the dispersion of values reasonably attributable to the measured quantity, based on the information used.
- Verification
- Checking that specified requirements have been met using objective evidence. Criteria must be defined for the intended use.
Terminology references: JCGM International Vocabulary of Metrology and the NIST/SEMATECH statistical handbook.