Think Tuesday:
Are Scientific Research Experiments Really Accurate?
Recently, I've been having many thoughts about scientific research reports and experiments. You know the ones that test how people react to a certain thing/event?
Are they really accurate? If the subject that is being tested is aware that he/she is getting experimented on, wouldn't this affect their behavior? Wouldn't knowing that he/she is being monitored affect the way the experiment acts? I mean, if I knew that someone was watching my every move, I wouldn't act like I normally would. No matter what the scientists tell me to do ("act normal", "act like your usual self", and so on), I just wouldn't be able to do that!
And I think there are quite a few people who will agree with me on this. I'm a very strange person in the way that I have two faces. I can be really, completely different people. My polarity surprises so many people -- teachers, parents, and even my own self! So that is why I have different reactions for everything. Each face (mine) have different reactions to different things; different answer to different questions. So if someone asked me to be a part of their experiment(s), they wouldn't have accurate results!
Now, what if a lot of people were like this? Then wouldn't the results of a lot of science research papers be...false?
Alright, alright, I may be having a "newbie science-student" moment here. It's like asking, "how do you know what really happens in cells and other small parts of your bodies? I mean, you can't see unless you used some super-duper powerful microscope". It makes sense if you think about it, but there is some logical explanation behind it. And I'm sure there's a very good, detailed, intricate (I'm running out of words here) reasoning to my question..something along the lines of, "oh, no, we take that into consideration as well." or "that's why we test hundreds and hundreds of people" or maybe even "that's why we don't tell them it's an experiment and just discreetly observe them". But sometimes it's good to question what we see! That's what I was taught, anyways. To always question. And to always wonder.
This is just a really random thought I've always had. And perhaps a scientist that happens to be strolling by might see this and decide to answer my question...fingers crossed, I really do hope so!
