Question: do you find your work challenging

Freya Harrison answered on 15 Mar 2010:

Yes, absolutely. Designing experiments is challenging because you have to work out the most efficient way to test the quetion you’re interested in. In science, you’re always trying to desgin an experiment that tests one question and will allow you to make a conclusion that won’t be confused because you forgot to make sure your results couldn’t be due to something else. Sometimes the things that seem the simplest at the beginning turn out to be the most complicated.

At the moment, I’m finding that doing experiments with humans is challenging – it’s a new area for me, and I’ve had to learn lots of new skills like how to design questionnaires so you get the information you want. The language you use can influence what people say, and once the questionnaire is over there’s often no way of contacting all your participants again if you forgot to ask something important.