Asimov was wrong

[eirias]

Isaac Asimov reputedly once said, "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'" I'm sure he's right that new discoveries are often signaled by this phrase, but those breakthroughs account for only a small proportion of the times you hear it uttered. The rest of the time, it merely heralds stupid mistakes, like, you know, having labelled your data wrong. Unexpected and bizarre correlations popping out of your item analyses? Variables commingling in most unseemly ways? Check your labels before you pronounce your results destined for either Science or the dustbin. ;)

Comments

[cognative.livejournal.com]

this is phase II. Similar to my FYP but different. There is some good data but not as much as we would like. I'm about ready to just go with what we have so I can have something actually published. I think my advisor may want to comb the data a little more though.