Experiment! Planning, Implementing and Interpreting by Oivind Andersson - Book review

Experiment!

Planning, Implementing and Interpreting

By: Oivind Andersson

Published: August 28, 2012
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0470688254
ISBN-13: 978-0470688250
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.










"Research students must adopt a scientific mindset, learn how to plan meaningful experiments, and understand the fundamentals of collecting and interpreting data. This book focuses on these general research skills", writes researcher from Lund University, Sweden, Oivind Andersson, in the comprehensive and very hands on book Experiment!: Planning, Implementing and Interpreting. The author describes the scientific approach to experimentation, and the tools, processes, and methodology involved in creating, conducting, and interpreting scientific experiments.

Oivind Andersson recognizes that research funding is often generated externally, with the plans for the experiments already outlined in the grant application. The author points out that this chain of events leads many students to believe mistakenly that experiments are simply a matter of taking measurements. Traditional laboratory classes based on demonstrations, rather than real experimentation, reinforces this student viewpoint.

Oivind Anderson rectifies this challenge through providing the understanding that careful planning and analysis, rooted in a scientific approach, comprise the main effort of successful experimentation. Oivind Andersson presents the concept of learning proper experimentation through doing, and shares the tools and techniques to accelerate the learning process.

Oivind Andersson understands the importance of students developing a scientific frame of mind. This scientific mindset includes the planning and design of meaningful experiments, and the proper collection and interpretation of the data. The author organizes the book into two overarching sections. The first part of the book offers a general introduction to the scientific approach.

The second portion of the book presents the methods, tools, and processes with a focus on experiments. The second part of the book also includes a methodology that guides students through the three phases of an experiment including planning, data collection, and analysis and synthesis.

Overall, the book takes a holistic approach to scientific experimentation provided in the following chapters:

* You, the discoverer
* What is science
* Science's childhood
* Science inclined to experiment
* Scientists, engineers, and other poets
* Experiment!
* Basic statistics
* Statistics for experiments
* Experimental design
* Phase I: Planning
* Phase II: Data collection
* Phase III: Analysis and synthesis

For me, the power of the book is how Oivind Anderssson combines a complete discussion of the scientific method with the practical tools and processes for scientific experimentation. The incorporation of these two topics provides both depth and context to the study of experimental methodology. The author also includes an example, in the second part of the book, that outlines the scientific approach to experiments, in action. The example provides more context as it guides the student through the three phases of planning, data collection, and analysis and synthesis.

The author includes graphics and examples of the subject matter, within each chapter, along with a summary of the main points covered within that chapter. The format of the book takes the student on a complete journey from understanding the principles of science and why they are important, through a complete examination of the process of experimentation.

I highly recommend the very practical and research skills focused book Experiment!: Planning, Implementing and Interpreting by Oivind Andersson to students from the undergraduate to the doctoral levels, instructors and educators in sciences, practitioners of science in industry and government, and anyone interested in how science works through the scientific method and experimentation. This book is an indispensable guide to planning, designing, conducting, data collecting, and analyzing and synthesizing the results.