| Title: Mistake Scenario
Characters: Dr. Paul Porter, Principal Investigator Sherman Ebberson, Doctoral Candidate EXTERIOR, DAY. ROOF OF THE PHYSICS BUILDING Dr. Porter is calibrating a magnotomerter with the aid of a laptop computer. Sherman comes through the stairwell door, a bit winded. SHERMAN Dr. Porter? Dr. Porter? PORTER I'm over here, Sherman . SHERMAN What are you doing up here ? PORTER I'm checking the machine. SHERMAN Is there a problem? PORTER Yes, there's a problem. What do you need? SHERMAN Fran is sending the final report to photocopy; she wants to know what kind of binding you want to use. PORTER Let's hold off on the binding, shall we? SHERMAN Oh, there really is a problem. Isn't there? PORTER Sherman, you did an excellent job proofing and checking the report. The inconsistency in the lambda variable that you cleverly pointed out, however, was not due to sunspots (as you speculated) but due to the fact that the machine was off. SHERMAN How could it be off? We checked it every six months. PORTER It's supposed to be checked every six months. The protocol says it's checked every six months, but in fact it hasn't been recalibrated in over a year. SHERMAN They screwed up? PORTER I screwed up. The vendor's maintenance people missed a cycle, but I should've caught it. SHERMAN Wow. PORTER As you put it, “wow.” SHERMAN What are we gonna do? PORTER I appreciate the “we”, Sherman. The “we” is very sweet. What I am going to do is tell the sponsoring agency that I screwed up and the report will be delayed 6 months to a year. SHERMAN You're going to repeat the experiment? PORTER I don't see any alternative. SHERMAN But Dr. Porter, the lambda variable is just a control, it doesn't call into question the main findings or the interpretation. Chances are that changes in magnetic flux have nothing to do with the what we're actually studying. PORTER But the protocol says we have to check it. SHERMAN But it was our idea to check it. I mean, we threw in magnetic flux, for like, good measure. PORTER But, if we don't check it, or check it with faulty instruments, it's a violation of the protocol. SHERMAN So it's, like, a credibility issue. PORTER It's, like, a credibility issue big time. SHERMAN They're not going to like us missing the deadline. PORTER What would you do? Submit the report as written? SHERMAN Well… (Reaction shot, Porter.) SHERMAN Noooo. I don't know. ( Pause ) Maybe we could write an addendum? Explain the error and why it's not really that important. ( Pause .) I know it's gonna look stupid… PORTER Sherman, at this point, looking stupid is the least of our problems.