THE RESEARCH PROTOCOL
3. Not following the protocol can ruin the results.

When research workers don’t follow the protocol, they can get bad information. Bad information can be useless. Even worse, bad information can lead to false reports, poor decisions and faulty policies.

If you know that someone on your team is not following the protocol, talk to that person or to a supervisor. Do your part to get it right.

Here are just some of the ways that research workers can get bad information:

  • Getting information from friends instead of following the protocol for recruiting
  • Recruiting only people who look like you
  • Recruiting only people who look easy to talk to
  • Recruiting only people you find cute
  • Filling out the answers you think people would give instead of really asking them the questions
  • Making up answers
  • Letting participants pressure you to break the protocol
  • Rushing through what you’re supposed to say to the participants and not making sure they understand
  • Skipping the informed consent form, if there is one (this makes the information unusable)
  • Writing research information in a way that nobody else can read it
  • Handing in only some of the research information and not all of it

These are just some ways to ruin the results. What others can you think of?

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