Welcome to my blog where I will cover the values that I have adopted over the years which have helped me to be successful throughout my education and career and are something I believe will help me deliver quality for my clients.
The scientific method
But before diving into these core values let me expand on my story from the About page. I grew up in London and was always inquisitive from a young age wanting to understand the why and how of everything. As a child, I was naturally drawn to science. I liked to satisfy my curiosity and science was the way to do it. Take the scientific method for example:
- Pick something you’re interested in and come up with a question.
- Try to come up with a sensible answer to that question, that’s the hypothesis.
- Then test your hypothesis using an appropriate experiment.
- Make a record of the experimental results and observations which will form the data.
- Draw a conclusion from the data through analysis.
- Then tell everyone about your findings in a report.
The connection with my values
Now, let’s look at the values that I operate by: accuracy, efficiency, consistency, attention to detail and intellectual honesty. I attribute these values that I use in my everyday business to the scientific method.
Accuracy
As a scientist, I had to make sure that my approach was accurate, that my measurements were precise and that my equipment was as accurate as possible. This made sure my data was as reliable as possible.
Efficiency
The next one is efficiency, that’s one of my favourites. How can I maximise my output and save time? Be more efficient. Throughout my PhD research, I was always looking at ways to improve my efficiency by asking myself questions about routine tasks like ‘can I run multiple experiments in tandem rather than in series?’ And ‘can I perform other tasks while my experiment is running?’
Consistency
Consistency is important too. To prove your hypothesis true, you must perform your experiments at least 3 times with all test conditions remaining the same each time. That’s consistency and that also ties in with accuracy and efficiency. If your experiments aren’t consistent then the data won’t be accurate and you’re sure enough not going to be efficient.
Attention to detail
Then there’s attention to detail, making sure that you are thorough in your methodology. As a scientist, I learnt to be quite meticulous in that respect making sure that experimental conditions were unchanged, that experimental data were analysed using the most precise techniques and that my results were communicated in the most unequivocal manner.
Intellectual honesty
Finally, there’s a certain pride in reporting your findings with the utmost integrity and honesty. After all, the point of science is to discover new knowledge oftentimes using existing information to make that discovery. So, it’s absolutely vital that the information used is reliable, otherwise, we may not have made those all-important discoveries, cures and technologies that have made our society so great.
Final remarks on my values
Personally, I have a fascination for learning new things, acquiring new knowledge and developing new skills. So technically, I’ve never stopped being a student. We will always remain, to a certain extent, students of someone or something, so why not embrace it? I believe the scientific method is just a tool to solve problems in life and can be used outside the field of science, I do it all the time. After all, my view of science is that it’s the pursuit of truth and isn’t that what all disciplines have in common? Give it a try.
What do you think?
Do you think I’ve missed something? Do you need proofreading, editing, course designing, grant proposal writing or consultancy services? I’d love to hear from you. Get your free quote today!
Follow me
Remember to follow my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages as well as subscribe to my YouTube channel for the latest updates.
- My top Word tips - 15th May 2021
- Teach: the lessons I learnt - 4th November 2020
- How to write a literature review - 7th October 2020