ABSTRACT
Experiments are performed by people in nearly all walks of life. The basic reason for running most experiments is to find out something that is not known. Unfortunately, there are cases in which the sole purpose of the experiment is to “prove” what the experimenter already “knew.” This type of experiment frequently is conducted so that the “known” result will occur no matter whether it should or not. This type of experiment cannot be condoned by persons seeking the truth. On the other hand, a worse condition may exist where people run experiments fully intending to be honest but being completely unaware of their incompetency in conducting experiments intelligently. Frequently experiments are run so that the effect of the factor of interest is disguised by the effect of another factor not considered. This latter factor is then ignored or considered unimportant; yet, in the long run, it is the real cause.
