ABSTRACT
A good deal of any scientist’s work is likely to comprise papers that confirm expectations, gradually edging forward your particular field, responding to criticisms, investigating possible limitations and hopefully extending the scope of the underlying theory or model. Provided a model is well supported by existing evidence a result that departs from expectation, although rarely welcome, can be more informative than one that confirms prior assumptions, provided that it answers a well-posed question, and is based on sound experimentation. The best way of ensuring this is by repeating the study, preferably with some variation on the basic method or material so as to increase the generality of your findings.
