Equally as frustrating as the times when the laws of nature seem intent on thwarting your every move, are the times when you make stupid mistakes. The guidelines on planning and implementing research will help minimize your unnecessary mistakes, but they won’t prevent them all.
When you inevitably add enough inhibitor to make your cells shrivel up and die; add an extra bracket to a line of code that you don’t spot for two days; delete a patient’s data from the computer; or write an entire chapter on the wrong title, DO NOT DESPAIR.
Get Practical Tips- Don’t make the same mistake twice. Note the error down several times and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
- If your mistakes are because you don’t fully understand something, then learn it.
- Read these guidelines again.
Read Personal Perspective
There was one step in my cell staining protocol that I always used to forget. After washing them with various chemicals for ten minutes at a time, there was a one minute wash with water, which the first two or three times I left out despite remembering it every time just after it was too late. I highlighted it on the protocol, wrote it out several times and never forgot it again.
