Types of Experimental Errors: Using This Checklist
Types of Experimental Errors: Using This Checklist
Keep in mind that, as a student, your goal is not so much to explain why you got the errors you did
(most of the time, your errors will be a result of your inexperience as a researcher). Rather, your goal is
to show your instructor that you understand the labs concepts well enough that you can identify what
factors could cause errors in your lab. Feel free to note particular blunders or mistakes that you made, but
spend more time analyzing errors that arent simply your mistakes but that clearly relate to methodology,
instrumentation, or the environment.
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Lab Report
Types of Experimental Errors .
Systematic Errors
Systematic errors have an identifiable cause, produce results that are consistently too high or low and in theory,
can be eliminated.
There are four kinds of systematic errors:
Instrumental Observational
When an instrument itself is flawed and provides When the observer incorrectly reads a measurement.
inaccurate readings.
Example
Example A researcher may be, standing at an angle (rather
A thermometer that registered 102 (instead of than straight on) when reading the weight on a
100) in boiling water bring results that were scale. As a result, he consistently reads the scale
too high. in a way that reflects that angle.
Environmental Theoretical
When problems in the labs surroundings lead to When experimental procedures, a model system or
inaccurate results. equations for instance, create inaccurate results.
Example Example
An experiment involving organic material may In an experiment testing gravitys effect on
be affected if changes in humidity in the lab are acceleration, the effect of air friction, which
not controlled. slightly affects the acceleration rate, may not be
included in the calculation.
Observational Environmental
When the judgment of an observer leads to random When there are unpredictable changes in
(rather than consistent) inaccuracies. environmental conditions, such as temperature,
mechanical vibrations, etc.
Example
When a researcher reading the weight on a Example
scale records measurement to the smallest A piece of electrical equipment may have
division. Random error suggests that, over time, unpredictable noise that affects the results.
the researchers judgment is inconsistent. The
individual will record some measurements that
are too low and some that are too high.
A Blunder
Example
When transferring a scale to a centrifuge, an
individual dropped some of the solid on
the floor.
Blunders Page 4 of 4