Re: [Phys-l] format for lab reports

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 11/05/2009 12:54 PM, Rick Tarara wrote:

> >  Formal lab reports certainly have their place.
> I'm just not sure where?  When, as a practicing physicist, has anyone ever 
> written a formal lab report?  I guess it might happen in industry or 
> government work, but even there........  

Well, kinda sorta maybe.

Consider for a moment a professional analytical service
bureau.  As a specific example I know a little bit about, 
consider the FBI forensic lab at Quantico.

These guys turn out "lab reports" that are very formal
and very stylized.  

On the other hand:
 -- The report style bears little resemblance to the 
  classic "textbook" style mentioned at the beginning of 
  this thread.
 -- This illustrates the fact that scientific _research_
  is a small subset of "science".  You want the formal
  forensic results be "scientific" but you don't want
  them to be based on cutting-edge research.  You want 
  them to be based on long-established well-accepted 
  routine methodical procedures.  In other words, plug 
  and chug.

  Forensic analysis is (and must be) highly stylized and
  methodical.  Research is not nearly so methodical as 
  non-scientists seem to think it is.

I don't mind if some of the same people who do the formal
forensic analysis also do research as a side-line, so 
long as they keep it separate.