Reliability - Week 9

Reliability has to do with the ability of a person or system to perform and maintain its processes and functions in routine situations, as well as unexpected circumstances. It also has to do with the quality of measurement. In its everyday sense, reliability is how consistent or repeatable research and measurements are. We often speak about a machine as reliable, for example 'I have a reliable car.' Or, news people talk about a usually reliable source. In both cases, the word reliable usually means dependable or trustworthy. When we speak of a dependable measure, we mean one that is both reliable and valid. A measure is considered reliable if it would give us the same result over and over again. We cannot calculate reliability - we can only estimate it. It's not possible to calculate reliability exactly. This effects how we gain knowledge, as unreliable information will make us draw false conclusions, leading to gain false knowledge. With this inaccurate knowledge, this could lead to making mistakes with decisions, for example testing a new product that includes unreliable information could have serious consequences. In such scientific experimental situations, information and data have to be confirmed to be reliable so that their results will be accurate.

Term 2 Week 7 - Observing and Studying Behaviour

I was part of the observing/studying group. My focus was to look at the laughter in the other group during the 15 minutes of preparation and the presentation of their assignment. I think this was incredibly interesting to look at something like this, that you don't really take notice of when you are doing it. The three main reasons for laughter was to a) break the tension after tense situations like group arguments, if a member of the group's mind wanders, they will usually start talking about something funny they saw/heard, and also at the beginning when the group first realized we were observing them, awkward/nervous laughter was heard as they were not sure what was happening. I found people like Sam and Hannah to be people who make others laugh, but also can laugh at other things, with Maddy laughing the most (she was quite giggly) and Kasun laughing the least. This also related to how much input each member was having in the group - Maddy was involved the most and Kasun was involved the least.
I am not fully sure whether these results would be valuable for a scientist, as the other group knew they were being examined (what was not sure) and so I am uncertain they were acting naturally. If they were unaware of the examining, it would be a lot more accurate.