For example, it is not normally possible to check the air pressure in an automobile tire without letting out some of the air, thereby changing the pressure. One problem encountered throughout scientific fields is that the observation may affect the process being observed, resulting in a different outcome than if the process was unobserved. Scientific instruments were developed to aid human abilities of observation, such as weighing scales, clocks, telescopes, microscopes, thermometers, cameras, and tape recorders, and also translate into perceptible form events that are unobservable by the senses, such as indicator dyes, voltmeters, spectrometers, infrared cameras, oscilloscopes, interferometers, Geiger counters, and radio receivers. Human senses are limited and subject to errors in perception, such as optical illusions. Measurement reduces an observation to a number that can be recorded, and two observations which result in the same number are equal within the resolution of the process. In measurement, the number of standard units which is equal to the observation is counted. The standard unit can be an artifact, process, or definition which can be duplicated or shared by all observers. The measurement consists of using observation to compare the phenomenon being observed to a standard unit. The use of measurement was developed to allow recording and comparison of observations made at different times and places, by different people. Human sense impressions are subjective and qualitative, making them difficult to record or compare. However, the need for reproducibility requires that observations by different observers can be comparable. Observations play a role in the second and fifth steps of the scientific method. Have peers with experience researching the same phenomenon evaluate the results. Write a descriptive method of observation and the results or conclusions reached.Draw a conclusion from data gathered in the experiment, or revise the hypothesis or form a new one and repeat the process.Test the hypothesis' predictions by an experiment, observational study, field study, or simulation.
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