Kevin Crossley-Holland Quotes

If you are a researcher, you are trying to figure out what the question is as well as what the answer is.

Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.

We don't ask research to do what it was never meant to do, and that is to get an idea.

I love to watch how scientists' minds work.

What intrigues basic scientists like me is that anytime we do a series of experiments, there are going to be three or four new questions that come up when you think you've answered one.

In the spirit of science, there really is no such thing as a 'failed experiment.' Any test that yields valid data is a valid test.

I don't do research. I never have.

That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.

Hypotheses are what we lack the least.

I am not here concerned with intent, but with scientific standards, especially the ability to tell the difference between a fact, an opinion, a hypothesis, and a hole in the ground.

I'm a research queen.

To have real issues to delve into, research-wise, always makes it a lot more satisfying to me. I can pull from a lot of resources and put them into my work and just have as much information as possible.

Educated guesswork' is what science is. You form hypotheses, test them against the evidence, and if they fit the evidence, you can assume you've got close to the truth.

If a scientist is not befuddled by what they're looking at, then they're not a research scientist.

A good designer has a lot in common with a good researcher. Both hunt for excellence and perfection. And you have to really focus on the details, and you don't really know what the final result will be before you have it.

Successful ecologists are successful in part because they have prepared their minds to attack scientific problems using a variety of intellectual tools.

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

Sound science must be our guide in choosing which problems to tackle and how to approach them.

To become an academic expert takes years of studying. Academic experts are experts in how and what others have done. They use case studies and observation to understand a subject.

Scientists learn about the world in three ways: They analyze statistical patterns in the data, they do experiments, and they learn from the data and ideas of other scientists. The recent studies show that children also learn in these ways.

The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions.

A scientist lives with all reality. There is nothing better.

Research is creating new knowledge.

I really wanted to do research. That has never changed.

If you can help other people understand those truths - and in my mind, the only way I know to do that is with large scale, multi-year research projects, where you start with a question and then very rigorously and comprehensively answer that question.