Checking out the checklist

Today, during our Praxis lecture, the professor mentioned that checklists are super effective at reducing mistakes, verifying results, getting good grades, and solving world hunger. (OK, maybe not that last one), according to Gawande's book, The Checklist Manifesto.

Well, not being a slacker, I decided to try out this checklist approach for my physics lab report, due tomorrow. I'll be writing my experiences with checklists as I write the report. Yes, we'll do it live! (No, I won't revise this draft, for the lolz)

First, I am going to identify the requirements that the lab report needs. Our lab instructor was kindly enough to send us an e-mail with various sections that need to be in the lab report. I decided to format it in list form.

All that in one checklist - and I haven't even looked at the ideas for improvements from the comments given to my previous reports!

Reviewing the previous reports, I came up with these tasks: - Label the diagram explaining setup 1 - Label the diagram explaining setup 2 - Specific measurements for materials section - Have procedure section - No results in procedure/introduction section - Have Results section - Have explanation (caption/paragraph) on all graphs - Data tables have correct sigfigs - Labels for table columns - variables need contextual explanation - All equations done with equation editor - Graph axis are labeled - All measurements have space between units, e.g. 10 kg

I feel more confident now that I have a checklist: I can see all the potential pitfalls on a single page instead of on the comment pages of multiple previous reports.

Armed with my checklist, I'm ready to begin my lab report now. Wish me luck :)

Afterword

Whew! That was a long break between writing the top and the bottom.

The first lesson I learned from making checklists is that checklists are not as useful when there are no strict metrics attached. In the first lab report I did with a checklist, I provided diagrams, as specified on my checklist, but did not include any labels, so I was deducted points. This may be a problem with self-made checklists: they may not match the criteria and metrics of the teacher. The instructors of some courses, such as ESC101, release official checklists that specify exactly what is required on assignments, and those may be helpful.

The second lesson I learned is that checklists are reusable. I was able to use the same checklist for a second lab report (which I did well on), and will be using it for a third lab report soon. Thus, the time investment in the checklist can lead to benefits later.

The third lesson I learned is that checklists are great for finding possible improvements. In both lab reports I used the checklist with, I had trouble completing all the sections. However, I walked through the checklist, and looked for items that I was able to accomplish.

Finally, I learned that checklists are not magical. The first lab report I did with the checklist rewarded me with the lowest mark I received on a lab report so far, since the first lab experiment had multiple parts and was difficult to describe. The second lab report I did with the checklist gotten me a better mark. I guess my conclusion is that, while checklists aren't a recipe for success, at least they would make the meal more palatable, by highlighting areas one could work on to improve the result.