When conducting an experiment, why is it important to record results?

Recording results during an experiment is crucial for enabling others to replicate the study. When researchers document their findings meticulously, they provide a detailed account of the experimental process, including methods, measurements, and observations. This transparency allows other scientists to follow the same procedures and verify the results, which is a cornerstone of scientific inquiry. Replication is essential in science because it helps establish the reliability and validity of findings; if multiple independent experiments yield similar results, the conclusions drawn from those results become more robust.

While sharing findings and maintaining a clear timeline of events are also important aspects of scientific practice, the primary focus of recording results in the context of replication emphasizes the need for accuracy and detail so that others can reconstruct the experiment under similar conditions.