Saturday 7 April 2012

How not to do an anti-doping survey





Just been to a great display at the Museum of Scotland run by the Edinburgh Science Festival. The InMotion exhibition gave kids (and adults) a chance to explore the science of movement. As usual for the festival, the staff were well-trained, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. There were also great profiles of real scientists working in the exercise area, some famous and some not-so-famous (including a dodgy biochemist from Essex called Cooper).

The exhibition was interactive with lots of opportunities for the festival goers to measure the body’s performance and physiology. There were also pop quizzes in topical areas. The attendees were asked to put a yellow disc into a slot to say YES, NO or MAYBE to a range of questions. One asked should athletes be allowed to dope? I was naturally interested in the answer. However, the bright yellow discs proved too much of an attraction. The kids treated the event as a scientific penny push arcade game, clambering up on a step and enthusiastically filling up all the slots they could with as many discs as they could cram in their hands. Perhaps best not to report the results to UK anti-doping? 

No comments:

Post a Comment