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Showing posts from November, 2008

When Testing Collides With Observation

Recently I noticed that a component I have been working on was running slowly in its Release version. The only changes I had made recently were mostly calls to Debug.WriteLine() to get unit-testing information. When I figured out the problem, it reminded me of a term from my Psychology background (my degree in Psychology, not my therapy ;-) ) called the “Observer Effect.” The Observer Effect is a term in experimental research which basically says that while you are trying to observe something, the very act of observation might affect what you are trying to observe. Consider the following simple, albeit silly example : Hypothesis: Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius. Method of study: Stand in freezer holding small puddle of water in hand. Results: Water doesn’t freeze at zero degrees Celsius. Why? Because the method of observation (holding water in hand) prevents the water from freezing because the warmth of your hand (around 98.6F) warms the water sufficiently so that it doesn’t fre