Data Handling and Record Keeping

Description of the Problem

You are a graduate student working in a lab where data are accumulated for the purposes of measuring the optical absorption of a variety of samples. For each sample there is a large data file stored on a computer in the lab.

In reviewing a lab notebook from one of your predecessors in the lab and comparing that to data published by the lab, you find a gap. That is, some of the data that were published are not accounted for in the lab notebook.

Furthermore, you are unable to locate the computer files for this missing data. You talk to a fellow graduate student about this situation, and he tells you that you should be very concerned about the situation and that it should be reported.

Question