Originally Posted By: kschachn
None of that is necessary in this case however. You don't need to publish your results and have them reviewed by your peers for validity, that is the point of an ASTM standard test.
But it's worse than his presentation of the data. The test is not intended for nor is it applicable to motor oils. Second, he admits to not using the actual ASTM test equipment, so right there that invalidates any results. But the real nail in the coffin is that he does not analyze and present the results in accordance with the requirements of the ASTM procedure. If he did, then the error bars on the results show that there is no difference between any of the oils in regards to his results.
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
Unless the physical testing is done in a repeatable, scientific, peer reviewed manner, it probably doesn't mean anything.
Let's say I want to comparison test the face hardness of two hammer models. I put my finger on an anvil, and strike said finger with both hammers. That is a physical test. Does it prove anything?
Now, what I should do is go out and private purchase, say 25 of each hammer, from various vendors across the U.S. Then, I could test the Rockwell on each head, average the results, send the test data to another hammer tester
This tester goes out, buys the same models, tests the same way, same laboratory conditions, complies his data, and sends both sets to the a third tester, same thing. The third tester sends all sets back to you. You compile all data, write your paper, and send it to 5 more qualified hammer testers for peer review. They all say it is good. Then you publish your data in a scientific journal. Your conclusion would read something like" based on a random sample, the data do support the average Rockwell hardness of X hammer face is ___. The Data do support the average Rockwell hardness of Y hammer face is ____."
This is way over simplified, but that is the gist.
That is kind of my point also. He is not using any ASTM procedure(or anything else), therefore he needs to validate his testing.