Excerpt from The Theory of Measurements
The function of laboratory instruction in physics is twofold. Elementary courses are intended to develop the power of discriminating observation and to put the student in personal contact with the phenomena and general principles discussed in textbooks and lecture demonstrations. The apparatus provided should be of the simplest possible nature, the experiments assigned should be for the most part qualitative or only roughly quantitative, and emphasis should be placed on the principles illustrated rather than on the accuracy of the necessary measurements. On the other hand, laboratory courses designed for more mature students, who are supposed to have a working knowledge of fundamental principles, are intended to give instruction in the theory and practice of the methods of precise measurement that underlie all effective research and supply the data on which practical engineering enterprises are based. They should also develop the power of logical argument and expression, and lead the student to draw rational conclusions from his observations. The instruments provided should be of standard design and efficiency in order that the student may gain practice in making adjustments and observations under as nearly as may be the same conditions that prevail in original investigation.
Measurements are of little value in either research or engineering applications unless the precision with which they represent the measured magnitude is definitely known. Consequently, the student should be taught to plan and execute proposed measurements within definitely prescribed limits and to determine the accuracy of the results actually attained. Since the treatment of these matters in available laboratory manuals is fragmentary and often very inadequate if not misleading, the author some years ago undertook to impart the necessary instruction, in the form of lectures, to a class of junior engineering students. Subsequently, textbooks on the Theory of Errors and the Method of Least Squares were adopted but most of the applications to actual practice were still given by lecture.
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