Why is it useful for scientists to have a general procedure when carrying out investigations?

Answer 1

In science, we want our investigations to be repeatable by ourselves or others. This is important because unusual or unexpected findings should be retested to make sure they are truly accurate and meaningful. For these reasons, it's very important to have a plan and procedures for carrying out investigations. Publishing the procedures and methods along with the findings of the investigations allows other scientists to either recreate the experiment, or at least analyze whether the procedures and measurements seem appropriate to the problem being investigated.