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34 PART I: General IssuesFIGURE 2.2How would you describe this scene?Scientific reporting seeks to be unbiased and objective. One way to determinewhether a report is unbiased is to see if it can be verified by an independentobserver. This is called “interobserver agreement” (see Chapter 4). Unfortunately,many biases are subtle and not always detected even in scientificreporting. Consider the fact that there is a species of fish in which the eggsare incubated in the mouth of the male parent until they hatch. The first scientistto observe the eggs disappear into their father’s mouth could certainly beforgiven for assuming, momentarily, that he was eating them. That’s simplywhat we expect organisms to do with their mouths! But the careful observerwaits, watches for unexpected results, and takes nothing for granted.ConceptsWe use the term concepts to refer to things (both living and inanimate), to events(things in action), and to relationships among things or events, as well as totheir characteristics (Marx, 1963). “Dog” is a concept, as is “barking,” and so is“obedience.” Concepts are the symbols by which we ordinarily communicate.Clear, unambiguous communication of ideas requires that we clearly defineour concepts.In everyday conversation we often get by without worrying too much abouthow we define a concept. Many words, for instance, are commonly used and