2. MVE - The minimum viable experiment (piloting)

The Minimum Viable Experiment (MVE) represents an iterative rapid cycling phase of experimental piloting. The idea behind the MVE is that rather than investing in a large scale, detailed or “theoretically perfected” experiment, which in reality cannot be perfect when the underlying mechanisms are unknown, the MVE seeks rapid feedback from the unknown mechanism with the minimum possible cost (time and money). The rationale for using the MVE is to arrive at the simplest and most economic version of an experiment and get it up and running as soon as possible. Once there is some pilot data, the scientist can ask a simple question: are there any problems with the pilot data? If not, and the data is what was originally hypothesised, then the next step is to leave the MVE cycle and up-scale the experiment.