The Science Research 99-2003 Compatibility Mode Complete

8/14/2019 The Science Research 99-2003 Compatibility Mode Complete

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THE SCIENCE RESEARCH

Bureau of Secondary Education

Department of Education

May 2008


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Planning the Science Research

Identifying the problem;

Identifying the variables;

Formulating the hypothesis; and

Planning the experimental procedure


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Identifying the Research Problem

Finding a Research TopicHardest part of a science research

Need to focus on topics which are interest to

you

Select a question that is going to be interesting

to work on for at least a month or two, and;

A question that is specific enough to allow youto find the answer with a simple experiment.


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Some characteristics of a good science

fair project question:

The question should be interesting

enough to read about then work on for the

next couple months.

There should be at least 3 sources of

written information on the subject. You

want to be able to build on the experience

of others!


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Now, for something like a science fairproject, it is important to think ahead. This

will save you lots of unhappiness later.

Imagine the experiment you might performto answer your question. How does that

possible experiment stack up against

these issues?


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The experiment should measure changes to

the important factors (variables) using a

number that represents a quantity such as acount, percentage, length, width, etc. Or, just

as good might be an experiment that

measures a factor (variable) that is simplypresent or not present.

Your must be able to control other factors that

might influence your experiment, so that you

can do a fair test. A fair test occurs when youchange only one factor (variable) and keep all

other conditions the same.


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Is your experiment safe to perform?Do you have all the materials and equipment

you need for your science fair project, or will you

be able to obtain them quickly and at a very low

cost?Do you have enough time to do your experiment

before the science fair?

Does your science fair project meet all the rulesand requirements for your science fair?

Have you avoided the bad science fair projects

listed in the table? (the Slide after the next)


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Some science fair projects that involve

human subjects, vertebrate animals or

animal tissue, pathogenic agents, DNA, or

controlled or hazardous substances, need

approval from DOST before you start

experimentation.


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Some examples of good science fair

project questions are the following:

How does water purify affect surface

tension?

When is the best time to plant soy beans?

How does arch curvature affect load

carrying strength?

How do different foundations stand up toearthquakes?


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Science Project Topics to Avoid Why

ny topic that boils down to a simplepreference or taste comparison. Forex., Which tastes better: Coke orPepsi?

Such experiments dont involve thekinds of numerical measurementswe want in a science fair project.They are more of a survey than anexperiment.

Most consumer product testing ofthe Which is best? type. Thisincludes comparisons of popcorn,bubblegum, make-up, detergents,etc.

There projects only have scientificvalidity if the Investigator fullyunderstand the science behind whythe product works and applies thatunderstanding to the experiment.While many consumer products areeasy to use, the science behind themis often at the level of a graduatestudent in college.

ny topic that requires people to

recall things they did in the past.

The data tends to be unreliable.

Examples of bad science research topics that you should

avoid are the ff:


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Science Project Topics toAvoid

Why

Effect of colored light on plants Several people do this project

at almost every science fair.You can be more creative!

Effect of music or talking onplants.

Difficult to measure.

Effect of running, music, videogames, or almost anything onblood pressure

The result is either obvious (theheart beats faster when yourun) or difficult to measure withproper controls (the effect of

music).Effect of color on memory,emotion, mood, taste, strength,etc.

Highly subjective and difficult tomeasure.

S i P j t T i T A id Wh


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Science Project Topics To Avoid Why

Any topic that requires measurementsthat will be extremely difficult to make orrepeat, given your equipment.

Without measurement, you cant doscience.

Graphology or handwriting analysis Questionable scientific validity

Astrology or ESP No scientific validity

Any topic that requires dangerous, hard

to find, expensive, or illegal materials.

Violates the rules of virtually any

science fair.

Any topic that requires drugging, pain orinjury to a live vertebrate animal.

Violates the rules of virtually anyscience fair.

Any topic that creates unacceptable risk(physical or psychological) to a humansubject.


Any topic that involves collection oftissue samples from living humans orertebrate animals.



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Finding Information on Your

Research Topic

You can tap several sources from your

immediate environment.

You can talk to other people with more

experience than yourself: your mentors,

parents, and teachers.

Record your sources and take good notes

as you go.


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Today, savvy researchers use their

library and Internet to do background

research to help them find the best way todo things. You want to learn from the

experience of others rather than blunder

around and repeat their mistakes.


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Library Research

One of the most valuable resources atthe library is not a book, but a person.

Public librarians, college librarians and

certified school librarians are speciallytrained to teach information literacy.

Librarians are excellent sources for

organizing research, for teaching how to

search, how to read and use citations,

how to narrow down web searches, and

how to winnow out the good from the bad.


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The best place to start your backgroundresearch is by looking up your keywords in an

encyclopedia, dictionary, or textbook.

Read the background information and note

any useful sources listed in the bibliography at

the end of the encyclopedia article or

dictionary entry.

You can also check the subject headings ofbooks and articles as you look them up in the

library catalog.


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Periodicals are printed material likemagazines and newspapers. Depending

on your topic, they may also contain useful

information. You can look up yourkeywords in a printed index available in

your library.

If your library is subscribed to onlineresources, you can gain access to

information unattainable in any other way.


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Internet Research

There are 2 primary ways to search for

information on the internet.

1.To use a search engine such as Google or

Yahoo!

2. To search using a subject portal.


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Subject portals list just a small

portion of the information on the

Internet, but the sites listed have

been checked for relevance.

Search engines try to

index everything on the

internet.


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Two popular subject portals:

Librarians Index to the Internet

WWW Virtual Library

You can begin by entering your

keywords one at a time to search for

information in the search engines and

subject portals; however, this will

probably bring up too much irrelevant

information.


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If you want some advanced tips on

using the Internet to find information, hereare two good sites. There is valuable

information here even for people who think

that they are good at Internet searching.


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http://www.lib.berkeley.edu./TeachingLib/Gui

A tutorial offered by the Teaching Library

at the University of California at Berkeley.

Librarians Index to the Internet: Internet

Guide and Search Tools. Check out the

tips in Internet Searching.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu./TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.htmlhttp://www.lib.berkeley.edu./TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html


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To do an internet search for books containing

information about a specific science fair project, theScience Fair Project Index is a great place to start.

The Index is designed to allow the user to locate a

particular experiment by the general topic; by

keywords in the experiment title or book information;

by grade level; by the materials or equipment

employed; or by the principle demonstrated.

http://www.ascpl.lib.oh.us/scifair/
http://www.ascpl.lib.oh.us/scifair/http://www.ascpl.lib.oh.us/scifair/


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Finding Too Much or Too Little

InformationIf you are finding too much information, for

example pages and pages of irrelevant hits

on Google or a periodical index, you need tonarrow your search. You can narrow your

search by borrowing some of the terms in

your research questions.

If you arent finding enough information, you

need to simplify your search.


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Most online search engines and periodical

guides have instructions about how to narrow

and broaden searches. Just read theinstructions for help.


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In the end, never forget that your goal

is to find information to answer the

research questions you asked about your

topic. Dont stop looking until you havesources that will answer your questions!

Be sure to ask for help from mentors,

parents, and teachers if youre havingtrouble.


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Identifying the Variables

Variable is any factor, trait, or condition

that can exist in differing amounts or

types.

An experiment usually has three kinds

of variables: independent, dependent, and

controlled.


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Independent variable one that is

changed by the scientist. To insure a fairtest, a good experiment has only one

independent variable.

Dependent variable one which can notbe changed in order to see how it

responds to the changed made to the


Controlled variable quantity that a

scientist wants to remain constant.


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In a good experiment, the investigator

must be able to measure the values for

each variable. Weight or mass is an

example of a variable that is very easy tomeasure.


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In some experiments, it is not possible

to demonstrate that a change in the

independent variable causes a change in

the dependent variable. Instead one mayonly be able to show that the independent

variable is related to the dependent

variable. This relationship is calledcorrelation.


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One of the most common reasons to

see a correlation is that intervening

variables are also involved which may give

rise to the appearance of a possibly directcause-and-effect relationship, but which

upon further investigation turn out to be

more directly caused by some otherfactor (Wikipedia, 2006).


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Examples of VariablesQuestion Independent

Variable(What I change)

Dependent Variable(What I observe)

Controlled Variables(What I keep the same)

How muchater flows

through afaucet atdifferentopenings?

Water faucetopening (closed,

half open, fullyopen)

Amount of waterflowing measure in

liters per minute

The Faucet Water pressure, or how much the

water is pushing

Different water pressure mightalso cause different amounts ofwater to flow and different faucetsmay behave differently, so to

insure a fair test I want to keep thewater pressure and the faucet thesame for each faucet opening that Itest.


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Question IndependentVariable

(What Ichange)

DependentVariable

(What I observe)


Doesfertilizermake a plant

grow bigger?

Amount offertilizermeasured in

grams

Growth of theplant measure byits height

Growth of theplant measure bythe number ofleavesSee MeasuringPlant Growth formore ways tomeasure plantgrowth

Same size pot for each plant Same type of plant in each pot Same type and amount of soil in each

plot Same amount of water and lightMake measurements of growth for eachplant at the same time

The many variables above can eachchange how fast a plant grows, so toinsure a fair test of the fertilizer, each ofthem must be kept the same for everypot.


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Question IndependentVariable

(What I change)

Dependent Variable(What I observe)


Does anelectric motor

turn faster ifou increase

the voltage?

Voltage of theelectricity

measured in volts

Speed of rotationmeasured in

revolutions perminute (RPMs)

Same motor for every testThe motor should be doing the

same for each test (turning thesame wheel, propeller or whatever)

The work that a motor performshas a big impact on its speed, so toinsure a fair test, I must keep that

variable the same.


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Formulating the Hypothesis

Hypothesis educated guess about theanswer to your question.

The hypothesis must be worded so that it can

be tested in your experiment. Do this byexpressing the hypothesis using your

independent and dependent variables. In

fact, many hypotheses are stated exactly like

this: If a particular independent variable is

changed, then there is also a change in a

certain dependent variable.


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Sample Hypotheses

If I open the faucet [faucet opening is the

independent variable]. Then it will increase

the flow of water [flow of water is the

dependent variable].If a plant receives fertilizer [having

fertilizer is the independent variable], then it

will grow to be bigger than a plant that doesnot receive fertilizer [plant size is the

dependent variable].


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Notice that in each of the example itwill be easy to measure the independent

variables. This is another important

characteristic of a good hypothesis. If wecan readily measure the variables in the

hypothesis, then we say that the

hypothesis is testable.


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Planning the Experimental ProcedureThe first step in designing your

experimental procedure involves planning

on how you will change your independentvariable and how you will measure the

impact that this change has on the

dependent variable.


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To guarantee a fair test when you areconducting your experiment, you need to

make sure that the only thing you change

is the independent variable. And, all thecontrolled variables must remain constant.

Only then can you be sure that the change

you make to the independent variableactually caused the changes you observe

in the dependent variables.


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Scientists run experiments more than

once to verify that results are consistent.

In other words, you must verify that you

obtain essentially the same results everytime you repeat the experiment with the

same value for your independent variable.

This insures that the answer to yourquestion is not just an accident.


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Each time that you perform yourexperiment is called a run or a trial. So,

your experimental procedure should also

specify how many trials you intend to run.In some experiments, you can run the trials

at once. For example, if youre growing

plants, you can put three identical plants (or

seeds) in three separate pots and that

would count as three trials.


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In experiments that involve testing or

surveying different groups of people, you

will not need to repeat the experiment

multiple times. However, in order to insurethat your results are reliable, you need to

test or survey enough people to make

sure that your results are reliable.


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Two types of trial groups

1. Experimental group consists of the

trials where you change the independent

variable.

Ex: If your question asks whether fertilizer

makes a plant grow bigger, then the

experimental group consists of all trials in

which the plants receive fertilizer.


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2. Control group consists of all trials

where you leave the independent variable

in its natural state.

In our example, it would be important to

run some trials in which the plants get nofertilizer at all. These trials with no fertilizer

provide a basis for comparison, and would

insure that any changes you see when youadd fertilizer are in fact caused by the

fertilizer and not something else.


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However, not every experiment is like our

fertilizer example. In another kind of

experiment, many groups of trials are

performed at different values of theindependent variable.


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For example, if your question askswhether an electric motor turns faster if

you increase the voltage, you might do an

experimental group of three trials at 1.5

volts, another group of three trials at 2.0

volts, three trials at 2.5 volts, and so on. In

such an experiment, you are comparing

the experimental groups to each other,rather than comparing them to a single

control group.


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Whether or not your experiment has a

control group, remember that every

experiment has a number of controlled

variables. Controlled variables are thosevariables that we dont want to change

while we conduct our experiment, and

they must be the same in every trial andevery group of trials.


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Key Elements of the Experimental

Procedure

Description and size of all experimental

and control groups, as applicable

A step-by-step list of everything you must

do to perform your experiment.

The experimental procedure must tell how

you will change your one and only

independent variable and how you willmeasure that change.


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The experimental procedure must explain

how you will measure the resulting change

in the dependent variable/s.

If applicable, the experimental procedure

should explain how the controlled

variables will be maintained at a constant

value.


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The experimental procedure should

specify how many times you intend to

repeat your experiment, so that you can

verify that your results are reproducible.

A good experimental procedure enables

someone else to duplicate your

experiment exactly.

Wh ill d t


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Where will you conduct your

experiment?

You may need a lot of room for your

experiment or you may not be able to

more your experiment around from place

to place. If you are working with human oranimal subjects, you may need a location

that is quiet. You will need to think about

these limitations before you start yourexperiment so you can find a location in

advance that will meet your needs.


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Conducting the Science Research

The second step in the science research process

is conducting the research consisting of:

1. Preparing for the conduct of the experiment;

2. Constructing the data table; and3. Conducting the experiment.

P i f th C d t f th


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Preparing for the Conduct of the

Experiment

Know what to do.

Get a laboratory notebook for taking notes

and collecting data.

Be prepared. Collect and organize all

materials, supplies and equipment you will

need to do the experiment.

Think ahead about safety!


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Preparing the Data Table

Prepare a data table in your laboratory

notebook to help you collect your data. A

data will ensure that you are consistent in

recording your data and will make it easierto analyze your results once you have

finished your experiment.

S l D t T bl


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Sample Data Table

Trial Faucet Opening

(the IndependentVariable)

Water Flow

(the Dependent Variable)

#1 open [Write your date in this column as you makemeasurements during your experiment.]

#2 open

#3 open

#4 open

#5 Fully open

#6 Fully open


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Conducting the Actual Experiment

It is very important to take very detailed

notes as you conduct your experiments. As

addition to your data, record your observations

as you perform the experiment. Write down anyproblems, anything you do that is different from

planned, ideas that come to mind, or interesting

occurrences. Be on the lookout for the

unexpected. Your observations will be usefulwhen you analyze your data and draw

conclusions.


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Keep a lab notebook so that all your

information is kept in one place. The data that

you record will be the basis for your scienceresearch final report and your conclusions.

If possible, take pictures of your experiment

along the way.

Remember to use numerical measurement as

mush as possible. If your experiment also has

qualitative data, then take a photo or draw a

picture of what happens.


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Be as exact as possible about the way

you conduct your experiment, especially in

following your experimental procedure,taking your measurements, and note

taking.

In fact, its a good idea to do a quickpreliminary run of your experiment. Show

your preliminary data to your teacher, and

make revisions to your experimentalprocedure if necessary.


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Stay organized and be safe. Keep your

workspace clean and organized as you

conduct your experiment. Keep your

supplies within reach. Use protective gearand adult supervision as needed. Keep

any chemicals away from pets and

younger brothers or sisters.


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Processing the Results of the

Experiment

STEPS:

1.Classifying data;

2.Calculating and summarizing data; and

3.Interpreting data.


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Classifying Data

Quantitative data based on

measurements and use a scale of equal

interval.

Qualitative data gathered usingnonstandard scale or unequal intervals or

discrete categories.

B th tit ti d lit ti d t


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Both quantitative and qualitative data

can further be sub-divided into 4 scales

of measurement.

1. Nominal data data placed in discrete

categories which can not be ranked inascending and descending order.

2. Ordinal data data placed into

categories that can be ranked or orderedin the ascending or descending manner.


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3. Interval data data collected using ascale with equal interval but no absolute

zero value.

4. Ratio data data collected using a scaleof equal and an absolute zero value.


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Calculating and Summarizing Data

A spreadsheet program such as

Microsoft Excel may be a good way to

perform calculations, and then later the

spreadsheet can be used to display the

results. Be sure to label the rows and

columns.


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You should have performed multiple

trials of your experiment. Think about the

best way to summarize your data. You

may want to calculate the average foreach group of trials, or summarize the

results in some other way such as ratios,

percentages, or error and significance.


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Perform any calculations that are necessary

for you to analyze and understand the data

from your experiment.

Use calculations from known formulas that

describe the relationships you are testing.

Pay careful attention because you may need to

convert some of your units to do your calculation

correctly. All of the units for a measurement

should be of the same scale.

G h ft ll t t


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Graphs are often an excellent way to

display your results.

For any type of graph:

Generally, you should place your independent

variable on the x-axis of your graph and the

dependent variable on the y-axis.Be sure to label the axes of your graph dont

forget to include the units of measurement.

If you have more than one set of data, show each

series in a different color or symbol and include alegend with clear labels.


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Few of the Possible Types of Graphs

A bar graph might be appropriate for

comparing different trials or different

experimental groups. It also may be a

good choice if your independent variableis not numerical. (In Microsoft Excel,

generate bar graphs by choosing chat

types Column or Bar.)


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Example


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Time-series plot can be used if your

independent variable is numerical andyour independent variable is time.

In MS Excel, the line graph chart typegenerates a time series. By default, Excel puts a

count on the x-axis. To generate a time series plot

with your choice of x-axis units, make a separate

data column that contains those units next to yourdependent variable. Then choose the XY (scatter)

chart type, with a sub-type that draws line.)


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Example:


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X-Y Line Graph shows the relationship

between your dependent and independentvariables when both are numerical and the

dependent variable is a function of the


In MS Excel, choose the XY (scatter) chart

type, and then choose a sub-type that does

draw a line.

Example:


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Example:


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Scatter plot might be the proper graph ifyoure trying to show how two variables

may be related to one another.

In MS Excel, choose the XY (scatter)

chart type, and then choose a sub-type that

does not draw a line.

Example:


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Example:


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Interpreting Data

Steps:

1.Write a topic sentence stating the independent

and dependent variables giving reference to

your tables and graphs.2. Write a sentence comparing the measure of

central tendency of the collected data.

3.Write a sentence describing the variations; and

4.Write a statement on how the data support the

hypothesis.


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Evaluating the Science Research

It is the last step of the science

research process which involvesdrawing conclusions and formulating

recommendations.

Drawing Conclusions and


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Drawing Conclusions and

Recommendations

Your conclusions will summarize whether

or not your science research support or

contradict your original hypothesis.

If the results of your science experimentdid not support your hypothesis, dont

change or manipulate your results to fit

your original hypothesis, simply explainwhy things did not go as expected.


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Scientific research is an ongoing process,and by discovering that your hypothesis is

not true, you have already made huge

advances in your learning that will leadyou to ask more questions that lead to

new experiments. Science fair judges do

not care about whether you prove or

disprove your hypothesis; they care howmuch you learned.

The Science Research 99-2003 Compatibility Mode Complete

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