Experimental Design Some Terms

Elements to a good experiment Question Hypothesis Reasonable and testable explanation for observations (if . . . Then statement) Independent Variable What is purposefully changed in the experiment Dependent Variable What changes as a result of the independent variable

Experiments continued Constants What must be kept the same in an experiment Control Trial excluding independent variable- acts as a standard for comparison Trials- the number of times experiment is conducted- should be multiple times

Continued . . . Procedure: Step by step explanation of how you are conducting your experiment If well-written, then anyone should be able to do your experiment Observations/data collection Recording of observations or data Usually in the form of a data table

Continued: Results: Formal recording of the results- usually in the form of a graph Conclusions- must contain 3 items Was your hypothesis correct? How do you know? (prove it from the data) Error in your experiment?

Example from homework: Question: Hypothesis IV DV Constants Control Trials

Procedure Ob/data collection Results conclusion