Experimental Design B/C

[krasabnk]

Okay, so can anyone help? I just got thrown into this event, and our competition is this Saturday. What am I doing, because honest to god I'm confused? (Div B)

Same here. I think it would help if you thoroughly read through the exp design wiki and read through these forums. Familiarize yourself with basic statistics and checklist provided with the rules sheet. You and your partners will need to make a hypothesis, devise an experiment, and write a lab report based on the variables shown by the experiment.

[kate!]

Okay, so can anyone help? I just got thrown into this event, and our competition is this Saturday. What am I doing, because honest to god I'm confused? (Div B)

Have you ever written a lab report or done an experiment before? If so, congratulations, you know what you're doing in this event. Before you do anything, read the wiki page. Then take a look at the rubric on soinc.org. You'll need to split it into three parts based on the individual strengths of you and your partners (math, quick thinking, writing). Since you don't have a lot of time, try to do at least one practice with your partners. Use one of the wiki examples or an invitational test, sit down, and do a report. Familiarize yourself with all the parts, pay attention to time management, and do the best you can. Good luck at your competition!

[Paypog]

Okay, so can anyone help? I just got thrown into this event, and our competition is this Saturday. What am I doing, because honest to god I'm confused? (Div B)

Have you ever written a lab report or done an experiment before? If so, congratulations, you know what you're doing in this event. Before you do anything, read the wiki page. Then take a look at the rubric on soinc.org. You'll need to split it into three parts based on the individual strengths of you and your partners (math, quick thinking, writing). Since you don't have a lot of time, try to do at least one practice with your partners. Use one of the wiki examples or an invitational test, sit down, and do a report. Familiarize yourself with all the parts, pay attention to time management, and do the best you can. Good luck at your competition!

Write like your life depends on it 4head

[dxu46]

Okay, so can anyone help? I just got thrown into this event, and our competition is this Saturday. What am I doing, because honest to god I'm confused? (Div B)

Read the wiki, do some practice experiments with your partners, and hope that your partners don't argue about the topic on Saturday for legit 15 minutes

COUGH

[Anomaly]

Write like your life depends on it 4head

Honestly that's how I survived doing this event last year, my partners never really did too much except fight with each other and do the actual experiment

[kate!]

Write like your life depends on it 4head

Honestly that's how I survived doing this event last year, my partners never really did too much except fight with each other and do the actual experiment

Pro tip: pretend you always have 5 minutes left. (One time during practice we thought we had 5 minutes but we actually had 15 minutes. Since we were going faster when we thought we had less time it was way more efficient and we finished earlier and could clean up/check work.) Btw don't forget to clean up!!! That is the most important thing (and put it in the procedure too) so you don't get a lower score.

[Anomaly]

Write like your life depends on it 4head

Honestly that's how I survived doing this event last year, my partners never really did too much except fight with each other and do the actual experiment

Pro tip: pretend you always have 5 minutes left. (One time during practice we thought we had 5 minutes but we actually had 15 minutes. Since we were going faster when we thought we had less time it was way more efficient and we finished earlier and could clean up/check work.) Btw don't forget to clean up!!! That is the most important thing (and put it in the procedure too) so you don't get a lower score.

I actually do that with my middle schoolers. i tell them they have three minutes left when they still have 8 minutes left and now they’re always done a couple minutes early

[sciencekid27]

Please help

Here are some technical questions that I've gotten various responses to:
Also, I'm in Div B

1) Other than mean, median, range, and mode (even though mode is not important in this case), what else do you need for statistics? Do you need stuff like std dev?
2) For qualitative observations, what constitutes as an observation about the procedure/deviations. Is something like "The water was supposed to be dropped directly on top of the penny, but a deviation occurred, and the water was dropped in various different places" okay?
3) For the graph, do you need a line of best fit?
4) Also, regarding the graph, is a break line okay?
5) An outlier is defined as either (Q3 + 1.5 * IQR) or (Q1 - 1.5 * IQR). So in the analysis section, when describing and identifying any outliers, do you need to use the formulas and be exact? Or can you just be like this is a lot bigger than the rest so it is an outlier?

Thanks!

[dxu46]

Please help

Here are some technical questions that I've gotten various responses to:
Also, I'm in Div B

1) Other than mean, median, range, and mode (even though mode is not important in this case), what else do you need for statistics? Do you need stuff like std dev?
2) For qualitative observations, what constitutes as an observation about the procedure/deviations. Is something like "The water was supposed to be dropped directly on top of the penny, but a deviation occurred, and the water was dropped in various different places" okay?
3) For the graph, do you need a line of best fit?
4) Also, regarding the graph, is a break line okay?
5) An outlier is defined as either (Q3 + 1.5 * IQR) or (Q1 - 1.5 * IQR). So in the analysis section, when describing and identifying any outliers, do you need to use the formulas and be exact? Or can you just be like this is a lot bigger than the rest so it is an outlier?

Thanks!

1. I'd include standard deviation. It's relatively easy to calculate and you can use it in your analysis.
2. I think so, just make sure to not confuse it with errors. Taking that statement from above, I'd take out the error and make it "The water was dropped in various different places on the penny."
3. I always do - it doesn't take much effort and it looks nice to the ES.
4. Definitely. You need to have an appropriate scale (per the rules) so a break line definitely helps.
5. I never use the formulas. It's too wordy and focuses on more facts. If a data point looks really off, just say it's an outlier, even if the formula doesn't say so.

[sciencekid27]

Thanks!