Scientific Method

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fair/steps-of-the-scientific-method

What is the Scientific Method?

The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer
questions. Does this mean all scientists follow exactly this process? No. Some areas of science can be
more easily tested than others. For example, scientists studying how stars change as they age or how
dinosaurs digested their food cannot fast-forward a star's life by a million years or run medical exams on
feeding dinosaurs to test their hypotheses. When direct experimentation is not possible, scientists modify
the scientific method. In fact, there are probably as many versions of the scientific method as there are
scientists! But even when modified, the goal remains the same: to discover cause and effect relationships
by asking questions, carefully gathering and examining the evidence, and seeing if all the available
information can be combined in to a logical answer.

Even though we show the scientific method as a series of steps, keep in mind that new information or
thinking might cause a scientist to back up and repeat steps at any point during the process. A process
like the scientific method that involves such backing up and repeating is called an iterative process.

Whether you are doing a science fair project, a classroom science activity, independent research, or any
other hands-on science inquiry understanding the steps of the scientific method will help you focus your
scientific question and work through your observations and data to answer the question as well as
possible.

Flow chart of the scientific method

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Steps of the Scientific Method

1. Ask a Question or Make an initial observation.

The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How, What,
When, Who, Which, Why, or Where? You are also going to make use of your five senses.: touch, sight,
hearing, smelling and tasting (which is seldom used, especially in chemistry laboratory.).

For a science fair project some teachers require that the question be something you can measure,
preferably with a number.

2. Do Background Research

Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering your question, you want to
be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do things and
ensure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past. A lot of readings is required for you to come up
with a good research background

3. Construct a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. It is an attempt to answer your question
with an explanation that can be tested. A good hypothesis allows you to then make a prediction:

"If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen."

State both your hypothesis and the resulting prediction you will be testing. Predictions must be easy to
measure.

What are Variables?

Scientists try to figure out how the natural world works. In doing so, they use experiments to search for
cause and effect relationships. Cause and effect relationships explain why things happen and allow you
to reliably predict what will happen if you do something. In other words, scientists design an experiment
so that they can observe or measure if changes to one thing cause something else to vary in a repeatable
way.

The things that are changing in an experiment are called variables. A 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.

The independent variable is the one that is changed by the scientist. Why just one? Well, if you changed
more than one variable it would be hard to figure out which change is causing what you observe. For
example, what if our scientific question was: "How does the size of a dog affect how much food it eats?";
then, during your feeding experiments you changed both the size of the dog and the time of day the
dogs were fed. The data might get a bit confusing— did the larger dog eat less food than the smaller
dog because of his size or because it was the middle of the day and dogs prefer to eat more in the

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morning? Sometimes it is impossible to just change one variable, and in those cases, scientists rely on
more-complicated mathematical analysis and additional experiments to try to figure out what is going
on. Older students are invited to read more about that in our Experimental Design for Advanced Science
Projects page. To be clear though, for a science fair, it is usually wise to have only one independent
variable at a time. If you are new to doing science projects and want to know the effect of changing
multiple variables, do multiple tests where you focus on one independent variable at a time.

The dependent variables are the things that the scientist focuses his or her observations on to see how
they respond to the change made to the independent variable. In our dog example, the dependent
variable is how much the dogs eat. This is what we are observing and measuring. It is called the
"dependent" variable because we are trying to figure out whether its value depends on the value of the
independent variable. If there is a direct link between the two types of variables (independent and
dependent) then you may be uncovering a cause and effect relationship. The number of dependent
variables in an experiment varies, but there can be more than one.

Experiments also have controlled variables. Controlled variables are quantities that a scientist wants to
remain constant, and she or he must observe them as carefully as the dependent variables. For example,
in the dog experiment example, you would need to control how hungry the dogs are at the start of the
experiment, the type of food you are feeding them, and whether the food was a type that they liked.
Why? If you did not, then other explanations could be given for differences you observe in how much
they eat. For instance, maybe the little dog eats more because it is hungrier that day, maybe the big dog
does not like the dog food offered, or maybe all dogs will eat more wet dog food than dry dog food. So,
you should keep all the other variables the same (you control them) so that you can see only the effect
of the one variable (the independent variable) that you are trying to test. Similar to our example, most
experiments have more than one controlled variable. Some people refer to controlled variables as
"constant variables."

In the best experiments, the scientist must be able to measure the values for each variable. Weight or
mass is an example of a variable that is very easy to measure. However, imagine trying to do an
experiment where one of the variables is love. There is no such thing as a "love-meter." You might have
a belief that someone is in love, but you cannot really be sure, and you would probably have friends that
do not agree with you. So, love is not measurable in a scientific sense; therefore, it would be a poor
variable to use in an experiment.

4. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment (Gathering of Data)

Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and thus your hypothesis is supported or
not. It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that
you change only one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same.

You should also repeat your experiments several times to make sure that the first results weren't just
an accident.

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5. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if they
support your hypothesis or not. You may now present your data for ease of analysis and interpretation.
Data can be presented through tables, graphs, charts and figures or pictures. Some may eve present it
through video presentation

Scientists often find that their predictions were not accurate and their hypothesis was not supported,
and in such cases they will communicate the results of their experiment and then go back and construct
a new hypothesis and prediction based on the information they learned during their experiment. This
starts much of the process of the scientific method over again. Even if they find that their hypothesis was
supported, they may want to test it again in a new way.

6. Communicate Your Results

To complete your science fair project you will communicate your results to others in a final report and/or
a display board. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by publishing their final report
in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster or during a talk at a scientific meeting. In
a science fair, judges are interested in your findings regardless of whether or not they support your
original hypothesis.

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NAME _______________________________________________ SCORE ____________ DATE __________________
Course/Year/Section: ______________ Class Sched: Day: _______________ Time:_______________

Activity 2
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
WORKSHEET

A. Joaqui notices that his shower is covered with a strange green slime. His friend Chichay
tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime. Joaqui decides to check this
out by spraying half of the shower with coconut juice. He sprays the other half of the
shower with water. After 3 days of "treatment" there is no change in the appearance of
the green slime on either side of the shower.

1. What is Joaqui’s hypothesis?

2. Identify the control group (CG), the independent variable (ID) and the dependent variable
(DV)?
CG:
ID:
DV:

3. What would Joaqui’s conclusion be?

B. Mr. Layer was told that “Gaugau” was the best itching powder on the market; it even claims to
cause 50% longer lasting itches. Interested in this product, he buys the “Gaugau” and compares
it to his usual itching powder. One test subject (A) is sprinkled with the usual itching powder,
and another test subject (B) was sprinkled with “Gaugau”. Subject A reported having itches for
30 minutes. Subject B reported to have itches for 45 minutes.

1. Identify the control group (CG), the independent variable (ID) and the dependent variable
(DV)?
CG:
ID:
DV:

2. Explain whether the data supports the advertisements claims about its product.

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 B. The Strange Case of BeriBeri

In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people in the Dutch East Indies. The disease was BeriBeri.
Symptoms of the disease included weakness and loss of appetite. Victims often died of heart failure.
Scientists thought the disease might be caused by bacteria. They injected chickens with bacteria from
the blood of patients with BeriBeri. The injected chickens became sick. However, so did a group of
chickens that were not injected with bacteria from the blood of patients with BeriBeri. One of the
scientists, Dr. Eijkman, noticed something. Before the experiment, all the chickens had eaten whole-grain
rice, but during the experiment, the chickens were fed polished rice. Dr. Eijkman researched this
interesting case. he found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin necessary for good health.

1. State the Problem.

2. What was the hypothesis?

3. How was the hypothesis tested?

4. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experiment?

5. If it will be rejected, what should be the new hypothesis? The new hypothesis would be
that the lack of thiamine in the chick

C. In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming was studying Staphylococcus bacteria growing in culture dishes.
He noticed that a mold called Penicillium was also growing in some of the dishes. A clear area
existed around the mold because all the bacteria that had grown in this area had died. In the
culture dishes without the mold, no clear areas were present. Fleming hypothesized that the
mold must be producing a chemical that killed the bacteria. He decided to isolate this substance
and test it to see if it would kill bacteria. Fleming transferred the mold to a nutrient broth
solution. This solution contained all the materials the mold needed to grow. After the mold grew,
he removed it from the nutrient broth. Fleming then added the nutrient broth in which the mold
had grown to a culture of bacteria. He observed that the bacteria died.

1. Identify the problem.

2. What was Fleming's hypothesis?

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 3. How was the hypothesis tested?

4. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experiment?

5. This experiment lead to the development of what major medical advancement?

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