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Understanding and using

The Scientific Method

Now that you have a pretty good idea of the question you want to ask, it's time to use the
Scientific Method to design an experiment which will be able to answer that question. If
your experiment isn't designed well, you may not get the correct answer, or may not even
get any definitive answer at all.
In this section we will take a look at the method you should use to design your research. This
method is the most important part of science--in fact, it's called the "Scientific Method." The
Scientific Method is a way to make sure that your experiment can give a good answer to
your specific question.

The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by which scientists come to
conclusions about the world around them. The Scientific Method helps to organize
thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in the answers they find.
Scientists use observations, hypotheses, and deductions to make these conclusions, just like
you will use the Scientific Method in your science fair project. You will think through the
various possibilities using the Scientific Method to eventually come to an answer to your
original question.

The steps of the Scientific Method are:

Observation/Research
Hypothesis
Prediction
Experimentation / Results
Conclusion

The observation is done first so that you know how you want to go about your research. The
hypothesis is the answer you think you'll find. The prediction is your specific belief about the
scientific idea: If my hypothesis is true, then I predict we will discover..... The experiment is
the tool that you invent to answer the question, and the conclusion is the answer that the
experiment gives.

Don't worry, it isn't that complicated. Let's look at each one of these points individually so
that you can understand the tools that scientists use when doing their own science projects
and use them for your project.

OBSERVATION

This step could also be called "research." It is the first stage in understanding the problem
you have chosen. After you decide on your area of science and the specific question you
want to ask, you will need to research everything that you can find about the problem. You
can collect information on your science fair topic from your own experiences, books, the
internet, or even smaller "unofficial" experiments. This initial research should play a big part
in the science fair idea that you finally choose.

Let's take the example of the tomatoes in the garden. You like to garden, and notice that
some tomatoes are bigger than others and wonder why. Because of this personal experience
and an interest in the problem, you decide to learn more about what makes plants grow.

J. Meléndez/ MCB 2000 Lab

Taken for the sole purpose of teaching from:
[Link]
For this stage of the Scientific Method, it's important to use as many sources as you can
find. The more information you have on your science fair project topic, the better the design
of your experiment is going to be, and the better your science fair project is going to be
overall. Also try to get information from your teachers or librarians, or professionals who
know something about your science fair topic. They can help to guide you to a solid
experimental setup.

HYPOTHESIS

The next stage of the Scientific Method is known as the "hypothesis." This word basically
means "a possible solution to a problem, based on knowledge and research." The hypothesis
is a simple statement that defines what you think the outcome of your experiment will be.

All of the first stage of the Scientific Method -- the observation, or research stage -- is
designed to help you express a problem in a single question ("Does the amount of sunlight
in a garden affect tomato size?") and propose an answer to the question based on what you
know. The experiment that you will design is done to test the hypothesis.

Using the example of the tomato experiment, here is an example of a hypothesis:

TOPIC: "Does the amount of sunlight a tomato plant receives affect the size of the
tomatoes?"

HYPOTHESIS: "I believe that the more sunlight a tomato plant receives, the larger the
tomatoes will grow.

This hypothesis is based on:

(1) Tomato plants need sunshine to make food through photosynthesis, and logically, more
sun means more food, and;
(2) Through informal, exploratory observations of plants in a garden, those with more
sunlight appear to grow bigger.

PREDICTION

The hypothesis is your general statement of how you think the scientific phenomenon in
question works. Your prediction lets you get specific -- how will you demonstrate that your
hypothesis is true? The experiment that you will design is done to test the prediction.

An important thing to remember during this stage of the scientific method is that once you
develop a hypothesis and a prediction, you shouldn't change it, even if the results of your
experiment show that you were wrong.

An incorrect prediction does NOT mean that you "failed." It just means that the experiment
brought some new facts to light that maybe you hadn't thought about before. The judges at
your science fair will not take points off simply because your results don't match up with
your hypothesis.

Continuing our tomato plant example, a good prediction would be: Increasing the amount of
sunlight tomato plants in my experiment receive will cause an increase in their size
compared to identical plants that received the same care but less light.

EXPERIMENT/ Results (Data collection)

J. Meléndez/ MCB 2000 Lab

Taken for the sole purpose of teaching from:
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This is the part of the scientific method that tests your hypothesis. An experiment is a tool
that you design to find out if your ideas about your topic are right or wrong.

It is absolutely necessary to design a science experiment that will accurately test your
hypothesis. The experiment is the most important part of the scientific method. It's the
logical process that lets scientists learn about the world. On the next page, we'll discuss the
ways that you can go about designing a science fair experiment idea. (for more information :
[Link] or see below )

During this phase you collect results obtained.

CONCLUSION (here you interpret results obtained)

The final step in the scientific method is the conclusion. This is a summary of the
experiment's results, and how those results match up to your hypothesis.

You have two options for your conclusions: based on your results, either (1) you CAN REJECT
the hypothesis, or (2) you CAN NOT REJECT the hypothesis.

This is an important point. You can not PROVE the hypothesis with a single experiment,
because there is a chance that you made an error somewhere along the way. What you can
say is that your results SUPPORT the original hypothesis.

If your original hypothesis didn't match up with the final results of your experiment, don't
change the hypothesis. Instead, try to explain what might have been wrong with your
original hypothesis. What information did you not have originally that caused you to be
wrong in your prediction? What are the reasons that the hypothesis and experimental
results didn't match up?

Remember, a science experiment isn't a failure if it proves your hypothesis wrong or if your
prediction isn't accurate. No one will take points off for that. A science experiment is only a
failure if its design is flawed. A flawed experiment is one that (1) doesn't keep its variables
under control, and (2) doesn't sufficiently answer the question that you asked of it.

Design your science experiment

to get the best results
Now it's time to think about how best to set up your science experiment to give you
accurate and trustworthy results. You should keep in mind both the Scientific Method and
the question you are trying to answer.

An experiment is made up of two nearly identical parts--let's say, two trays of tomato plants.
The tiny differences that will test your hypothesis are called "variables." Let's look at the
three kinds of variables.

The Independent Variable: This is a variable that you intentionally change. In the case of
our tomato plant experiment, it would be the brightness of the light in Tray #1.

The Dependent Variable: This is the difference between the two parts of the experiment
that happens when the independent variable is changed. In this case, it would be the size of

J. Meléndez/ MCB 2000 Lab

Taken for the sole purpose of teaching from:
[Link]
the tomatoes in Tray #1. So you turn the up the lights in Tray #1 (the independent variable)
and the tomatoes get bigger (dependent variable).

The Controlled Variables: These are the variables that are kept the same in Tray #2. In
other words, when you turn the lights up in Tray #1, the lights in Tray #2 stay the same. So
when the tomatoes in Tray #1 get bigger, you can say that the difference in size between
the tomatoes in Tray #1 and Tray #2 is the result of the independent variable, or the light
that you made brighter.

Tray #2 is called a "control group." This is an identical setup to Tray #1, but it is kept in its
natural, unchanged state. Tray #1 is called the "experimental group." So when you
change something in the experimental group (like the brightness of the light), the control
group stays the same so that you can measure changes in you dependent variable (the size
of the tomatoes).

When you design your science experiment, you have to keep as many things identical as
possible. For instance, the lights that you use to grow the tomato plants have to use the
same light bulbs. The trays have to be the same, just like the soil has to be the same. The
amount of water has to be the same too.

You should think very hard about differences that might try to sneak by you. For instance,
when planting the tomato seeds, did they come from the same package? They should if you
want to keep things under control. The only thing that can be different between the two
identical groups is the thing that you are testing - in this case, light. The exact nature of
your variables will depend on your exact science fair experiment idea.

If you changed the amount of light, AND changed the amount of water each plant received,
you wouldn't know if the bigger tomatoes were because of the light, or the water! So it's
absolutely critical to have everything be as close to identical or "controlled" as you can get
it.

Once you've done your science fair experiment, consider repeating it if you have the time!
This is very impressive for science fair judges, and really helps to make your results
convincing. If you conduct your experiment and the results just don't seem right, you might
consider reviewing your experiment idea, and possibly even modifying your experimental
design so that your science fair experiment will produce accurate results.

This article uses the example of designing science fair projects using the scientific method, but
the same principles apply to any science experiment. Proper citation and credit is given to
author. Copyright © 2006-2011, Science Made Simple, Inc.

J. Meléndez/ MCB 2000 Lab