Materials:
10-20 participants
10-20 homemade chocolate chip cookies
10-20 Store-bought chocolate chip cookies (Tate’s brand)
Water
Computer/Phone/iPad (to take a short quiz)
A table and a chair for the participants
Short quiz on Forms
Homemade Cookie Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 2-3 cookie sheets (or use
nonstick)
2. Mix in a large bowl at medium speed, 1 cup of unsalted softened
butter, ¾ cup of sugar, and ¾ cup of packed brown sugar until smooth,
then beat in 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 2 large eggs, and ½ tsp of water
3. In a small bowl, mix 2 ¼ cup of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1 tsp
of salt, add in thirds to the large bowl, blending with a rubber spatula.
Then stir in chocolate chips.
4. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough onto your cookie sheets
and trays about 2 in apart. Bake one tray at a time for 8-10 minutes or
until edges are lightly browned. Cool thoroughly.
Since part of our experiment is on the texture of the cookie, put each
cookie tray on a different level of the oven.
Independent Variable: the cookie type
Dependent Variable: taste rating
Control Group: the store-bought cookies
Controlled Variables: cookie type, serving temperatures, serving size, survey
method
Procedure:
1. Prepare the homemade chocolate chip cookies by following the recipe
above. Make sure to put the trays of cookies on different levels in the
oven.
2. Purchase the store-bought chocolate chip cookies.
3. Cut the cookies into the same, small bite sized pieces, keep the
different types separated.
4. Set up your testing area with a different plate for each type of cookie.
5. Have a notecard or paper next to each plate of cookies. One paper
should say “option 1” and the second paper should say “option 2”.
6. Invite one of the 10 participants over to the testing area and explain
steps 7,8, and 10
7. Ask the participants to take one piece of cookie from each plate.
8. Tell your participants to take a sip of water between eating each
cookie.
9. Then, send the participants the Forms survey for them to fill out.
10. Next, ask the participants to open the online quiz that you have
sent to them.
11. Then, politely ask the participants to complete the short quiz.
The questions on it should be as follows: “What cookie type did you
think the first cookie you tried was?” and “Which type of cookie do you
prefer and thought tasted better?”
12. Repeat steps 6-10 for each participant.
13. Gather all of the information given by the participants, Forms
makes it easy, and analyze which one was preferred more by your
participants.
Quiz Questions: