P0.

01S

Student skills

Practical support 1 Planning and writing up an experiment

Planning your experiment
Formulating a hypothesis The first step in planning an experiment is often to formulate a hypothesis. This will normally come from an observation you have made or idea you have had. A hypothesis needs to be a definite, simple statement that you can test experimentally. It will usually link independent and dependent variables, for example if the (independent variable) is increased, the (dependent variable) will increase, although the hypothesis may well state a more complex relationship between the variables. Do not begin the hypothesis with I think or I expect. It does not greatly matter whether your hypothesis is right or wrong, as long as you can use biological knowledge to support your idea. The experiment will test the idea. Planning the method In planning your method you need to make sure you include all the points below.

State a hypothesis. Identify any variables which could affect your collected data. Explain which variables will change in the experiment (i.e. the independent variables)
and which need to be kept constant. For further information on variables, see Practical support 4 Variables (P0.04S). Explain what you will measure. Avoid altering more than one independent variable at a time whenever possible! Describe how you will control the independent variables or, if this is not possible, at least measure them and design your experiment to minimise their impact on your results. Decide if you are going to carry out a statistical test (it is not required at AS for examination purposes). Work out which statistical test(s) you will use before you go any further. Any statistics you intend to use will determine a lot about how you design your experiment e.g. the sample size. State how many repeats will you perform. (The data need to be reliable, i.e. yield consistent results, as well as validly measuring what they are supposed to.) For further information on validity of results, see Practical support 2 Validity of results (P0.02S). Describe and explain what equipment you will use and why. Select suitable apparatus. Does it measure what is intended? Does it measure to an appropriate degree of accuracy? Decide if your planned experiment will actually test the hypothesis. Describe any ethical issues and explain how they can be taken into account. Describe how you will present and analyse your results. Also make sure you consider how much time your planned experiment will take.

Implementing the plan

When performing the experiment, ensure that the equipment and techniques are being used correctly and that they are going to produce valid and reliable results. Complete practical work carefully and safely. Modify your plan if necessary. Have the format of tables of results ready before you start work so you can record results clearly and in an appropriate format. Look for any trends and patterns in your results as you record them. Think about what is going on at all times as you perform the experiment! You may

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Harcourt Education Ltd 2005. University of York Science Education Group. This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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P0.01S

Practical support 1 Planning and writing up an experiment

notice something you hadnt expected, or be able to suggest or carry out a supplementary experiment to test an extension of your original hypothesis.

Student skills

Writing up your experiment

The standard experimental write-up used by scientists is divided into the following sections: an introduction, the methods, the results, a discussion where you interpret and evaluate the results, a summary, and the references. Introduction In this section state any hypothesis, discuss the relevant literature and present biological information that is relevant to your idea. A prediction based on your hypothesis can also be included. Methods When writing an account of the methods used it is important that you give enough detail to allow another person to carry out the experiment in exactly the same way as you did. Precise details of organisms studied (including their Latin names), biochemical reagents used (including volumes, times, concentrations, etc., with units as appropriate), and so on should be given. If you are using a published method you can simply refer to the method, for example the DCPIP test for vitamin C content, giving the full reference. However, any changes that you made to the published method must be stated clearly. If your plan included a detailed method you may need to describe and explain any changes you made when performing the experiment. Make sure you:

state exactly how you changed or recorded changes in the independent variable detail how you made sure that, if possible, only one condition (the independent
variable you are interested in) changed during the experiment; i.e. how you kept all other factors constant/controlled or took them into account if they could not be controlled state exactly what you measured the dependent variable(s) with the units that you used (the results will mostly be in the form of numbers, i.e. they are quantitative, but they can sometimes be qualitative; for example, you may be recording a colour change) explain what you have done to make sure the results are valid and reliable detail any safety and ethical considerations, and any steps taken to minimise risk. Results The raw results, including units, should be recorded in an appropriate way while you are carrying out your experiment. Ensure you have collected enough data. If you have collected a lot of data it may be more informative to have a summary table of results for example showing mean values rather than all the raw data. The results, any summary table, results of any statistical tests and any graphs can all go in the results section. If the raw results are not included in the main body of the write-up they should be available in an appendix. For detailed information on presenting data in tables and graphs, see Maths/stats support 1 Presenting data tables (M0.01S) and Maths/stats support 2 Presenting data graphs (M0.02S). If you are carrying out a statistical test you need to tell your reader what your null hypothesis was, what test you used, and to state the value of any statistical results you have calculated with the degrees of freedom and level of significance. You can discuss what these mean in the discussion section.
Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Harcourt Education Ltd 2005. University of York Science Education Group. This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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Practical support 1 Planning and writing up an experiment

Discussion In this section you:

Student skills

explain what the results mean describe and explain any trends or patterns the results show explain how significant the results are explain whether the results support your hypothesis (or your statistical null
hypothesis)

state a conclusion and support it with evidence from the data and your knowledge of
biological principles compare your conclusions with current published theories and what other researchers have found discuss how valid your results are, and explain any sources of error that might have affected your results discuss what the limitations of your results are, and the limitations of the conclusions based on them the validity of conclusions is dependent on the experimental method used and the quality of the results obtained comment on any limitations of the apparatus, and suggest what modifications could reasonably be made to the procedure or the apparatus to improve your findings. Summary Your summary should be one paragraph in length. Sometimes it is placed before the introduction and called an abstract. State concisely what you did, what you found and what you can conclude. Dont include any references, statistical tests, tables, photographs or diagrams. References You need to put the references that you have cited in your report in the reference section. It is much easier if you write down the full references (including page numbers) when you do your initial literature search. This saves hours looking for them later when you come to write up. You may find Exam/coursework support 4 Producing a reference list (C0.04S) useful. Make sure the report is presented clearly and read it through to check spelling and grammar before handing it in. Dont go over the top with fancy fonts and so on. Aim for an attractive but professional appearance.

Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, Harcourt Education Ltd 2005. University of York Science Education Group. This sheet may have been altered from the original.

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