Experimental Design B/C

[caseyotis]

Also what do people make of the fact that any kind calculator can be used (c div)?

This is the best news that I have ever heard! Makes life so much easier... I'm sure many will still require work to be shown though.

I didn't know that we had to show work for things like statistics. Each section of the rubric for statistics is worth one point each. Would they give no credit for a correct measure of central tendency without any work shown? And this is a serious question - I myself have no idea what the judges would do.

[jacobxc]

can anyone explain to me how and what they're looking for when we do standard deviation

[Crazy Puny Man]

For our hypothesis, are we allowed to predict no relationship between our IV & DV's?

[zyzzyva980]

Yes... but if you're doing that your experiment is probably not a good one.

[Crazy Puny Man]

Well...

I don't know if "no relationship" is the best phrase to use

I simply meant that the DV won't change for the various levels of the IV

[zyzzyva980]

You should aim for an experiment where you expect there is a correlation between the DV and IV.

Let me put it another way- I know that there is no correlation between painting a tennis ball different colors and how high it would bounce. I'd never- and you'd probably never- do an experiment involving painting tennis balls as the independent variable. The judge doesn't want to see that either.

Remember, you need to do statistics and come to a reasonable conclusion about the relationship between the DV and IV and that is a lot easier and looks a lot better when you have at least some relationship between the two.

Even if you are relatively locked in to one experiment, you should have enough leeway that you can swing an experiment with some change between the levels of IV.

[Crazy Puny Man]

What about with an experiment where you drop objects of different masses from a constant height and record the time it takes to hit the ground? That should have no correlation, right?

I mean, it's somewhat intelligible...

But experiments like those would tend to score lower?

[scimystery]

Hi I'm in the B division and this is my first time doing Experimental Design.
What should I be prepared for? My teacher hasn't found me a partner yet.

[zyzzyva980]

What about with an experiment where you drop objects of different masses from a constant height and record the time it takes to hit the ground? That should have no correlation, right?

I mean, it's somewhat intelligible...

But experiments like those would tend to score lower?

I understand where you're coming from with that. But I think the rubric seems to suggest that having some sort of positive or negative correlation is in your best interest. There are a lot of ways to change up that experiment... use varying ramps, measure the bounce, density or sommat... be creative. Do something that isn't going to be done by another team. At the same time, if you're essentially forced into doing an experiment like that, then be sure to include your prior physics knowledge in the hypothesis to explain why you believe there will be no correlation. Actually, do that with all of your hypotheses.

Hi I'm in the B division and this is my first time doing Experimental Design.
What should I be prepared for? My teacher hasn't found me a partner yet.

Right, so first things first: Read the Experimental Design Wiki and go over the rubric provided in the rules. Get a good grasp on what you're expected to include in the lab write-up- this doesn't change from tournament to tournament so you should know it like the back of your hand. Typically, you'll be asked to come up with and execute an experiment with given materials. Depending on the tournament, this can be anything from biology to chemistry but typically physics (because physics-related materials are easy to come by). Knowing the basics of ramps and pendulums come in handy in this event.

Also, you should get your coach to provide you partners, not just one partner. You are allowed to send in a team of 3 to this event, so there's no reason not to. Time is of the essence; writing takes a long time.

[Crazy Puny Man]

What about with an experiment where you drop objects of different masses from a constant height and record the time it takes to hit the ground? That should have no correlation, right?

I mean, it's somewhat intelligible...

But experiments like those would tend to score lower?

I understand where you're coming from with that. But I think the rubric seems to suggest that having some sort of positive or negative correlation is in your best interest. There are a lot of ways to change up that experiment... use varying ramps, measure the bounce, density or sommat... be creative. Do something that isn't going to be done by another team. At the same time, if you're essentially forced into doing an experiment like that, then be sure to include your prior physics knowledge in the hypothesis to explain why you believe there will be no correlation. Actually, do that with all of your hypotheses.

The topic of the experiment (in our practice run) was movement in circular motion. We decided to vary the mass of the ball, cause we didn't think varying the incline had anything to do with testing circular/rolling motion or whatnot

But I'm pretty sure you don't have to stick STRICTLY to the topic like that, do you?