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Bozongle wrote:I've been in Experimental Design for a few years now and the same question still comes to mind: When getting to a very competitive level (i.e. the teams competing know the rubric inside and outside, word for word in their head), for example, top 10 at Nationals, how are teams distinguished in rank? When it gets to a point where each Ex Des has the same key information required, how does a proctor decide if between four 120 point Ex Des's, one should be the champion?

Considering Experimental Design is mostly memorization of the rubric with consistent practice, I'm wondering what kind of special flair a team should do to distinguish themselves from the rest of the high-scoring pack.

There are tiebreakers (Variables, Procedure, Analysis, Graph, and Data Table) so teams will probably be judged most harshly on those topics, along with overall writing quality.

On the rubric, it says "observations about results given" but then it says "observations not directly relating to DV or other data". Doesn't this contradict itself?

Like for observations about results, I can't say that as x increases y increases because then I am violating the other part. Any help would be much appreciated.

Sciolapedia wrote:On the rubric, it says "observations about results given" but then it says "observations not directly relating to DV or other data". Doesn't this contradict itself?

Like for observations about results, I can't say that as x increases y increases because then I am violating the other part. Any help would be much appreciated.

I think the important part is that each of those things are independent. And have to be included in your qualitative observations. So you should have a statement about the results and then another that is not directly concerned with the DV or other. I hope that makes sense

What do you guys generally put for the data table and then the condensed data table in quantitative data? Do you guys make it one table for do you do 2 separate ones?

scio444 wrote:What do you guys generally put for the data table and then the condensed data table in quantitative data? Do you guys make it one table for do you do 2 separate ones?

It is expected that you keep you raw data and summary tables separate.

Our teams have been having trouble getting points for "Example calculations given" under Quantitative Data because our dependent variable might be time, or something that doesn't require calculation. Are we supposed to put averages? We don't put the averages in the table, because we leave those in the Statistics portion of the experiment.

chscioly wrote:Our teams have been having trouble getting points for "Example calculations given" under Quantitative Data because our dependent variable might be time, or something that doesn't require calculation. Are we supposed to put averages? We don't put the averages in the table, because we leave those in the Statistics portion of the experiment.

We always did sample calculations for the Statistics portion. With the raw data table there normally isn't much to put calculations for besides average. Do include average in you sample calculations as well as any used in the experiment/the statistics portion.

Panda Weasley wrote:

chscioly wrote:Our teams have been having trouble getting points for "Example calculations given" under Quantitative Data because our dependent variable might be time, or something that doesn't require calculation. Are we supposed to put averages? We don't put the averages in the table, because we leave those in the Statistics portion of the experiment.

We always did sample calculations for the Statistics portion. With the raw data table there normally isn't much to put calculations for besides average. Do include average in you sample calculations as well as any used in the experiment/the statistics portion.

My best advice is to not let the word "sample" deceive you- to get full points, you often have to show all your work. This includes the formula you are using and any calculations needed to construct your summary/second table.

If our experiment dictates that we need to use the raw data to calculate another number (i.e. using frequency to calculate period), my team draws a second table to list the calculated data. In this case, our sample calculations are the formula needed for the calculations (T=f^-1) and every individual calculation.

Otherwise, the summary table lists the averages for each level of the IV. We write out the formula for calculating the average and, once again, show the calculation for each data point.

Ayo, just a quick question - what should a "condensed data table with most important information" look like? We already have a table for all results from all trials, so should the "condensed" table simply be one with averages?

nghtlrk wrote:Ayo, just a quick question - what should a "condensed data table with most important information" look like? We already have a table for all results from all trials, so should the "condensed" table simply be one with averages?

The condensed table should just be the averages of your trials. Make sure you keep it separate from the main table, and also include sample calculations. If you do it wrong it's an easy way to lose a few points.