Experimental Design B/C

[Adi1008]

Experimental Design B/C: This event will determine a participant's ability on-site to design, conduct and report the findings of an experiment.

Experimental Design Wiki

Experimental Design Test Exchange 2019

Past Threads: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Past Question Marathons: 2019

[dxu46]

List of changes from last year:
B/C:
- SoP added back
- Distinguishing between CV and constants required ( )
- I think most people were already doing this, but setup is required to be in the procedure now
- More clear guidelines for statistics
- More clear format of Analysis (do we call it CER instead of analysis now?)
- 2 errors now required, guidelines less clear
- Conclusion includes CER format as well

C:
- SOC has been kept for C, removed for B
- A whole bunch of stuff about sig figs, ugh
- Apps/Recs haven't change, but for B it only says recommendations, which is probably an error in the rules since there are no differences between B and C
- New section (Abstract) - this seems to be a summary of the experiment, which is good, but it counts for a lot of points (16)
- Maximum points is 160 (:o) which might distinguish teams at the top better, which is good.

Thoughts?

[Unome]

- Maximum points is 160 (:o) which might distinguish teams at the top better, which is good.

That was the stated intent at SOSI.

[EyeRolls03]

Hi, I have a some questions (mainly about the Division C Abstract):
1. Is the Abstract basically a combination of parts of the conclusion, qualitative observations, and analysis?
2. Are there any good/recommended resources that may have been used in previous years to help write an abstract, or is it just supposed to be brief and self-explanatory?
3. Should this be a "priority section?" (I'm doing ExpD solo for team tryouts, so in case I am short on time, should I wait until the end to jot a few things down for this, or should I skip a more minor section to get to this?)
4. Is it advisable to leave out standard deviation (on Statistics) if I don't have time?
Thanks!

[knightmoves]

Hi, I have a some questions (mainly about the Division C Abstract):
1. Is the Abstract basically a combination of parts of the conclusion, qualitative observations, and analysis?
2. Are there any good/recommended resources that may have been used in previous years to help write an abstract, or is it just supposed to be brief and self-explanatory?
3. Should this be a "priority section?" (I'm doing ExpD solo for team tryouts, so in case I am short on time, should I wait until the end to jot a few things down for this, or should I skip a more minor section to get to this?)
4. Is it advisable to leave out standard deviation (on Statistics) if I don't have time?
Thanks!

Look at the checklist. It tells you how many points are available for each section, and what will be scored. The abstract is worth 10% of the total score.

If you look at any scientific paper, you will see an abstract. It's a concise, 1-paragraph summary of the subject and major conclusions of the paper. You have to write it at the end, because you need to know your conclusions first. Doing it solo, you have very little time available to write everything down. In terms of points available per sentence written, you could easily skip section O in order to give you time to write the abstract.

[EyeRolls03]

Hi, I have a some questions (mainly about the Division C Abstract):
1. Is the Abstract basically a combination of parts of the conclusion, qualitative observations, and analysis?
2. Are there any good/recommended resources that may have been used in previous years to help write an abstract, or is it just supposed to be brief and self-explanatory?
3. Should this be a "priority section?" (I'm doing ExpD solo for team tryouts, so in case I am short on time, should I wait until the end to jot a few things down for this, or should I skip a more minor section to get to this?)
4. Is it advisable to leave out standard deviation (on Statistics) if I don't have time?
Thanks!

Look at the checklist. It tells you how many points are available for each section, and what will be scored. The abstract is worth 10% of the total score.

If you look at any scientific paper, you will see an abstract. It's a concise, 1-paragraph summary of the subject and major conclusions of the paper. You have to write it at the end, because you need to know your conclusions first. Doing it solo, you have very little time available to write everything down. In terms of points available per sentence written, you could easily skip section O in order to give you time to write the abstract.

I didn't realize it was worth that much - in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense to skip section O to finish the Abstract, to increase my score by a few points. Thanks!

[dxu46]

I didn't realize it was worth that much - in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense to skip section O to finish the Abstract, to increase my score by a few points. Thanks!

Wow, I didn't realize the implications of the extra sections until now - before, it was easy to finish on time but it'll be a lot harder now (of course, this was also probably the intent, to separate teams.)

[splane21]

List of changes from last year:
B/C:
- SoP added back
- Distinguishing between CV and constants required ( )
- I think most people were already doing this, but setup is required to be in the procedure now
- More clear guidelines for statistics
- More clear format of Analysis (do we call it CER instead of analysis now?)
- 2 errors now required, guidelines less clear
- Conclusion includes CER format as well

C:
- SOC has been kept for C, removed for B
- A whole bunch of stuff about sig figs, ugh
- Apps/Recs haven't change, but for B it only says recommendations, which is probably an error in the rules since there are no differences between B and C
- New section (Abstract) - this seems to be a summary of the experiment, which is good, but it counts for a lot of points (16)
- Maximum points is 160 (:o) which might distinguish teams at the top better, which is good.

Thoughts?

I like most of the changes made to the rubric, especially the fact that constants are now necessary. I think 12 points for significant figures is over-kill especially considering qualitative observations are only worth 6 points, conclusion is worth 8, and applications are only 6. I think the abstract is unnecessary but ig it will distinguish between top teams. I also like that the point value for analysis was increased but 18 is still a little over-kill

[splane21]

Hi, I have a some questions (mainly about the Division C Abstract):
1. Is the Abstract basically a combination of parts of the conclusion, qualitative observations, and analysis?
2. Are there any good/recommended resources that may have been used in previous years to help write an abstract, or is it just supposed to be brief and self-explanatory?
3. Should this be a "priority section?" (I'm doing ExpD solo for team tryouts, so in case I am short on time, should I wait until the end to jot a few things down for this, or should I skip a more minor section to get to this?)
4. Is it advisable to leave out standard deviation (on Statistics) if I don't have time?
Thanks!

For individual tryouts, my strategy is to not skip any section. However, this probably also means you won't attempt to get full points in each section. I know that isn't the best way to get better at the event lol but based on how much time you have it might be the best way to maximize points. There are a lot of easy points in certain sections you can get quickly so you definitely don't want to miss those. To answer your question, for teh abstract I would make it as brief as possible, literally put in the SOP, Hypothesis, procedure in 1 sentence, and conclusion. That might not get 16/16 points but get as much as you can and get a lot of points in other sections.

4. Do min, max, and range. Those are easy and should get some points. May not get all 4 points but SD isn't worth your time for probably 2 more points when there are other points you could get.

[dxu46]

What would be some examples of Constants if I were to do a simple drop-height-rebound-height experiment with a ball? The only definitive ones I can think of are the speed of light and the force of gravity, but that seems a bit of a stretch. Others, like the ground on which the ball is dropped, can also be controlled variables, because you can change it, but overall I think Constants is a very loose section, unless I'm missing something?