Results, Analysis & Conclusion (6pts)

Raw data:

• Introduce this section with a brief explanation of what raw data was collected.

• In this narrative, be sure to refer to the table or figures of raw data (e.g., See Table 1)

• Clearly present raw data in a table, separate from processed data.

• Include units of measurement in the columns of the raw data with uncertainties of the smallest unit of the measuring device.

• Make sure your data is to the same number of decimal places as your uncertainties.

• Include additional comments of uncertainties in a table legend if needed.

• Provide a descriptive title to the raw data table, so it is easy to interpret. Include both variables and general conditions. The first table in the paper is referred to as Table 1, the second is Table 2 etc. Each title should start with these.

• Be sure to include qualitative data somewhere in this section. The qualitative data might help you later to formulate some discussion in the conclusion or evaluation.

Data processing:

• Provide a running narrative of how you processed the data, referring to tables and figures along the way. (think about the math sandwich)

• Include sample calculations.

• Select your statistics wisely.

• Always include standard deviation (SD) if you take a mean.

  • If your independent variable is quantitative you will probably use regression analysis. Be sure to select the proper line of best fit for your data, is it linear or does it level off and curve.

  • If your independent variable is discrete (ex. boy v. girl, red v. yellow v. blue) you will probably use a t-test or ANOVA. I highly recommend also running the 95% confidence interval with an ANOVA so you can determine which treatments are statistically different from each other.

• Present processed data in appropriate form, this may be a table or graph depending on the data. Chose the type of graph wisely depending on your variables.

• Provide a descriptive title/legend.

• Include units of measurement and make sure you keep consistent significant figures and provide uncertainties where appropriate.

• State the number of trials performed for each treatment in the legend (basically if you are representing mean numbers in a table or graph, you should indicate how many numbers make up your average).

• Label all axes or columns and rows.

• Include error bars and indicate in the the graph legend what they represent.

Data analysis:

• After any graphs or tables of processed data, write up a paragraph or two of analysis. You should focus on stating any trends in data and discussing the strength of the data.

• Is there a correlation between variables? Is there a significant difference between means? Are there outliers? Are there treatments with larger standard deviations? Is the shape of the graph what you expected? How does this affect the strength of the results?

Conclusion:

• Identify trends or patterns. How did the independent variable affect the dependent variable(s)?

• Cite your statistics and refer to tables or figures to support these statements.