Practical skills: report Flashcards
Investigative question rules
- include both variables
- must be carried out in the experiment
- can’t be a yes or no question
- “relationships between’… “how does… affect…”
- Start with how if you can
Aim rules
- “to find the -constant- between … and …”
-“ to find the relationship between the… and … BY MEASURING/ AS SEEN BY” - include both variables
Hypothesis rules
- statement without a
reason - use the variables you w
-were asked to plot - hypothesize the value of a constant and the relationship between the variables
- must be very specific to what you are testing
Independent variable
what you physically changed (not calculated/squared values etc.)
Dependent variable
Purely what you measure, not calculated (unless asked)
Controlled variables
Affect specific experiment
Data table
- columns have units
- heading for columns, not table
- order of variables in the table does not matter
What is the first thing you do?
READ BACKGROUND THEORY: ALL IS RELEVANT
Graph skills
- order i
In the title does not matter but words must be in full and units should not be included - Graph of “a vs b” -> y vs x
- graph (then iv on x, dv on y”
- neat crosses
- same amount of points above as below
- must extend past the points
What is precision related to?
The range of the data and human error
What is accuracy related to?
The correctness of the data and instrument misuse/error
How do you calculate range?
max-min
what do you need to determine accuracy of data?
A known true value
Directly proportional
straight line through the origin
Linear relationship
Straight line not through the origin
Inversely proportional
curve
Conclusion
-> link to hypothesis/aim/IQ
- In this experiment, ….(aim)… which is in agreement with…. State found value, relationship, What you measured , plotted graph. If not in line with expected value, state possible human error
- both variables
- to what extent was the hypothesis correct?
Suggestions for Improvement
- analyse precision and accuracy separately,
- if high precision, dont repeat
- improving precision: do it again to remove outliers owing to human error
- accuracy improvement: instruments: reaction time, automatic timer…
- control more variables
- add a control
Listing apparatus
Must be items you can find in a lab, all mentioned
Drawing a diagram of the setup
Must be labelled
Rules for the method
- 3rd person
- past tense
- numbered
- say that a graph needs to be plotted and tell them what the values are
- more than 1 trial
- safety precautions
- conditions for a fair test (f.v)
- control
