Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
PLANNING EXPERIMENTS & IMPROVING TECHNIQUE RECORDING OBSERVATIONS…
PLANNING EXPERIMENTS &
IMPROVING TECHNIQUE
RECORDING OBSERVATIONS &
MEASUREMENTS
Planning the
experiment
Identify the variables: Change? Measure?
Stay the same?
Control variables are incredibly important
→ ensuring the test fair
Evaluate the dangers in a risk assessment
→ ensure that it is safe to continue
Conducting the
experiment
Make sure all control variables are kept constant
Follow the precautions, set in the risk assessment
Repeat the experiment a few times → more reliable results → identify anomalous results
Determine the mean for each set of readings
Use best equipment available (highest resolution)
→ maximise precision
Suggesting
improvements
Use big sample size
Repeat the experiment as least twice
Use precise equipment
Control some certain variables
Observations
Is a more qualitative form of recording results
involves writing down exactly what you see
happening during the experiment
SEE: most obvious one, easy to spot
SMELL: Is there a nice smell, like fruit?
Or a less pleasant smell, like rotten eggs?
FEEL: Is something getting warmer, or colder?
HEAR: trickiest one as experiments rarely produce noise
(popping or whistling for some gases)
Measurements
Is a more quantitative form of recording results
involves exact numbers (scales counted frequencies)
Examples: weight, length, volume (of liquid or gas),
temperature, pH
Record results to the same precision,
always use SI unites
Must record all measurements taken
(mostly presented in a table)