Scientific Method to Collect Physical Data to Study Society or Nature Assignment | Homework for You
Requirements for the Science Writing Essay:
Your task for this essay will be to follow the Scientific Method to collect physical data to study either society or nature. You will construct a hypothesis, consult current research, experiment, and interpret your findings then write a structured report that demonstrates what you have learned. Science writing follows a very predictable, rigid pattern. Learning that pattern will be one of the chief objectives of this unit. While you may present the data in a lot of different creative ways, your report must include the following headings:
Introduction:
Origin: The โstoryโ of your topic. Why you chose it; why it matters. Research Question: States a question that the study hopes to answer.
Hypothesis: The expected outcome of the study.
Literature Review: Survey of related scholarly, professional, and/or government studies. Consider published articles, books, and .gov websites. (3-8 paragraphs)
Method: A detailed description of your data collection process. (1-2 paragraphs)
Result: Explain and analyze your field data. Use tables, charts & diagrams, maps, and/or images to help. (1-2 paragraphs + charts/tables) Discussion: Interpret the data as an answer to the hypothesis. Show key findings. Compares to studies mentioned in the literature review and offer an explanation of contradictions, strengths, and weaknesses. (2+ paragraphs)
Conclusions: The implications of the study, including its importance and recommendations for action or further study. (1+ paragraphs)
References: In addition to the data you collect, you should reference at least three other professional, scholarly, or government sources (including datasets). Whether you choose to write in the Social Sciences or the Natural Sciences, most papers will still have a very similar structure. Here’s an overview of that structure:
Introduction — Much longer than introductions for traditional essays. They include several key sections. The Introduction should be at least 3-4 paragraphs long, but well-written introductions will be longer, up to 8 paragraphs or more.
Origin: How this study came to be and why it matters.
Research Question: States a question that the study hopes to answer. Hypothesis: The expected outcome of the study.
Literature Review: Survey of related scholarly, professional, and/or government studies. Consider published articles, books, and .gov websites.
Methods — A detailed description of your data collection process. Should be at least two paragraphs.
Results — Explains and analyzes the data you collected. Uses tables, charts & diagrams, maps, and/or images to help communicate visually. Should be two or three paragraphs, plus charts/tables of your data.
Discussion — Interprets the data as an answer to the hypothesis. Shows key findings. Compares your findings to the studies referenced in the literature review and offers an explanation of contradictions, strengths, and weaknesses. Should be two or more paragraphs.
Conclusions — Shows how the study should influence future actions, including its importance to the field and recommendations for further study. Should one or more paragraphs.
Decide what kind of data you need to collect. To conduct your study, you’ll need to create a data collection tool, collect data for at least five days, and then enter the data in a spreadsheet so you can analyze it. How you collect the data depends on the study you are conducting. Let’s get an overview of the possibilities, and then take a deeper look at each option.
Personal Biometric: There’s a wider variety of options here. Some options include: Fitness: Use your Fitbit or other health trackers to collect data. Data can usually be exported into a table, depending on the software. Nutrition: Use a calorie tracking app to record intake. You can also collect data from nutrition labels on food packages.