Scientific Method for Science Projects

A good science experiment uses the steps of the scientific method.

When designing your science project, you want to ensure that you follow all the right steps. If you do not, any experiments you do may be meaningless. The scientific method is a set of logical steps used to design experiments, ask the right questions and find meaningful answers. All scientists use scientific method when designing and conducting experiments: professional scientists, university science students and students working on science fair projects.

Question

Before beginning with your experimental design, you have to decide what question you want to ask. With this question, you will identify the experimental variables. A good start is asking "who, what, where, when and why." For the most scientifically significant results, design your experiment using a question that you can answer through measurement and with a numerical value. An example of a question is "Using soil pH of 3.0 to 9.0, what is the optimal pH for growing a lima bean plant?" You would record your results in terms of plant height.

Research

All good science projects involve research. When you extensively research your subject matter, you will learn more about the question you asked in the first step, identify additional important variables in your experiment and learn from past mistakes made by other scientists. For the lima bean plant example, research on lima bean growth will help identify variables such as their typical growth times and preferred growing conditions.

Hypothesis

Based on your research, the next step in the scientific method involves making a prediction of the outcome of your experiment. This is also called a "hypothesis," and is the prediction around which you design your experiment. Your hypothesis for the lima bean plant could be "I believe that lima beans grown at a pH of 6.0 will grow the tallest." You would basis this prediction on the fact that through your research, you found that the optimal soil pH for lima bean growth is between 5.8 to 6.5.

Experiment

Through the previous steps of the experimental method, you have identified the question you are asking, the experimental variables and your predicted outcome. Using these steps, you can now design and conduct a meaningful experiment. It will yield measurable results based on your experimental variables. For the lima bean experiment, you will measure plant growth and compare it based on soil pH.

Analysis and Conclusion

When you have collected all of your data, you are ready to analyze it. Based on the analysis, you will be able to conclude whether your original hypothesis was correct. When the original hypothesis is correct, many scientists repeat the experiment to show that they and other researchers can repeat the results. This gives them further validity. In many cases, the original hypothesis is false. This is a common occurrence with experimentation and does not mean that your experiment is a failure. You simply need to do more research, rework your hypothesis and conduct a new experiment.

Communication

When you have completed your experiment, you will communicate the results. Professional scientists communicate them in research papers, and high school students will communicate them through a project report or science fair presentation. Whether you hypothesis turned out to be true or false, your experiment is valid and meaningful, because you used the scientific method to conduct it. It is always important to report all your results as recorded.

References

• Science Buddies: Steps of the Scientific Method
• Science Buddies: Steps of the Scientific Method
• Experiment-Resources: Steps of the Scientific Method
• Science Made Simple: Understanding and Using the Scientific Method
• Cooperative Extension University of Delaware: Successful Lima Bean Production in Delaware; Ed Kee; James Glancey; Tracy Wooten; 2004

Resources

• Science Buddies: Science Fair Project Questions
• Science Buddies: Science Fair Project Guide