This document provides a science fair guide for students on the phases of data collection and analysis for their science fair projects. It includes questions to help students understand different types of data, how to record and display results, and how to analyze their data to draw conclusions about whether their results support their original hypothesis. While the hypothesis does not need to always be correct, it is important students can explain the reasons for their results.

1. CENTRO ESCOLAR SOLALTO
9th Pre-IB Biology
Teacher Javier Aguirre, B.A.
NAME_____________________________________ Date: _________
Science Fair Guide
Phase 3 – Data Collection & Analysis
Materials:
• Notebook
• Handout: Science Fair Guide – Resources for Students
Instructions:
• Paste and complete today’s handout in your notebook
• Read pages 49 to 53 of your Science Fair Guide and answer the following questions.
1. What two types of data can you obtain from a science fair project? Quantitative and
qualitative
2. What is the difference between both types of data? Quantitative data is a value that
can be measured or counted. Qualitative data can be described but cannot be
measured or counted.
3. What must you do with all the results of your experimentation or observations? You
must record all results of your tests in your science project journal.
4. What is sample size? How large must it be? It is the number of subjects you test.
Your sample size must be large enough to allow you to draw accurate conclusions
from your data.
5. What are multiple trials? Why should you conduct multiple trials of your experiment?
Multiple trials are the number of times you perform each test. When you are
conducting and experiment it is necessary to do multiple trials to compensate for
any inconsistency in the experimental design.
6. Why do scientists measure something more than once and use the average of the
measurements instead? Because they need to be as exact as possible in taking
measurements. It’s almost impossible to measure something exactly, so scientists
usually measure something more than once and then use the average of the results.
This approach helps to account for the uncertainty of each individual measurement.

2. 7. Why is it a good idea to display your data and results in a chart, table, or graph? Because
make it easy for people to understand the relationship between your variables by
displaying your data in a chart or graph.
8. When should you use a bar graph? A bar graph should be used if you want to compare
different types of data.
9. When should you use a line graph? A line graph should be used if you want to show how
the dependent variable is affected by changes in the independent variable or if you
want to show how data change over time.
10. When should you use a pie chart? A pie chart should be used when you want to show
percentages. You can quickly see which group has the biggest slice of the pie and
therefore contains the most data.
11. What should you do after you have gathered all of your data? What type of questions
should you ask yourself? You need to analyze the results. To do this you should ask
yourself, “What are the data telling me?”, “What trends do I see in the graphs?”,
or “Are the data for the control group different than the data for the experimental
group?”
12. What is the main question you should ask yourself when drawing a conclusion? Is it
important for the hypothesis to always be correct? Why? “Do my results agree with my
hypothesis?” It is not important for the hypothesis to be correct. It is important,
however, that you explain why you got the results you did.