Answer 1:
WOW, you are really thinking like a scientist!
A&B. You have good controls to make your
experiment “fair.” Using the same color,
vs. “wrong” color, vs. no color (blindfold) is
an excellent experimental design.
C. We won’t know whether your hypothesis is
supported until you test it, that’s part of the
fun of Science. You can never prove that your
explanation is correct anyway.
D. You might want to read up on taste and how
our brain translates sensations.
E. You are also thinking about an important
element of experimental design—the number of
people to test. We call this the sample size.
I’d say you would want at least 10. More is
always better.
F. For your graph, you could go a couple of
different ways. Your graph should tell a
story. The story you want to tell is either
people’s expectations about the flavor
influenced their guess or it didn’t. So you
might want your graph to show something like %
correct guesses for your three treatments (same,
wrong, none) for each flavor. Use a bar graph.
You might want to make a separate bar graph for
each color if you are new to graphing. Check
back with me when you have results if you need
help.
G. I’d say test them all. You might find
that some colors have more of an effect than
others.
H. I think you have a good knowledge base
now. You may have more questions later.
I. I am a biology professor at a college in
Wisconsin. I am interested in animal behavior.
I have published on behavior and physiology in
rodents.
PS—Did you know that the main flavor in root
beer is wintergreen?
Good luck!
Click Here to return to the search form.
| 
