Presenting reasoned explanations for phenomena, patterns, and relationships that you have observed in your data is part of the sequence when conducting an investigation.

__________ identifies the purpose of your investigation and you should have a suitable _____ in mind when planning. 'To investigate the effects of coal mining waste on soil pH' is an example of this.

______________is a statement on the topic that you are investigating. It is a testable prediction that proposes a relationship between two variables:

____________ is a variable which is not changed by other variables you are measuring e.g. the age of a person

the __________ variable, which is what you are measuring

In research, the hypothesis is written in two forms. The ________________ states that there is no relationship between the two variables being investigated (one variable does not affect the other). Results are due to chance and are not significant in terms of supporting the aim being investigated.

The _____________ states that there is a relationship between the two variables being investigated (one variable has an effect on the other). The results are not due to chance and they are significant in terms of supporting the aim being investigated.

A hypothesis can be accepted or rejected by testing. This is achieved through data collection and analysis. A good hypothesis should: (more than one answer)

There are two types of data. __________ is non-numerical, descriptive data

Quantitative data can be either discrete or continuous: ____________________ numerical data that have a finite number of possible values and can only take whole numbers, e.g. the number of trees or 1, 2, 3, 4

Quantitative data can be either discrete or continuous: continuous data: ____________ that have infinite possibilities and can take any value, e.g. temperature, time, speed or 1.5, 1.51, 1.512

Both qualitative and quantitative data can be either primary or secondary: ___________ is data collected by you or a group doing the investigation.

Both qualitative and quantitative data can be either primary or secondary: is data that has already been collected by people unconnected with the investigation but that are relevant and useful. Examples include data from the internet, newspapers, books or past investigations.

It is often unnecessary and sometimes impossible to carry out your investigation on the whole of the target population as it would be too expensive or time-consuming.

A sample should be representative of the target population. If it is, then a larger sample size tends to yield more reliable results.

sample points are selected using random numbers to avoid bias.

ample points are selected using a regular pattern or order, e.g. conducting a questionnaire on every tenth person or surveying vegetation cover every 5 metres.

when a population is divided up into groups, e.g. different ages or gender, taking a ____________ sample ensures that each group is asked in the correct proportion.

________________ can be carried out by approaching people in the street, knocking on people's doors, posting, or, if applicable, placing them on the internet.

____________ should be pre-planned and it is always important to do a pilot survey to ensure that the people interviewed understand the questions (five respondents would be sufficient), and the answers provide the information you want to analyse

A good questionnaire should:

An interview involves talking to a small group of people or an individual. You should have preplanned questions and the answers are usually longer than those from a questionnaire.

To collect data safely, you must be aware of potential health and safety issues relating to the equipment you are using (e.g. sulfuric acid or a Bunsen burner) or to the location of the investigation

______________a trial run of a survey, which aims to discover any problems with the survey

If you use the internet for data collection, you must consider whether the websites you use are biased or if the information is inaccurate or outdated. Government websites usually provide reliable data.

What type of graph is this?

What kind of graph is this?

What kind of graph is this?

is the total of all values divided by the total number of values.

The _________ is the value with the highest frequency.

The _______ is the value in the middle after the data has been sorted into ascending order. It is not affected by extreme values.

The ____________ is a summary of the investigation. Using evidence from your data analysis you should now be able to state whether you can accept or reject your hypothesis, giving reasons for your decision