Creating Experimental Design- Defining Variables & Constructing Hypotheses Group/Individual 

Outline 
 
Name(s): Jazmine Ibarra, William Sanders, Maia Gilbert, Rajkumar Gross 
 
Color Key:  
Purple = Jazmine Ibarra 
Pink = Rajkumar Gross 
Blue = Maia Gilbert 
Green = William Sanders 
 
Revised Comparative Research Focus Question 
Input the comparative question below. Remember your independent and dependent variables must 
be identified within the question.  

Does this animal spend more time sleeping or in an active/ alert state? 
 
Types of Variables 
Input each variable in the blank, and provide a brief 
description for the questions associated with each  Qualitative  Quantitative 
variable. If the variable is qualitative or quantitative,  Categorical/Nominal  Continuous Ratio 
input an X in the appropriate column.   or Ordinal  or Interval 
Independent  Will is doing African penguins. 
How many  Maia is doing elephants. Jazmine is 
groups of this  doing koalas. Raj is doing 
variable?  orangutans.  X   
Dependent 
How will you be  X  
measuring this  By observing our animals at  Yes=awake  
variable?  different times of the day  No=asleep   
Control 
What are you 
keeping the  The zoo/enclosure 
same?  Same day/night time periods      
 
Ho (Null Hypothesis)   Ha (Alternative Hypothesis)  
Indicates there is no change or relationship  Indicates there is a change or relationship 
between the outcome of the variables.   between the outcome of the variables. This 
change can be predicted as an increase or 
decrease.  

There is no difference in the animal’s activity  There is change/difference in the animal’s 

between different times of the day/night.  activity between different times of the 
day/night. 
 
 Statistical Analysis Test Setup 
Must be selected prior to data collection as part of experimental design setup 
Type of  Type of  Parametric   Non-  Analysis Type  Assumptions 
Independent  Dependent  (uses  Parametric  (what the test  (rules of the test that must be 
variable  Variable   normally  (uses  measures)   followed prior to data collection)  
distributed  non-normally   
data)   distributed  All tests need a sample size greater 
data)  than 10. A larger sample size, will 
give a stronger outcome. 

2 categorical/  Continuous  Two sample  Mann-Whitne Compares the  1. Unrelated data groups 
nominal  ratio/interv independen y  mean between 2  2. Independence of 
unrelated  al   t  U Test  groups   Observations 
groups   T-test   3. Randomized samples 
4. Equal Variance* of data 
groups (for parametric only)  

2 categorical/  Continuous  Paired  Wilcoxon  Compares 2  1. Related data groups  

nominal  ratio/interv Dependent  Signed Rank  means from the  2. Independence of 
related  al  T-test  Test  same individual   Observations 
groups   3. Randomized samples 

3 or more  Continuous  One-way   Kruskal-Wallis  Compares means  1. Independence of 

categorical/  ratio/interv ANOVA  Test  between 3 or  Observations 
nominal  al  more groups   2. Randomized samples 
independent  3. Equal Variance* of data 
groups   groups (for parametric only)  

Ordinal or  Ordinal or  Chi-Square  Chi-Square  Compares among  1. 2 or more data groups per 
Nominal/  Nominal/  2 or more  variable 
Categorical   Categorical   independent  2. Unrelated/independent 
categorical/nomi data groups for both 
nal groups   variables 

Continuous  Continuous  Pearson  Spearman’s   Compares a  1. The relationship between 

ratio/interval  ratio/interv Correlation  Rank  linear  variables is linear* (for 
or   al  Correlation  relationship  parametric only) 
Ordinal   or   between 2  2. There are no outliers 
Ordinal   variables   (outliers can be removed 
from data)  
3. Two variables represent 
paired observations in data 
group 
 
 
Keywords: 
● Unrelated/Independent​ - individuals in each group are different 
 ● Related​ - individuals in both groups are the same (i.e. one group is “before” and the other is 
“after” or the same group is divided to take treatment A & treatment B)  
● Independence of observations​ - There is no relationship between the observations in each 
group of the independent variable or between the groups themselves. For example, there 
must be different individuals in each group with no individual being in more than one 
group.  
● Paired observations- ​For example, imagine that you were interested in the relationship 
between daily cigarette consumption and amount of exercise performed each week. A 
single paired observation reflects the score on each variable for a single participant (e.g., 
the daily cigarette consumption of "Participant 1" and the amount of exercise performed 
each week by "Participant 1"). With 30 participants in the study, this means that there 
would be 30 paired observations. 
● Randomized samples​- Each individual observed in the population has an equal probability 
of being selected in the sample.  
 
Parametric Analysis Test   Non-Parametric Analysis Test  
Select the potential test to be used based on your  Select the potential test to be used based on your 
variable types   variable types  

One-way ANOVA  Kruskal-Wallis Test 

 
Group Follow-Up Questions:  
 
1. What is being studied for this experiment? 
The behavior of animals (sleeping vs. active/alert state). 
 
2. Is there a specific study site (virtual/in person) and is there more than one? 
The study site will be the San Diego Zoo via the zoo cams online. There will be more than 
one zoom cam because each of us are studying different animals. 
 
3. It is important to note that the data collection process will happen over a minimum of a 2 
hour time period per person. These times should not overlap so there is independence of 
observations. While you do not have to collect data for 2 consecutive hours, you can create 
intervals of time you will be collecting data during the time period. (i.e. observing for 5 
minutes every other 20 minutes). If there are more intervals of time, the sample size will be 
larger. How will your group be collecting data samples? Include a link to a google sheet that 
outlines your data collection procedure.  
 
GIP Google Sheets