Scientific Method Quiz Study Guide

Part I

1. A variable is something you __________ in an experiment.

2. The two types of variables are __________ and __________ variables.

3. The _______________ variable is the variable that “I” (the scientist) change in the
experiment.

4. The _________ variable is the “D”ata that is collected while doing the experiment.

5. In a well written hypothesis you always write it in an “___, _______, _________”

statement.

6. What do you call a question that can be answered through an investigation?

______________ or ___________ ____________

7. A _______________ is an educated guess to the outcome of your experiment. It is based

on research.

8. What do you call the process and steps a scientist must follow to complete an experiment?
__________________

9. Which of the following is an example of a well written hypothesis?

a. If we add more weight to a paper airplane, the airplane will fly further because more
weight helps the plane fly.
b. When we push a chair harder, it will slide further.
c. If we add more water a plant, it will grow faster
d. If we increase the amount of time that we study, then our test grades will go up
because research says study time is directly related to test scores.

10. What are factors that remain the same throughout all tests of the experiment?
_______________

11. What is the final step of the scientific method where you accept or reject your
hypothesis.? __________________

Part II- Please place the following steps of the scientific method in the correct order.

-Draw conclusions 1. ________________

-Testable Question/Problem 2. ________________
-Analyze data 3. ________________
-Research 4. ________________
-Conduct Experiment 5. ________________
-Write Hypothesis 6. ________________
Part III- Observation/Inference

Write an “O” next to statements that are examples of Observations and an “I” next to those
statements that are Inferences.
_____ 1. Dark color houses heat up faster than light color houses.
_____ 2. Our school colors are black, red, and white.
_____ 3. Hot water will freeze faster than cold water.
_____ 4. The screwdriver has an orange handle.
_____ 5. The temperature is 72 degrees F.
_____ 6. Sugar makes your reaction time faster.
_____ 7. Girls have better short term memory than boys.
_____ 8. There 11 players on the field.
_____ 9. The team with the faster point guard will win the game.
_____ 10. The pizza has 8 slices.

Write a “Ql” for each example of a qualitative observation below and a “Qn” for all quantitative
observations below.
_____ 1. The stereo has three knobs.
_____ 2. The tables in the room are black.
_____ 3. The pen is 8 cm long.
_____ 4. The average number of items remembered was 12.
_____ 5. Homer Simpson is wearing blue pants.
_____ 6. The bird is making a chirping sound.
_____ 7. There 5 players on the basketball court.
_____ 8. Kayla grabbed 161 beans.
_____ 9. Kidney beans are red.
_____ 10. The floor is white.
 Part III- Scenario

Please read the following experiment and answer the questions below.

Mr. Bailey decides to do an experiment to see if different types of popcorn pop faster in the
microwave. The TV commercials say that Popalicious is the fastest popping popcorn in the
world. Mr. Bailey’s hypothesis was, “If I pop Jiffy Pop, Popalicious, and Pop-Tastic popcorn in
a microwave, then the Popalicious will pop faster because the commercial says so.” He takes
Jiffy Pop, Popalicious, and Pop-Tastic and places them each in the microwave for 2 minutes.
After two minutes is up, he counts the number of POPPED kernels in the bag. After three
trials, Jiffy Pop had an average of 256 popped kernels, Popalicious had an average of 341
popped kernels, and Pop-Tastic had an average of 357 popped kernels.

1. What is the independent variable in this experiment? ______________________

2. Write a hypothesis for Mr. Bailey’s experiment. Use if…then…because…

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3. What is the dependent variable in this experiment? _______________________

4. Name three constants in this experiment.

________________________
________________________
________________________

5. What would be the conclusion to this experiment? Remember to accept or reject Mr.
Bailey’s hypothesis and use numbers to back it up.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Please use the attached graph paper to make a bar graph of Mr. Bailey’s results.

Popalicious = 341 popped kernels

Jiffy Pop = 256 popped kernels
Pop-tastic = 357 popped kernels

Graph Paper On Back