Pillbug Data Analysis Template

Names: ___Noah Laythe___, ____Lauren Kuhno___, ___Brenna McGonigle__

Section Number: _1004__
Hypothesis you are testing: ______Pillbugs are consistently found under logs
because pillbugs prefer damp conditions.___

Which data set were you assigned? Data Set A Data Set B (circle one)

Activity 3: Pillbug Data Analysis

Directions for completion and submission of “Pillbug Data Analysis”:
▪ Now that you have opened this template, fill in your team members’ names and your
section number. Also, be sure to give the hypothesis you are testing and which data set
(A or B) you were assigned. Follow the directions in the template to complete this
assignment and upload it to Canvas.

You have completed the design of your study in class and submitted it as an assignment called
‘Planning Your Study.’ Go to this assignment in Canvas and read any comments the instructor
left for you within the grading rubric. Be sure to use those comments when analyzing the data
set assigned to you (A or B for your variable). Select the correct data set from the files posted at
the ‘Hypothesis Testing Data for Analysis’ link in the Module.

A. Table of Actual Data

Copy the table you designed and turned in at the end of the lab and your instructor approved in
the “Planning your Study'' assignment. If your instructor critiqued your table in the ‘Planning
Your Study’ assignment, make corrections. Use the photos of pillbugs in petri dishes in the data
set you were assigned to fill in this table. Either draw the table electronically below or sketch it
on scrap paper and take a cell phone photo to insert into the template for submission.

B. Graph of Actual Data

Summarize the data in your table in a graph to help the reader easily interpret your raw data,
including calculating averages where appropriate. Use the same basic graph design (axes, type
of graph) as in the “Planning your Study” assignment when you graphed your prediction. If your
instructor critiqued your graph design in the ‘Planning Your Study” assignment, make
corrections. Sketch your graph on scrap paper and take a cell phone photo to insert into the
template for submission.

C. Evaluate Prediction and Hypothesis

Recall from Activity 2 (Planning Your Study) what hypothesis you are testing and what
quantified prediction you made. Fill them both into the table below. Fill in whether you used data
set A or B. Next, answer yes or no for whether your prediction was correct and determine
whether your hypothesis was supported or not supported. Be careful--it is possible to find that
your prediction was incorrect, yet your hypothesis is supported.

Was your Was your

Which data prediction hypothesis
What hypothesis What was your
set did you correct? supported?
was tested? prediction?
use? A or B
Yes or No Yes or No
Data Set B We expect to see on No Yes
average 90% or more
of the pillbugs move
towards the damp
Pillbugs are side of the shoebox.
consistently found
under logs
because pillbugs
prefer damp
conditions.
Activity 4: Developing new hypotheses based on previous findings
(Iteration)
Following “publication,” your findings have the potential to become “observations'' for you and
other scientists to use to develop new questions and hypotheses. Sometimes your findings can
give rise to obvious new questions and hypotheses. For example, it was observed that pillbugs
have a preference for living under logs. Studies such as those you just performed may have
shown pillbugs prefer moist substrate over dry substrate in the lab, which may be why they are
most often found under logs. But can we be sure moisture is the main reason pillbugs live under
logs from this one study? What if there are other factors that co-vary with moisture? For
instance, moisture may promote the growth of pillbugs' preferred food. Therefore, the next step
is to hypothesize WHY pillbugs prefer a moist environment? In other words, how does moisture
aid in their survival? Perhaps it is by providing some physiological need that pillbugs cannot live
without?

These are examples of the types of questions that a scientist would have. These kinds of
questions lead to new hypotheses and experiments, which in turn give rise to more and more
questions, hypotheses, and experiments. This iteration is a key part of science.

Let’s create a new question and hypothesis that follows from our findings. Since you will not
actually carry out an experiment to test the new hypothesis in the lab, you can assume you
will have UNLIMITED funds, equipment, and workforce at your disposal.

Observation (from previous study done by you or your classmates): Pillbugs prefer moist
environments.

Hypothesis: to explain this observation we can hypothesize that “Pillbugs prefer moist
environments because their gills must stay moist to function.”

Information from previous scientific work: gills function is to take up oxygen needed for
survival in pillbugs and many other animals.

Experiment to test hypothesis:

▪ Your treatment group of pillbugs would be placed in a dry chamber and your control
group would be placed in a moist chamber.

▪ The chambers that contain pillbugs are enclosed so that gases (e.g. oxygen) cannot
enter or escape them during the trial period.

▪ At the beginning of each experimental trial, moist and dry environments contain the
same amount of oxygen.

▪ Each trial runs for 2 hours.

Identify the following elements of the experiment described:

▪ Independent variable: ___the environment you put the pillbugs in (dry or moist
chamber)___

▪ Dependent variable: ____the amount of oxygen remaining in the chambers after 2

hours_____

Recall a prediction is what we expect our data to indicate if the hypothesis is correct.

Write a Prediction consistent with the stated hypothesis:

We expect to see on average 50% or more oxygen remaining in the dry chamber than the
amount of oxygen remaining in the moist chamber.