What is Data?

• The information gained from observing and testing an experiment.

What is data used for?

• Scientists use data to gain understanding and make conclusions.

• Data can help us learn if our hypothesis is correct or incorrect

Let's practice gathering data!

Students are holding a fundraiser. They are selling ice cream. They want to determine which is the most popular product.

Hypotheses

Sarah's hypothesis is "Since the sundae has the most ice cream, the sundae will be the most popular choice."

Data Table

Sarah made a table to collect her data. Each day she will record the number of each product that is sold.

Data Table

At the end of the three days, Sarah had collected all of her data. She determined the average of each product sold over three days.

Lets practice reading more!

Which dog breed is the fastest?

John wanted to determine which dog breed was the faster - Dalmatian, Labrador, or Doberman.

Testing his hypothesis

John is going to test 5 different dogs from each breed. He has 5 Labradors, 5 Dalmatians, and 5 Dobermans.

Each dog is going to run 30 meters.

John created this data table.

He will find the average speed for each dog breed at the end.

John would use 5 different dogs because it gives him a better representation of the breed, instead of just one particular dog.

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Here are the results of his experiment

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Doberman #3 was the fastest

It took the least amount of time to run 30 meters, so it is the fastest of all 15 dogs.

The Doberman is the fastest

After John found the average time it took for each breed, he learned that Doberman's are the fastest.

Let's remember what John's hypothesis was:

"Labradors will be faster than Dobermans or Dalmatians because they are work dogs."

John's experiment would be more reliable if he had a larger sample size. The more subjects in his experiment, the more reliable the results will be.

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