Week 1 -- Scientific Method Scenario Blog Post Assignment
Week 1 -- Scientific Method Scenario Blog Post Assignment
Hypothesis: I think that the student isn’t getting enough sleep because he either has a late-night job/class or has bad activity scheduling.
Test Design: Although he may not be reliable, I would ask the student to record the times he wakes up and goes to sleep each day for one or two weeks. This would show how many hours of sleep he gets. We could then see on what days the student gets more sleep or less sleep than usual. I’ll stick with anything less than 7 hours to be lack of sleep, and anything above seven hours to be sufficient sleep. I’d be altering or observing the student’s sleep schedule.
Predicted Results That Would Support My Hypothesis: I would say he sleeps in class because of a late-night class/job, if he sleeps in class on days he got less sleep. This would support my hypothesis that his late-night job/class is leaving him sleep deprived during the daytime class.
Results That Would Falsify My Hypothesis: If the student in question is falling asleep on days he got sufficient sleep within the 1-2 weeks of observation, or if he is staying awake on the days he was sleep deprived, then the hypothesis would be falsified because there might be another cause.
Untestable Explanation That Would Not Be Classified As A Scientific Hypothesis: An example of an untestable, unfalsifiable explanation would be that a ghost (invisible) put a curse (undetectable) on the student that makes him fall asleep within 15 minutes of sitting down in that specific class, regardless of how much sleep he got.
I liked how you did a longer study to really determine if the results support the hypothesis. I also enjoyed how you added how the student could be unreliable when stating how many hours they slept which could result in a confounding variable.
ReplyDeleteTestable Hypothesis (5/5) - Good, connecting the hypothesized cause with the problem.
ReplyDeleteTest (4/5) - Well, you aren't really changing anything and you are relying on the student reporting accurately AND that there is variability in his sleep pattern. What if the student lies? Or sleeps the same number of insufficient hours every night? Too many opportunities for the test to fail, not because your hypothesis is wrong but because the test is unreliable or impossible.
You can use an fitness watch to monitor sleep patterns and the ensure the student changes is sleep pattern to make it reliable and sufficient (say 8 hours per night). That changes the conditions AND makes it reliable.
Support (4/5) - To support your hypothesis, the results need to change when you change the conditions. What you describe here doesn't differ from the original problem, does it? How about this instead: If he gets sufficient, reliable sleep and THEN he stays awake in class, that would support your hypothesis. See the difference?
Falsify (4/5) - Okay, but to go with a test that changes conditions, if the student is now getting sufficient, reliable sleep at night and STILL falls asleep, this would definitely confirm that lack of sleep isn't the cause of his problem in class. I.e., your hypothesis is falsified.
Untestable Hypothesis (10/10) - Yes, this carefully delineates a situation where the cause is untestable, though I will point out that the ghost couldn't just be invisible. They would need to be undetectable in any way, including visually, by hearing them, or sensing them by touch (such as a wave of icy cold air or other sensations).