Project Assignments <Scientific Inquiry>

Final Project Assignments

School/Department Name: School of Undergraduate Studies

Program: Multidisciplinary Studies

Course Number and Title: SCI310 Scientific Inquiry

Instructor: William McMullen, Ph.D.

Description of Assignment:

Final Project: Due 12/16/15

The objective of your final paper is to demonstrate the following:

Your understanding of the basic components of the “scientific method” and of how it helps humanity to develop better approximation of reality, and/or to address human needs, problems and desires.

Your ability to apply the scientific method to a problem of your choice.

Below is a list of the sections that must be included in your paper and a description of what each section should include.

The Scientific Method:

Briefly summarize the main components of the scientific method. You should review Introduction to the Scientific Method , the article from the assigned readings for session two, to help you do this. Next, in your own words, explain how you think the scientific method helps us to understand reality and/or to solve human problems.

Problem description:

Describe the issue or problem you selected. Explain why it is important to you and the outcome you hope to achieve by studying your problem.

Identify the main issues, factors, or variables that you think are involved in and/or cause your problem:

List all the factors or variables that you think cause your issue or problem to exist. As you do this, you want to remember to clearly describe each factor or variable. For example, if you want to understand why there is conflict between people and you think one of the factors that contribute to conflict is “envy” then you need to state clearly how you are defining envy.

Casual relationship or hypothesis:

State how you think the factors or variables you listed in the proceeding section interacts or causes your problem to exist. For example, if your problem is “There is too much conflict between people.” and you think this is because people are envious and therefore will fight with other people who they think have more than them; you might have the hypothesis that “envy causes conflict among people.” End this section with a “prediction” you can make if your hypothesis has validity or is true to some degree. For example, you might predict that there will be less conflict between people who have the same amount of resources than between people who have very different amounts of resources.

Describe how you might test your prediction and the evidence or data you need to test your prediction to see if it is reflected in reality:

Describe how you could test your hypothesis by doing some research. For example, to research (test) your hypothesis that envy causes conflict you might decide look for research articles on how envy does and does not cause or contribute to conflict between people. Describe the evidence (the research you did) you collected. You should summarize each article you used. In summarizing your articles, describe any results or data the article presented and the conclusions the writers reached based upon the results.

Implications of your research:

Discuss the degree to which you think your research findings did or did not support your hypothesis. In doing so make sure you explain why you think your research findings (point to specific examples from the articles you read) did or did not support your original hypothesis.

Conclusions:

Discuss what you learned from conducting your research. Based upon what you learned, describe how what you learned could help you to develop a better hypothesis about the cause of your issue or problem if you concluded that you did not find support for it or how what you learned can help you to solve or improve your issue or problem if you concluded your research supported your hypothesis. Finally, suggest some additional research you or someone who reads your paper might consider doing if your research did not support your hypothesis or research that could be done to improve your hypothesis if your findings supported it.

Finally, make sure you include the necessary inline citations for the research you cite in the body of your paper and to include a references section that lists the full reference for each of the articles you use at the end of your paper. Your inline citations and full references should use the APA style.

If you have any questions about either assignment or need my help is completing them, email at [email protected] or give me a call at 617-308-5874.

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