S impsons Experimental Design

Modified from www.biologycorner.com
|Smithers thinks that a special juice will increase the productivity of workers. He |Identify the: |
|creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each group the same task (in this|1. Control Group |
|case, they're supposed to staple a set of papers). Group A is given the special |Group B |
|juice to drink while they work. Group B is not given the special juice. After an |2. Independent Variable |
|hour, Smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. Group A made |volume of special juice |
|1,587 stacks, Group B made 2,113 stacks. |3. Dependent Variable |
| |number of stapled packs of paper |
| |4. What should Smithers' conclusion be? |
| |The special juice interferes with the workers |
| |productivity since Group A stapled fewer packets |
| |than group B. |
| | |
| |5. How could this experiment be improved? |
| |Vary the volume of juice given, increase the |
| |sample size, take more time points, conduct the |
| |experiment for a longer period of time. |
|Homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. His friend |6. What was the |
|Barney tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime. Homer decides |initial observation? |
|to check this out by spraying half of the shower with coconut juice. He sprays the |A strange green slime in the shower |
|other half of the shower with water. After 3 days of "treatment" there is no change|Identify the- |
|in the appearance of the green slime on either side of the shower. | |
| |7. Control Group |
| |The half of the shower that was not sprayed |
| |8. Independent Variable |
| |the volume of coconut juice |
| |9. Dependent Variable |
| |The disappearance of the green slime |
| |10. What should Homer's conclusion be? |
|