Instruments and Writing Hypotheses

We use various instruments to measure certain characteristics of objects, including length, volume, mass, temperature, and time.

Now that we know how to collect data, we need to design an experiment to collect and analyze this data. We will be using an experimental design (EDD), which looks like this:


There are seven parts to an EDD: title, hypothesis, independent variable (IV), levels of IV, repeated trials, dependent variable (DV), and constants.


Description of each of the terms in detail:

  • Title: describes the purpose of the experiment

    • The Effect of IV on DV

  • Hypothesis: what you propose is going to happen after your experiment is completed

    • If the IV is ____, then the DV will _____.

  • Independent Variable (IV): the variable that you change

  • Levels of IV: different amounts or sizes of the IV

  • Repeated Trials: number of times you will complete the experiment with each level of the IV

  • Dependent Variable (DV): data that you will collect

  • Constant: variables or components of the experiment that will stay the same throughout the entire experiment


Now we will practice making EDDs by conducting a sample experiment!


We will be testing the effects of time spent on phone before sleep on the amount of time slept that night. Now we can fill out our EDD.

Now that we learned all this new information, let's try a quiz!