Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

OK MY INDEPENDANT VARIABLE IS DIFFERENT FAMILIES AND MY DEPENDANT VARIABLE IS # OF FINGERPRINTS ALIKE HOW WOULD YOU GRAPG THIS AND MAKE A DATA GRAPH ???? ANY IDEAS tIFFANY

Hi Tiffany,

Generally, the independant variable should be graphed on the x (horizontal) axis, and the dependant variable on the y (vertical) axis. I'm not sure how you are planning to reduce the similarities between fingerprints to a single number, but, if you have found a way, a bar graph would probably work the best for data in that form. Each bar would be a family and its height would indicate how many of their fingerprints are alike.

You might want to reconsider exactly what information you are trying to convey with this graph. A graph of the number of similarities by family would be interesting information, but would it answer your question? The question you have listed under your name is "whos fingerprints are closest to my fingerprints in my family." To answer that question, it seems like you would just need to look at people within your own family, in which case family members could replace different families on the x axis.

On the other hand, if you have expanded your experiment to other
families, which would be a really good, interesting idea, you might need to restructucture your graph. Are you trying to figure out how much similarity there is within families in general? If that is the case, it would be most effective to find a way of comparing the level of similarity within a family to the level of similarity between people who aren't related. Basically, you would be looking at whether people within a family have fingerprints that are significantly more similar than people outside of a family. How you would graph this would depend on exactly what sort of data you have.

I hope that helps, even thogh it wasn't the most difinitive answer. Feel free to ask more questions!

-Emily

Tiffany-

I think what you might want to look at (if you aren't already- Sorry, I can't quite understand what your problem statement is) is the similarity between fingerprints in a given family. You would have to get separate families (at least 5 - Just ask five of your friends if you could use their families for this) and then categorize the fingerprints of each family member in that family. Then, see if most people in that family have a certain type of fingerprint.

Here's a link about fingerprint types:
http://express.howstuffworks.com/express-detective1.htm

How could you graph that data?
Well, two different ways.

Method #1: Make a separate graph for each family. On the x-axis, you would have the different types of fingerprints and on the y-axis, you could put the number of people in that family with each fingerprint. Then, you show whether or not there is a fingerprint trend within families.

Method #2: Repeat Method #1, but use a pie graph (circle graph) instead of a bar graph. You could show the percentages of each family with each type of fingerprint.

In the end, remember to also make a graph of the total number of subjects with each type of fingerprint. Then, if there is any family resemblance in the fingerprints, you could say whether or not it was really genetic (runs through the family) or just a general population trend (like a dominant trait in genetics).

If any of that doesn't make sense or you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Best of luck!
~Maryam M.