Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My eighth-grade science fair project is "How do fears change with age?"

Here's the link from Science Buddies for my project:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... e-with-age


My questions are below:

1) How can I make my project different?
A student from the year before did this project. Since the judges will most likely remember that student's project (they placed last year), my science teacher to me to "make it different" and/or "make it stand out." I had a few ideas, but I wasn't totally sure what I should do. I could look into how gender affects "How do fears change with age?" I could also categorize different types of fear somehow. Either way, I need to make the project different.

2) How should I structure my survey?
I have to create a survey for my experiment. I've researched some of the most common fears, which include spiders, injections, heights, public speaking, small spaces, animals, etc. I'll test 50 people so there is a smaller margin for error since my data must be measurable.

Any suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
TiredStudent_63

Hi! This sounds like a super cool project!

I agree that gender could be an interesting factor to look at. You could also ask people for their top 2 or 3 biggest fears and see if there is any correlation. For example, maybe people who are scared of spiders are also scared of snakes. It could be interesting to look for some of these patterns.

As for your second question, it could be easy to make a survey via Google Form. Here you could ask people questions relating to your variables (age, gender, etc) as well as their biggest fears. It's up to you whether you would like to make this question multiple choice or short answer. Multiple choice could be easier for you to analyze, as participants would have to select pre-written options.

I wish you the best of luck! Feel free to reach out with any more questions.

Best,
Chloe

Hi Chloe! Thank you so much for your response, it is very helpful. One more question, how should I go about the consent forms? I've done some research and since I will be using human participants. Do I have to create one, or is there a specific one I should use?

Hi! A section at the bottom of the experiment page mentioned a bit about consent forms. I would recommend including a brief overview of your experiment that specifically defines the role of your participants. Since this is specific to your experiment, it ideally makes more sense to create your own form, however, you can definitely use other consent forms as models. Make sure to get parental permission as well if you are surveying minors.

Different science fairs may have different guidelines - make sure to look at the guidelines for your fair specifically.

This article here discusses more about consent forms, particularly for more advanced science fairs: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... egulations.

Hopefully this is helpful, but please let us know if you have any more questions!

Best,
Chloe