Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My name is Jayden, I am in grade 4. I am doing a research project for school to test if a smile is contagious. I need some guidelines please.
The method I want to use is to test several people of all ages and sexes in 10 days at different locations like church, school, complex where I live, restaurant and mall.
Am I on the right track?
This is my first project and I want to do it properly.
Thank you.

Moderator note: Project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... contagious

Hi Jayden!

Your project idea is awesome smiling can be contagious and it's really cool that you're testing it out yourself.

Here are a few simple tips to help you out->

Make a Plan –> for example write down where you'll go each day and how many people you want to test. That way you can stay organized which is helpful for reporting your data later on whether it's a poster, paper, etc.

Be Safe! –> ask an adult (like a parent or teacher) to go with you when you're out collecting data.

How to Test –> the easiest way to go about this is that you can smile at someone and see if they smile back Then just keep a note of what happens (like yes or no). That’s your data!

Try Different Places –>like you said (school, church, mall, etc) That’s a great idea because different places might give you different results which can make your data more interesting

Write It Down –> take a notebook with you to record your interactions. you can organize this by location, number of people, gender, child vs adult, and if they smiled back at you or not

hopefully this helps get you started!