Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi! I'm doing an experiment on paw preferance in dogs, and I need a graph/chart that can display four variables: A dogs age, gender, results (right, left, or none), and the frequency. How can I achieve this? Help please!

Hi,


Welcome to Science Buddies! I think you are this great project:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p011.shtml

With a Science Project, the presentation of your data is very important, and you are correct in thinking that a graph of some type will be the best way to present the data as this will be a quick visual summary of your results. Here is the information from the Science Buddies website on trying to decide the best way to present your data.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ysis.shtml

Did you do 3 tests on all of your dogs? The food tube, toy test, and the smudge test? How many dogs did you test and what were their ages and gender?

Before you decide how to do the graphs, you need to decide what your independent and dependent variables are. If you followed the experiment as described, then the dogs’ gender and age are the independent variables, and the dependent variable is the paw preference. The frequency is the number of trials that you did for each test.

I recommend doing one graph first with all of your data presented on one graph similar to the graph with some hypothetical data attached below, which shows light purple for left paw, dark purple for right paw, and bright purple for no paw preference; each set of 3 bars represents one of the tests (food tube, toy, or smudge test). Since you are in 5th grade, it is likely that you might not know how to do an Excel graph, so a hand drawn graph is perfectly acceptable. Each bar would be clearly labeled. You could do a separate graph for age range (less than 1 year, 1-7 years, > 7 years, for example) and another graph for gender. I think it would be too confusing to present all of the variables together in one graph.


Since this is probably the first time you have compiled results of a science fair project in a graph format, please let me know if the explanation is not clear. Also if you need more help please post all of your data so I can see what your results are. And, let me know if you have any other questions about writing up the results.


Donna Hardy

I simplified the expierament to only one test for the dogs.And that was one I made up, which is the tape test. I also dont really understand but I'll ponder this all day...

Hi GorbieGal,

I’m sorry my explanation was not clear, but thanks for explaining more about your experiment. It sounds like you were very creative in the design of your experiment. Creativity is always a good thing in a science project. Please tell me about the tape test and how many times did you try the experiment with each dog. How many dogs did you test, and what were their ages and gender? What were your results for each dog?

Having just one test will simplify presentation of the data. In your experiment, the independent variable was the individual dog; the dependent variable was the results on the tape test. You did not have dogs available to test that were all the same age and gender, so age and gender were not controlled parameters, but you can analyze the results to determine the variation had a significant effect on your results. Were there other factors in the experiment that you were able to control, like time of day and whether or not the dog was hungry or tired? Here is an explanation of variables from the Science Buddies website.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... test.shtml

Don't worry, if you will post all of your data, I will explain how to present the data so it will make sense to you and to the science fair judges. Your project is due next Monday, so please do post back with your results as soon as possible.

While you are waiting to hear back from me, you can work on the other sections of your science fair board. Do you have information for each section? Let me know if you have any questions about what should be included in each section. Please tell me about your question is and your hypothesis.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... oard.shtml

Donna Hardy

how should i do that?
I also need help with procedure page.

Hi Gorbigal,

Here is an example to show you what to do. Since I don’t know what your results were, I made up a set of data with 9 dogs; 2 were left pawed, 5 were right pawed, and 2 had no paw preference. I put the data in a bar graph attached, showing left pawed in yellow, right pawed in orange, and no paw preference in green. Can you do a similar hand-written graph with your data? If this doesn't make sense to you, let me know the following:

1. How many dogs did you test?
2. What was the paw preference of each dog?

For your results section, you will need at least one bar graph showing the results and a short paragraph describing the results in your own words.

For your procedure section, you want to make a list of everything you used in the experiment. This could be a list of each dog you used, with its age and gender. I don't know what you used for the tape test; you should specify the type and brand of tape. If it is an unusual type of tape, you should include where you bought the tape. Did you use anything else in the test like a camera or lab notebook? Include everything that you used for your testing. Here is information from the Science Buddies website on what makes a good materials list:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... list.shtml

The procedure section is a step-by-step description of what you did for your experiment. The test for a good procedure is that someone reading the procedure should be able to do exactly what you did and obtain the same results. Here is the information from the Science Buddies website on writing a good procedure section:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... dure.shtml

After you have your results in a graph so you can "look" at what happened, you need to make a conclusion and analyze the results. What is your conclusion based on your results?

Let me know if you have more questions. What is your question and hypothesis? Do you have a background section explaining the science behind your project?


Donna Hardy

This all sounds very complicated... I think I might just do tables instead. But thank you for trying! If you were wondering the table I would do (I would have 3 tables) one for left paw pref. one for right paw pref. and one for no pref. indicated. I would have an Age range column, a percentage of whole column, and a frequency column. I did three trials and averaged them, so the result would be the result of the majority of trials.

Hi,

It would be OK to do tables, but if you can do a table, I can show you how to make a bar graph using the table. You can make a table showing all dogs and paw preference; another table with dog age and paw preference, and a third table with gender and paw preference. Your dependent variable is paw preference, so you need to include left, right, and no paw preference on each in each table. If you did 3 trials and a dog used just one paw for the test, then I think you could say that dog was either left or right pawed. If a dog used both paws on the test, then you should say that dog has no paw preference.

Here is a link for creating a bar graph. Type in the name of the bar under the "name," (left paw, right paw, no paw preference); type in the number of dogs with the corresponding result. Then click on "create printable graph," on the bottom of the page. This will give you a perfect bar graph of your results.

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/bar.asp

I think I could show you how to do this if I knew what your results were. Please send me all of your results, including the results of the of the three trials, the results for each dog, and the age and gender of each dog. You can just list the data in paragraph form, and I'll figure it out.

Is there someone available at home who could read through all of my answers and the links that I included? This might help you understand what to do. Were you able to open up the attachments on my last response?

Donna

I think I have the project under control now, I made more detailed tables and more inclusive ones like you described. Thanks for the help!

Hi Gorbiegal,

Thanks for letting me know that you have your project under control. Good luck at the Science Fair and let us know how you do.

Donna Hardy