How to write a lab report: introduction

• Biologie
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

A research question is...

• A question: A sentence that ends with a question mark.
• Focused: It is about one issue.
• Specific: It names the species (common mouse), substances (distilled water) or environment (oak forest in Rijswijk) that the research is about.
• Researchable: The answer to the question can be found with the help of experiments or observations.

A hypothesis is...

• A sentence.
• The answer to your research question that you expect to find, before you start your research. 
• Based on what you have already learnt about the topic (at school or from other sources).
  

Which of these is a research question?

1. The amount of protein in an apple
2. What is the amount of protein in an apple
3. What is the amount of protein in an apple?
4. protein in apples

Which question is the most focused and specific?

1. What do apples do to your body?
2. Which nutrients are found in apples?
3. Which nutrients are found in Jonagold apples?

Which question can be answered using a simple experiment?

1. Does a Jonagold apple contain protein?
2. How much protein do all the Jonagold apples in the world contain together?
3. Why do Jonagold apples contain protein?

Alyza sees moss growing on oak trees in her town. She notices that the moss does not grow all over the tree trunks, but only on parts of the trunks. Which question could she use to research this phenomenon?

1. Where does moss grow?
2. Which species of moss grow on tree trunks?
3. Why does moss grow on trees?
4. Does the same amount of moss grow on all sides of the trees?

Ben is doing an experiment with five sunflower plants. He gives a different amount of water to each plant all summer. At the end of summer he measures how tall the plants have grown. What is Ben's research question?

1. How much water does a sunflower plant need?
2. What is the effect of water on the height of sunflower plants?
3. How much water does a plant need?
4. What is the effect of water on plant growth?

Which research question belongs to the results on the right?

1. Which temperature do yeast cells like best?
2. What is the influence of fermentation on yeast cells?
3. What is the influence of temperature on fermentation by yeast cells?
4. What do yeast cells do?

Soufian has chosen the research question: "How much do European common frogs eat per month in the summer?". What is his hypothesis?

1. 4 kg
2. A European common frog eats 4 kg of food per month in summer.
3. A European common frog eats 4 kg

Ben chooses the question: "What is the effect of water on the height of sunflowers?". What would be a good hypothesis?

Belinay counts the birds in her backyard for one hour. What could be her research question?

I want to research the height of students at the Wolfert Tweetalig. What could be my research question?

Think of a research question that you could investigate in your own neighborhood.

include

don't include

Anna's research question is: What kind of food do black bears eat? 

Which background information should she include?

diseases that black bears can get

where the black bear lives

what the polar bear eats

info about the black bear's teeth