BI 231 INDEPENDENT LABORATORY PROJECT PROPOSAL CRITERIA

These are the criteria to guide your discussion in the taped Social Interaction Assessment. At the end of your half-hour session, you should have preliminary answers to all these points.

Your proposal should explain the significance of your proposed experiment. Then you must convince us that the experiment can be done with our materials and that it is well-enough designed to be worth doing.

There is an example proposal in the Independent Project folder. Your proposal should follow that format. It must:

1. Clearly state your HYPOTHESIS and the physiology behind it.

2. Tell what SUBJECTS you will use (age, gender, how many - you must have at least 25 subjects in each experimental group) and where you will get them. Is your sample size big enough to compare to other studies on the subject? How will you obtain informed consent from these subjects? Create and attach an INFORMED CONSENT FORM which the subjects will sign. There is a blank template for your consent form in the Independent Project folder.

3. Explain what you will do in this experiment. What will your CONTROLLED and MANIPULATED variables be? How will your CONTROL GROUP differ from your EXPERIMENTAL GROUP?

4. What EXACTLY do you plan to measure?

5. How many REPLICATES will you do? What does this mean for your lab requirements? (For example, if you repeat the experiment several times will you require more materials? Will you need access to the lab at times outside your lab period?)

6. How will you RECORD your data? Design a data sheet or table which you will use for your recording, and attach a copy. Be sure to identify what units you will be using to measure variables.

7. How will you ANALYZE your data? What type of statistics will you use?

8. What equipment will you require to measure your data? (Include everything!) List the equipment you will need, including quantities needed. Please note that

THE LAB CANNOT SUPPLY ANYTHING YOU ARE GOING TO EAT OR DRINK, OR ANY UTENSILS USED TO PREPARE SUCH SOLUTIONS OR CONTAINERS USED TO STORE THEM.

This is a precaution for your safety.

YOU MAY NOT START GATHERING DATA UNTIL YOUR PROJECT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY A LECTURE INSTRUCTOR AND THE DESIGN HAS BEEN APPROVED BY YOUR LAB INSTRUCTOR