LBIO 101L (Lab): Project 1 – Scientific Method Case Studies Page 1 of 7

Scientific Method Case Study Exercises

After reading Concepts in Biology Ch. 1.2 “The Process of Science,” use the information about the scientific
method and good experimental design to complete the following exercises.

1. The Strange Case of “BeriBeri”

In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people in the Dutch East Indies. The disease was called
Beriberi. Symptoms of the disease included weakness and loss of appetite; victims often died of heart failure.
Scientists thought the disease might be caused by bacteria. They injected chickens with bacteria from the
blood of patients with Beriberi. The injected chickens became sick. However, so did a group of chickens that
were not injected with bacteria.

One of the scientists, Dr. Eijkman, noticed something. Before the experiment, all the chickens had eaten
whole-grain rice, but during the experiment, the chickens were fed polished rice. Dr. Eijkman researched this
interesting case. He found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin necessary for good health.

A. State the problem or question.

PROBLEM: An disease called BeriBeri has infected the people in the Dutch East Indies.
B. What was the hypothesis?

HYPOTHESIS: Bacteria is the cause of the BeriBeri disease.

C. How was the hypothesis tested?

The hypothesis was tested by injecting chickens with the blood bacteria of patients that had
contracted BeriBeri.
D. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experimental results?

The hypothesis should be rejected based on the experimental results, because even the chickens
who were NOT injected with the bacteria became sick. This means that bacteria was not the
cause of the infection, disproving the hypothesis.
E. What should be the new hypothesis?

A deficit of the vitamin thiamine causes BeriBeri.

2. Which Sunflower Seeds Are Best?

It’s spring and you decide that you want a summer sunflower garden! You go to the local nursery and see that
the sunflower seeds cost $1 per 8 oz. package. However, further down the aisle, you notice a 5 lb. bag of
sunflower seeds for the purpose of bird feed for only $7.

Design an experiment to test whether there is a difference in the quality of seed from the two sources. Be
sure to answer the following in your experimental design.

A. What is your research question/problem?

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Does the rate of sprouting differ between bird seeds typically used for gardening and bird seeds typically
used as bird seed?

B. What is your hypothesis for the experiment?

There is no difference in the rate of sprouting between normal sunflower seeds and bird seeds.
C. Describe in detail the design of your control group.

The control group would be the sunflower seeds used for gardening. You would need to ensure
that the following conditions are constant during the experiment: sunlight, nutrients, water
placed on the paper towel, the number of seeds, the dishes they are placed in, the material
under the dish, brand of paper towel, amount of paper towel placed in dish, etc.
D. Describe in detail the design of your experimental group.

The experimental group would be the sunflower seeds used for bird seed. You would need to ensure that
the following conditions are constant during the experiment: sunlight, nutrients, water placed on the
paper towel, the number of seeds, the dishes they are placed in, the material under the dish, brand of
paper towel, amount of paper towel placed in dish, etc.

E. What is the variable in your experiment?

The variable in this experiment is the type of sunflower seed being used.

F. How would you decide whether to accept or reject your hypothesis?

If the conditions are kept constant, the calculations are done correctly, and the experiment has
successfully been carried out multiple times without error, then I would accept my hypothesis. However, if
any of the things above are done incorrectly or with errors, then I would not accept my hypothesis, and I
would try the experiment again without error.

In addition to describing your experiment using words, help me visualize your experimental design by
drawing diagrams and/or pictures of how you would set up the experiment.

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3. How Do Robins Catch Worms?

One afternoon, you notice several robins hopping around in the ORU prayer gardens. You see that one robin
hops a distance of one or two feet and pauses for a few seconds with his head cocked and then moves
another couple of feet. Occasionally, the robin will stab at the ground. You notice that eight times out of ten,
he successfully obtains a worm.

A. What is the research question?

How are robins able to detect a worm underground in order to catch it?

B. Based on the observations you made in the prayer gardens, state a possible hypothesis that might
explain how the robin detects the worm. Try to state it in the “if…then…” format.

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If the robin can catch a worm while it is underground, then the robin must be able to hear the worm and
determine its location, allowing the robin to catch the worm. (the robin might miss the worm due to slight
miscalculations in their attempt)

C. Based on your hypothesis, how would you design an experiment to test how robins capture
worms? In addition to describing your experiment using words, help me visualize your experimental
design by drawing diagrams and/or pictures of how you would set up the experiment. Be sure to
include in your experiment description the following: variable, control group, and experimental
group.

The variable in this experiment would be if the robin could hear or not. In my control group, I would have
5 robins in separate rooms, each with an enclosure that contained grass, a layer of dirt, and worms in the
dirt. I would have these control robins without any hoods on. I would release each robin (in their separate
enclosures) and observe and record any worms they captured, and any worms they did not capture. Then,
for the experimental group, I would have 5 robins, in five separate enclosures, with the same setup. I
would then place hoods over their ears(think of a falconry hood), and ensure the hoods covered their
ears. I would then release each robin into their enclosure, and observe/record any data. Then, I would
calculate the average number of worms caught (and not caught) per group, and compare the results.

D. How would you decide whether to reject or accept your hypothesis?

I would accept my hypothesis if the experiment was completed successfully multiple times without error,
as well as kept the constants in the enclosures the same, and the data reflected that the birds who could
hear caught more worms.

4. Errors in Experiments

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Explain what is wrong with each of these experimental designs.

A. A farmer wanted to know if XYZ fertilizer would be good for growing vegetables in his garden. He
fertilized all his 100 bean plants with XYZ but didn’t put any fertilizer on his 100 pepper plants. His
beans didn’t do well at all, but he got a good crop of peppers. He concluded that XYZ fertilizer was
no good.
● What was the research question? Is this fertilizer good for growing vegetables in my garden?
● What was the variable? The variable in the experiment above was the plant being fertilized.
(Beans vs peppers, although that should not have been the variable)
● What was/were the error(s) in the farmer’s experiment? (Choose one or more common errors
from the following list.)
o Not enough subjects
o Subjects were not similar yes
o Conditions were not kept the same yes
o The experiment was not reproduced yes

B. Alice Larsen wanted to see if a new premium gasoline would give her more miles to the gallon. She
filled her car with the new gas and went on a long trip. When she figured out her mileage, she
discovered that she had gone 20 miles farther on this tank of gas than she had gone on a tank of
regular gas when she was driving around town as usual. She decided to buy the premium gas from
then on to get better gas mileage.
● What was the research question? Does the new premium gas give Alice's car more miles to
the gallon than her normal gas?
● What was the variable? The type of gas used.
● What was/were the error(s) in Alice’s experimental design? (Choose one or more common
errors from the following list.)
o Not enough subjects yes
o Subjects were not similar
o Conditions were not kept the same
o The experiment was not reproduced yes

C. A molding machine in a factory was not working very well. About a third of the time, the plastic
squirt guns that it was making came out with a flaw on the handle. The repair mechanic adjusted the
stamping pressure. Then she ran one gun through. It came out just fine, so she figured she had
solved the problem.
● What was/were the error(s) in the conclusion of the repair mechanic? (Choose one or
more common errors from the following list.)
o Not enough subjects
o Subjects were not similar
o Conditions were not kept the same
o The experiment was not reproduced yes

5. Caffeine may ease post-workout muscle pain

Read the news article below and answer the questions at the end.

“Caffeine May Ease Post-Workout Muscle Pain”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSHAR76988020070117

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By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:50pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - That morning cup of coffee may be an antidote to
post-exercise muscle soreness, if preliminary research is correct. In a small study of female
college students, researchers found that a caffeine supplement seemed to lessen the
familiar muscle pain that crops up the day after a particularly challenging workout. Known
as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, the pain is common in the day or two after a
workout that was more intense than normal. Exercise that involves eccentric contraction of
the muscles is particularly likely to cause delayed muscle pain. In eccentric contraction, the
muscle produces a force while it's being lengthened. This happens when a person runs
downhill, for example, or lowers a weight during a bicep curl. Exercisers and researchers
alike have tried many ways to prevent DOMS -- including over-the-counter painkillers,
stretching and massage -- but studies have found no cure-all for the problem. In the current
study, published in the Journal of Pain, researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens
looked at the effects of a caffeine supplement on delayed muscle pain in nine young
women.

First, in a simulated workout, the researchers used electrical stimulation to produce

eccentric contractions in the women's thigh muscles -- enough to cause moderate day-after
soreness.

Next, they repeated the procedure over the next two days, but on each day, the women took
either a caffeine pill or placebo pill one hour before the muscle workout. Neither the women
nor the researchers knew which pill was given on which day.

Overall, the women reported significantly less muscle soreness during the workout when
they took caffeine instead of the placebo. The supplement had about the amount of caffeine
found in two cups of coffee.

A. What is the research question/problem? Does caffeine ease post-workout muscle pain?
B. What is the hypothesis for the experiment? If the women in the experiment take a caffeine
pill, then their post-workout muscle soreness will be eased.
C. Describe the control group. The control group would be those that took a placebo pill before
their workout.
D. Describe the experimental group. The experimental group would be those that took the
caffeine pill before their workout.
E. What is the variable in the experiment? In this case, the pill they took the day of their
workout. (they took a different pill each day of the experiment)
F. List three flaws in the experimental design. The first flaw of the experiment is their sample,
because they only selected women. The second flaw is their sample size, because they only
selected nine women. The third flaw is that, from the sounds of it, the conditions of each
subject were not kept constant. They did not keep their diets the same, they did not keep
their sleep the same, etc.
G. Redesign this experiment. In addition to describing your experiment using words, help me
visualize your experimental design by drawing diagrams and/or pictures of how you would
set up the experiment. Be sure to include in your experiment description the following:
variable, control group, and experimental group.

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I would redesign the experiment by first, selecting a larger and more random and diverse sample. Then, I
would ensure they had conditions kept constant for a week before the experiment, and during the
experiment, such as diet, sleep, etc. Then, I would randomly split the sample into two groups. I would give
the control group a placebo pill, and then give the experimental group a caffeine pill each of the days of the
experiment. I would, however, wait 3 days between each workout with the pills, to ensure the effects of the
caffeine did not affect the day after. I would have them each workout 3 times, so the experiment would take
roughly 3 weeks, given the acclimation week prior, and the wait times between each workout. I would have
the data recorded and then I would compare results between the experimental and control group. I would
swap the pill that is given to the subjects the next time, so the first day they would get a placebo pill, the
second workout they would get a caffeine pill, and the third workout they would get another placebo pill. It
would be a double blind experiment

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