2017-2018 Science Fair

Assess how you conducted your experiment.

● Please move this document to your ​shared Biology folder.

● To complete this, you will need to refer to your project proposal.
● After you answer all the questions, remember to ​submit the document in Canvas​.

Sample size
1. Below, put what you planned for sample size and/or repeated measures (#9 in experimental proposal).
● 5 trials​ per each of ​4 social cues​ for each of the ​10 dogs

2. Below, put the actual sample size and/or repeated measures you completed by the deadline (February
12).
● 5 trials​ per each of ​4 social cues​ for each of the ​10 dogs

3. If there are differences between your initial plan and what you completed by the deadline, explain
a) why they are different, and
b) what you could have done differently to reach your goal on time.

Procedure
4. Below, paste a copy of your planned steps from your design document (#15).
Vocal Commands (“come”)
A. Arrive at the house of the dog
B. Ask owner to take the dog into different room of the house while I set up the test
a. Place two bowls 2 yards apart with a tennis ball hidden under one of them
b. Mark the middle of the distance between the two bowls for where I will stand
c. Mark 3 yards behind the bowls for where the dog will start
C. Before bringing the dog into the experimental room, arrive at the dog's location
D. With the owner near (in case of aggression), let the dog sniff and get to know me
a. Play with the dog for 5-10 minutes (until the dog feels comfortable)
E. Let the dog calm down and bring it to the room of the experiment
F. The owner should sit in the room but not as a distraction
G. Have the dog sit at the mark behind the bowls while it watches me place the two bowls on their marks (in a
random order)
H. I will maintain eye contact with the dog while I squat behind the correct bowl and say:
a. “​The dog’s name, ​come” (ex: Gracie, Come!)
I. The dog will approach one of the two bowls and I will record whether it was the bowl with or without the
ball under it
a. If the dog approaches the correct bowl it will be given a treat and praise so that they know the goal
was accomplished
b. If the dog stays seated, does not approach either bowl, or approaches the wrong bowl, it will be
counted as incorrect and the dog will receive no praise or treats
J. I will repeat the test 5 times per dog
Gaze and Point
A. Arrive at the house of the dog
B. Ask owner to take the dog into different room of the house while I set up the test
a. Place two bowls 2 meters apart with a tennis ball hidden under one of them
b. Mark the middle of the distance between the two bowls for where I will stand
c. Mark 2 meters behind the bowls for where the dog will start
C. Before bringing the dog into the experimental room, arrive at the dog's location
D. With the owner near (in case of aggression), let the dog sniff and get to know me
a. Play with the dog for 5-10 minutes (until the dog feels comfortable)
E. Let the dog calm down and bring it to the room of the experiment
F. The owner should sit in the room but not as a distraction
G. Have the dog sit at the mark behind the bowls while it watches me place the two bowls on their marks (in a
random order)
H. I will approach the midpoint of the two bowls and maintain eye contact with the dog while I turn, switching
my gaze towards the correct bowl. I will also point to the correct bowl
I. The dog will approach one of the two bowls and I will record whether it was the bowl with or without the
ball under it
a. If the dog approaches the correct bowl it will be given a treat and praise so that they know the goal
was accomplished
b. If the dog does not approach the correct bowl, it will receive no praise or treat
J. I will repeat the test 5 times per dog
Local Enhancement
A. Arrive at the house of the dog
B. Ask owner to take the dog into different room of the house while I set up the test
a. Place two bowls 2 meters apart with a tennis ball hidden under one of them
b. Mark the middle of the distance between the two bowls for where I will stand
c. Mark 2 meters behind the bowls for where the dog will start
C. Before bringing the dog into the experimental room, arrive at the dog's location
D. With the owner near (in case of aggression), let the dog sniff and get to know me
a. Play with the dog for 5-10 minutes (until the dog feels comfortable)
E. Let the dog calm down and bring it to the room of the experiment
F. The owner should sit in the room but not as a distraction
G. Have the dog sit at the mark behind the bowls while it watches me place the two bowls on their marks (in a
random order)
H. I will maintain eye contact with the dog while I approach the correct bowls
I. I will stay next to the correct bowl looking back and forth between the dog and my location
J. The dog will approach one of the two bowls and I will record whether it was the bowl with or without the
ball under it
a. If the dog approaches the correct bowl it will be given a treat and praise so that they know the goal
was accomplished
b. If the dog stays seated, does not approach either bowl, or approaches the incorrect bowl, it will be
counted as incorrect and the dog will not be given a treat or praise
K. I will repeat the test 5 times per dog
Control
A. Arrive at the house of the dog
B. Ask owner to take the dog into a different room of the house while I set up the test
a. Mark where the bowls will be (2 meters apart with a tennis ball hidden under one of them)
b. Mark the middle of the distance between the two bowls for where I will stand
 c. Mark 2 meters behind the bowls for where the dog will start
C. Before bringing the dog into the experimental room, arrive at the dog's location
D. With the owner near (in case of aggression), let the dog sniff and get to know me
a. Play with the dog for 5-10 minutes (until the dog feels comfortable)
E. Let the dog calm down and bring it to the room of the experiment
F. The owner should sit in the room but not as a distraction
G. Have the dog sit at the mark behind the bowls while it watches me place the two bowls on their marks (in a
random order)
H. I will then approach and stand on the mark in between the two bowls, facing my back towards the dog to
eliminate all social cues.
I. The dog will approach one of the two bowls and I will record whether it was the bowl with or without the
ball under it
a. If the dog approaches the correct location it will be given a treat and praise so that it knows the goal
was accomplished
b. If the dog approaches me, does not go to either bowl, or approaches the incorrect bowl, that trial
will be counted as incorrect
J. I will repeat the test 5 times per dog

5. Carefully look over your initial plans. In a numbered or bullet-pointed list below,
a) identify in detail things you actually did differently, and
b) explain why you made each change.
1. Instead of playing with the dog in a separate room, I got to know it in the room of the experiment
so that it could be comfortable with both me, and the layout of the space.
2. The owner helps the dog stay seated and engaged in what I am doing instead of sitting and
observing. The owner holds the dog in a seated position until I give him/her the signal to release
its collar.
a. This is to keep the dog engaged in the process of setting up and prevent the dog from
running towards me while I move
3. For one of the dogs (Scotch), I facetimed the owner, talking her through how to perform each test.
She did it instead of me because there was no possible way to get over to her house before the
deadline

Variables
6. In your proposal, find your standardized (#8) and extraneous variables (#10) and list them in the table
below.
Standardized variables Extraneous variables

- The presence or absence of owners - Age/breed of the dog (natural eagerness)

- How dogs respond to people they are - Previous training of the dog (how well they
more/less familiar with know basic commands)
- How familiar the dogs are with the location
of the test
- How tired or hyper the dog is at that time
- How well trained/well behaved the dog is
(if they can stay seated and stay focussed)
7. Standardized variable review:
Did you successfully standardize all the variables you planned to?
If not, explain why not.
I controlled all variables except for Scotch, whose owner performed the test instead of me. The data did
not differ from the nine other dogs, so this variable must not have been very influential on the results.

8. Extraneous variable review:

Were there other factors (that you did not originally list) that you think could have affected your results?
Identify them and explain your answer.
- Whether or not the dog liked tennis balls. Some dogs were not as excited or motivated to pick the
correct bowl because they did not like tennis balls as much as some of the other dogs. These dogs were
more incentivised with the treats that were given after each correct trial.

Impact on Results
9. Think about all the ways the implementation of your experiment differed from your initial plans (your
answers to questions above).
Discuss how these changes may make your project stronger and/or make it weaker (i.e. make your
results more reliable or less reliable).

Playing with the dog in the space of the experiment made this test more reliable because each dog
become comfortable with me in the surroundings of the test. Changing the location right before testing
could have potentially made the dog more standoffish and less willing to follow and focus on the
instruction.
Additionally, having the owner more engaged in the experiment helped the dog focus on the instruction
rather than wondering why their owner was sitting in the corner. It also helped the dog pay attention to
what I was setting up so that he/she could get the idea more quickly.
Changing the experimenter for one out of ten dogs could make this data less reliable, but since the results
were very similar to what I predicted, this variable might not have been crucial to control for my testing
purposes.

Reflection on learning
In August, y’all shared your thoughts on what the point of school is. Many of your responses involved
building skills. You may recognize some of them in this list below, which has a few of my top priorities for
skills to build in this class.

10. Read over the skills and indicate (with an X or a comment) where you feel you are with each, at this
point in the year.
 I think I have I’m making progress. I’m struggling: I see This is a very weak
very strong I feel pretty good some improvement area for me. I don’t feel
skills in this about it. but it’s really hard. I’ve improved at all.

Design
experiments
X  
Manage​ time &
long term work
  X 
Work​ ​well
independently:
X   
with focus,
self-reliance, &
initiative

Own ​your own

learning: take
X 
responsibility for
your work;
know when you
need help and
ask for it.