observational logbook

Length: 1000 words
Format: See description below and use APA Quick Answers: Formatting (Links to an external site.)

TASK
Scientific inquiry starts with observation — observing a phenomenon, observing how something works or the changes it undergoes — which then develops into a question and systematic study. Careful records in the form of a logbook are kept as part of the systematic study. In the logbook, researchers carefully record what they see and what they measure and speculate about why somethings occurs (or doesn’t occur). I ATTACHED YOU WITH A SAMPLE LOGBOOK BELOW, PLEASE CHECK.

For this project, you’ll need to decide on a particular object of natural science to study and collect observations for 5 days. Develop a multi-modal data collection process that includes a visual record (photos, videos) and a text record (descriptions). For each daily entry, begin with description before moving into speculation. A natural outgrowth of descriptive writing should include brainstormed research questions that could be answered with further experiments, research, or observations.

Follow the form (title page, headings, organization, and visual elements) used in the Student Observation Logbook in your textbook. Here is an example student paper.

COMPLETING THE TASK
1. When deciding what your focus of study is, you should be able to identify which object or phenomena is being studied, what process is being studied, and how it will be measured or evaluated (with objectivity as the goal). Some topics for observation could be food spoilage, plant growth, water filtering, or weather.

For example:

object of study: strawberries

process: decay

measured/evaluated: discoloration (as observed by me), softness (tested once a day at 6pm by me using the same finger)

To avoid ethical problems, you cannot use humans or animals as your focus for this project.

The research you conduct for this assignment will be used as the topic for the Research Report assignment at the end of the unit.

2. Before you begin, draft an introduction that

a. states the purpose of the study

b. outlines an observational protocol

c. states the methods of data collections

d. establishes a hypothesis

3. Over the course of 5 days, conduct your observations. For each day,

a. document the date (and time, when relevant)

b. collect and include photographic evidence

c. write a description of your object of study and its status

d. generate questions based on your observations

4. Write a description of the study — what did you study, how did you carry out your study, and what were the results of the study, which can include a graph or table showing the data collected. This is the “Description” section of the logbook.

5. Write your “Speculation” section with the following details:

a. evaluation of the hypothesis in light of the data

b. speculation about the factors that contributed to the results

c. suggestions for further research on the subject matter