Capstone

Project
Review: Identify whether it is basic research or applied
research
1.How did the universe begin?
2.What are protons, neutrons, and electrons
composed of?
3.How to improve agricultural crop production?
4.How to treat or cure a specific disease?
5.Ways on how to improve the energy efficiency
of homes, offices, or modes of transportation
6.How do slime molds reproduce?
7.What is the specific genetic code of the fruit
fly?
8.Research dealing with average cognitive and
reflexive skills in the elderly
9.Focuses on purely intellectual or cognitive
basics.
 Scientific Problem

•something you don’t

understand but you can do an
experiment to help you
understand.
•usually based on observation
of scientific phenomena.
 How to identify a
Scientific Problem?

1.Find a topic

2.Identify a problem within the

topic
 Finding a topic

• A topic is a relatively specific area of

knowledge, or subject, you will be working
in, such as smoking and lung cancer,
sexual selection in birds, gravity, Newton's
Laws of Motion, properties of water, etc...
• This can make it easier to work with.
• Write down some possible topics and
choose the one that seems most
interesting to you.
 Identify a problem
within the topic
• The problem is something you’d like
to know more about, a question
you’d like to answer.
• Questions can come from many
different sources: from lectures or
textbooks, from an experiment you
have done that raised other
questions, from articles you’ve read in
scientific journals or even newspapers
and magazines.
 Identify a problem
within the topic
• To identify a scientific problem,
then, you can find sources that
relate to your topic and look to see
what problems are raised in your
search.
• Write down the problems that you
find.
• Choose one that would be
interesting to solve and that is
 Research Question
Your research question is
what you hope to figure out. It
is your "what if" question.
Should be able to write the
research question in a simple
sentence.
Background for the experiment:
• Lori is on her school's volleyball team.
Because she and her teammates spend a
lot of time doing jumping exercises, she has
become interested in the standing vertical
leap, which plays an important role not
only in volleyball but also in basketball. Lori
knows that success in both sports depends
to a large extent on an athlete's ability to
jump higher than opposing players. She
wants to design an experiment in
biomechanics that will help her determine
what jumping strategies athletes can use to
jump their highest.
1. What is the problem?
The standing vertical jump plays a critical
role in several sports, especially volleyball
and basketball. In volleyball, players must
spike the ball and block spikes by the
opposing team by leaping from a
standing position. In basketball, players
often shoot under the basket and
rebound from a standing position. In both
sports, the effectiveness of the players can
be increased by being able to jump
higher. The problem, though, is that many
players don’t know how to make the best
use of biomechanics to jump their highest.
This is an experiment that I hope will
provide information that can help
athletes, including myself, jump higher.
• What I know is that there are,
generally speaking, two approaches
to vertical jumps from a standing
position. The first is called the squat
jump. You begin the jump in a
modified crouch or squat with the
knees bent and then spring from that
position. In the other approach to
jumping, you begin the jump with a
downward movement of the body
and arms that leads to an upward
spring. The unknown is which of these
two approaches allows the jumper
to jump higher.
• My question is: Which of these two
approaches to the vertical standing jump,
the squat jump and the countermovement
jump, provides the biomechanics that
result in a higher jump?
Criteria for Testable Questions:
Uses something from your “What I will
change”
Uses something from your “What I will
measure”
A broad question that is something to
investigate
 Problem statement samples
1. How can we create a shoe that increases
your speed when sprinting?
2. How can we make a shoe that has
flexibility, lightness, and stickiness?
3. What are your ideas for a sneaker that
has never been made before?
 On your notebook
• Write your research problem based on
your approved topic (Individual activity)
 References
• https://labwrite.ncsu.edu/Experimental%20
Design/res-ex-expdesign.html#one
• http://www.sjsu.edu/people/fred.prochaska
/courses/ScWk170/s0/Basic-vs.-Applied-
Research.pdf
• https://keydifferences.com/difference-
between-basic-and-applied-research.html