The Charter School of Wilmington

Organizing and Planning Your Project:

The Senior Research Project and the APA format of your paper follow the Scientific Method, which is

• Objective – the purpose or question that you want to study
• Research – observing and gathering data and literature on your project
• Hypothesis – a statement that explains what is to be tested, the purpose of the investigation, and what you intend to prove or to disprove.
• Experiment – how you will test your hypothesis.  Must include the variable that is being tested and the control to compare with the variable.
• Observations – actual observation of things, events or phenomena.  Minimum sample size for each control and variable is 30 data points (or 60 data points’ total) for statistical significance.  Check the Charter website for instructions on how to Design Samples and the statistical analysis required for sample testing.
• Data – recorded collection of observations
• Analysis – mathematical and/or statistical analysis of the data which will lead to a conclusion
• Conclusion – comparison and explanation of the data and the analysis to prove or disprove the hypothesis.