Hypotheses, Tables, Graphs and
Statistics
Natalie Cooper
The most important thing is…
The second most important thing is…
Think about your analysis BEFORE collecting any
data (Sorry OpWal people!)
WHY? If you PLAN your experiments
beforehand you can have very easy analyses. If
you don’t your analyses can get complicated!!!
And you may need to do extra work…
Your supervisor will help you with this
Relationship between hormone levels
in male chimpanzees and #females
• Measure hormone levels of
male chimps and then count
how many females are they
foraging with.
• Higher hormone levels are
expected when there are
more females to mate with.
• However, hormone levels are
influenced by age, diet, time
of day etc.
Relationship between hormone levels
in male chimpanzees and #females
• Hormone level difference could be due to age,
diet, time of day OR #females
Relationship between hormone levels
in male chimpanzees and #females
• All chimps are the same age, diet, and time of
day so hormone level difference ~ #females
Hypothesis/Question
What kind of data will
I collect?
How would I plot my
data to answer my
question?
Think about what
variables you might
need to control for…
How would I put my
data into a table?
What kind of
statistics do I need to
answer my question?
What kind of data will I collect?
Categorical?
Counts?
Continuous?
Measurements?
UNITS!!!
Proportions?
What kind of data will I collect?
• For example: if you’re investigating the
number of parasites in mice you might collect
– Body size
– Tail length
– Colour of mouse
– Sex of mouse
– Number of parasites
How would I put my data into a table?
e.g., mouse parasite experiment
UNITS!!!
Individual ID Body mass Tail length Colour # parasites
Mouse #1
1000
30
Brown 89
CONTINUOUS
CONTINUOUS
How would I plot my data to answer my
question?
CONTINUOUS
CATEGORICAL
CONTINUOUS
CONTINUOUS
How would I plot my data to answer my
question?
CONTINUOUS
CATEGORICAL
CONTINUOUS
CONTINUOUS
What kind of statistics do I need to
answer my question?
CONTINUOUS
CATEGORICAL
REGRESSION
T-TEST or ANOVA
Think about what variables you might
need to control for…
Diet?
Sex?
Age?
Season?
Body size?
Location of field site?
Tigers in hotter places are
smaller than tigers in cold
places.
Hypothesis/Question
What kind of data will
I collect?
How would I plot my
data to answer my
question?
Think about what
variables you might
need to control for…
How would I put my
data into a table?
What kind of
statistics do I need to
answer my question?
Red birds lay more eggs than
green birds
Hypothesis/Question
What kind of data will
I collect?
How would I plot my
data to answer my
question?
Think about what
variables you might
need to control for…
How would I put my
data into a table?
What kind of
statistics do I need to
answer my question?
Dragonflies with longer
bodies have longer wings
Hypothesis/Question
What kind of data will
I collect?
How would I plot my
data to answer my
question?
Think about what
variables you might
need to control for…
How would I put my
data into a table?
What kind of
statistics do I need to
answer my question?
?
Your hypothesis for your ?
? project…(if
you can, include a
?
hand drawn sketch of your
hypothesis graph with your
project proposal)
?
?
Hypothesis/Question
What kind of data will
I collect?
How would I plot my
data to answer my
question?
Think about what
variables you might
need to control for…
How would I put my
data into a table?
What kind of
statistics do I need to
answer my question?
Remember: Don’t Panic!!!
• You do not need complicated statistics for
your project!
• You are not expected to do complicated
statistics for your project
• You will not be marked down for using
(appropriate) simple statistics in your project