Next Step: Research

Research Directions

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Finding a teacher or mentor to help you though the process will be very helpful.  You can research how to conduct research and/or follow these basic steps. 

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1.   Pre-Research: Know how to use JMARS. Pre-Explore Mars sites to develop areas of interest and questions.

2.   Develop and refine a good science research question.  See  below.

3.   Create a hypothesis. A hypothesis is your best guess at an answer to your research question based on your initial background research.

4.   Research your question more to find out what is known and unknown and to know enough about the topic to evaluate your results.

5.   Revise your research question and hypothesis as needed.

6.   Plan out your research. Include how and what data you will collect and how the data will be analyzed. Be sure your plan answers your research question and hypothesis.

7.   Conduct your investigation.

8.   Analyze the results. Include a discussion of the statistical analysis, bias, errors, limitations, and recommended next steps for future study.

9.   Write a conclusion (response to the hypothesis)

10.  Share the findings.

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Developing a Research Question

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It is easier to research something you know at least a little, and about something you are passionate about. These steps might help:

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1.  Use some observation in your Mars exploration that caused you to wonder. 

2.  Write out all sorts of questions. Remember, the answer to a good question will help us understand the observation or describe the observation.

3.  Your question might be about patterns, cause and effect, structure or function, systems, energy or matter, stability or change, and scale, proportion or quantity. 

4.  The question needs to be narrow enough that you can support it with data from an investigation that is limited to one dependent and one independent variable.  Realistically, you also need the investigation to be one you can understand and have the time and tools to conduct it.