Conducting Your Own Research Project

At this point you may take tons of experimental data, pages of charts, photos, videos, graphics, pictures, spreadsheets - the list goes on and on. EGADS - now what!

If you "had the end in mind" and "documented" all along the way you've simplified your last step. (Now - don't worry if you for any reason you haven't).

Whether you're doing a science fair project, term paper or formal research study you'll want to describe all the steps that you've done. This will include:

1. The Title of Your Study, Project or Paper
2. Authors
3. Abstract - An Overview In 1-2 Paragraphs Of The Overall Project And Its Results
4. Introduction - Including Problem Statement And Significance Of The Study
5. Background Research
6. What The Experimental Setup Was
7. How You Conducted The Experiment And Collected Data
8. How You Analyzed The Data And Validate Its Correctness
9. Your Results
10. Summarize Any Observations, Possible Work For The Future And Your Conclusions
11. References

This sounds very familiar doesn't it. It sounds just like the steps you followed that were outlined in The "Big" Picture and Having A Plan. That is why we suggest documenting and writing about each step us you are working on it. If you write things down as they occur the facts will be fresh in your mind. Its easy to forget things as time passes. A month or so later you may not be able to remember some important details of your experiment.

History records that one of the reasons that the Wright Brothers succeeded in developing the first piloted powered airplane when others failed was because Orville and Wilbur Wright were "meticulous" note takers.

Another reason that we document is to establish that we did do this work and that it is "reproducible". Under the same conditions another researcher should be able to "reproduce" your results.

When you are done, you can truly be proud of what you've accomplished. You will have made a contribution that will not only help other researchers but will advance the knowledge in your field of study and in the case of sport science hopefully make it safer, healthier, easier or more enjoyable environment.