Kincaid’s Lupine Soil Study – Data Tables and

Preliminary Analysis

Field Biology

Your primary goal for this activity is to make sure that you and ALL of your partners have an Excel copy of the soil data that you collected the week before spring break. You should work in teams of two to enter the data (in other words, you should use one computer for every two students in your group – so if your group has four people, you should have two computers!). When you are done, your data should clearly show:

a) The soil characteristic you were measuring

b) Whether your data was collected at Bald Hill or Fitton Green

c) Which subsite each sample came from (i.e., “1C” or “2G”)

d) All measurements and calculations for each sample

e) The units of each measurement and calculation (units should be shown in the column headers of your spreadsheet)

Your table should also be neatly formatted and easy to read and understand. Please include ALL the names of the students in your group.

Underneath your table, write a 1-2 sentence response to each of the following questions. You can type your answers directly into an empty cell in Excel.

Questions:

1. Did the measurements you took look all the same, or is there some variation in your data?

2. Does there appear to be any relationship between the location where your data was collected and the measurement you took? In other words, did you get different data from different locations?

3. Were there any measurements or calculations that look “wrong” to you – i.e., are there numbers that look like they are the result of errors in the data collection process?

4. How confident are you that your data is accurate?

When you have completed your spreadsheets and your responses, please e-mail ONE copy to me from your group. Your spreadsheet should have all the names of the members of your group, and I will assign points equally to all group members. Please use the following as the subject of your e-mail: “per X your name KL Soil Data”. (It’s OK to use just one name in the subject of your e-mail since all the names of your group members will appear in the spreadsheet.)