Understanding Research


Episode 9: Conducting Experiments

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Overview

In this video, Anthony explains some of his own research about mercury in soils, and how he was involved in an experiment to determine the impact of forest burning on mercury pollution in the soil and in the air. He describes the key characteristics of scientific experiments, including the manipulation of a single variable at a time to compare one situation to another. He talks about having both methodological controls and experimental controls, and the many types of scientists that use these controlled experimental methods.

Related reading:

Experimentation in Scientific Research

This video is one in a series that introduces students to scientific research. You can go to the table of contents to see all of the videos in the series.