If you need to come up with a scientific research project or science fair project one of the obvious challenges is to find an idea for the project. Also, you need science involved, so you will need to apply the scientific method somehow. The scientific method can be stated several ways, but basically it involves looking at the world around you, coming up with an explanation for what you observe, testing your explanation to see if it could be valid, and then either accepting your explanation (for the time being... after all, something better might come along!) or rejecting the explanation and trying to come up with a better one.
 
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT OF MY RESEARCH
You’ll be spending a lot of time on a research paper, so it is particularly important to select a topic that you really enjoy working with. You should choose a subject of research which you feel you could work on, that you are interested in, and if it is possible related to your professional and academic interest. It is advisable to choose a subject that adapts to your level and that does not require a series of previous knowledge difficult to acquire. There is another conditioning, the research should be carried out in a deadline that has been settled. You should foresee if you will have the material and the necessary information within the reach. Moreover it is important to make an examination of scientific quality, answering the following questions positively: Is it real?; Is it feasible?; Is it solvable?; Is it a generator of new knowledge and new solutions?; and Is it, finally, ethical?
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WHAT'S THE QUESTION?
Once you have decided your research topic, you should formulate a series of related questions that allow you to identify factors, or variables, which determine the topic which you want to investigate. Jorge Wagensberg a well known Spanish scientist says "The history of Science is the history of good questions. It advances when it changes the question. The answer is almost a routine".


Jorge Wagensberg (2003) If the nature is the answer, which was the question? Editorial Tusquets

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WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE QUESTION?
In this phase you should include the current state of the subject. That is, what is known about the phenomenon and what has been written independently of the type of publication. Later this information will be used to formulate the hypotheses. Any work of research entails selecting information, but sometimes to find the most convenient can be difficult. Think that a good documental basis about what you want to investigate is the first step for having a satisfactory result.

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WHAT IS A HYPOTHESIS?
A hypothesis is a statement that can be used to predict the outcome of future observations. It represents a fundamental element in the process of research. After formulating a problem, you will have to declare the hypothesis, which will orientate you in the process and will allow you to arrive at a project conclusion. A well formulated hypothesis helps directing the work.

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WHICH METHODOLOGY DO I APPLY?
Any research has a bibliographical component. Thus, for example, in a work centred on a literary work or in a social aspect, you will have to handle a lot of bibliography, but also you will have to read in the experimental research. In any case, you will have to search information about the problem that you investigate.

Also, it will be necessary from the beginning that you make a work plan and set deadlines to the phases or parts of the research. If you will use the survey in the fieldwork, you will have to design and think to whom you will pass it, if you have to make an experiment you will have to design the hypothesis, the variables and the measures or observations that you will carry out, if you have thought of an interview you will have to start to formulate the questions, if you have to make a technological project you will have to plan and to think of the materials that you need.

 

Do not forget that during this phase, which it might be also called "how I will make my research"? you should:


• write
• elaborate cards of the books, articles or news that you consult,
• make drafts of surveys,
• design experiments

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HOW DO I OBTAIN RESULTS?
This, is usually the most interesting and fun phase of research, but sometimes we find out that we should modified one of the actions that we had planned, or we find unexpected things or new ways to work. In this phase of the research it is important to dialogue often with your tutor, who will guide you in the process.

It is in this phase of the research where we will obtain the results. Carrying out and emptying the surveys; carrying out and transcribing the interview; making the practical work in case it is an experimental research; or elaborating the materials that constitute the technological project (maps, scale model, etc).

During this part of the research it is also necessary to write. You will probably have to elaborate tables, to comment on texts, to make diagrams, graphs and probably to make calculations. It is necessary to be orderly and clear in the collection of the results, since afterwards it will facilitate you processing them and interpreting them.

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HOW DO I ANALYSE RESULTS?
It has arrived the hour of interpreting the obtained data: relating the data that has been found with the previous information; identifying regularities; correlating variables; relating causes with effects and, in general, explaining the results to match the theoretical knowledge. For the analysis of the results it is important that you sort them and you make a clear and orderly representation: tables, graphs, outlines, diagrams, etc. This will allow you to elaborate more easily the conclusions.

It is not a failure that the results are different of what you have expected to find. This is precisely, the value of the research.
 
HOW DO I DRAW CONCLUSIONS?
The interpretation of the results will drive you towards the conclusions. It is here where you will have to validate the hypotheses (or goals) that you had initially formulated. It is necessary to specify if the results of the experimentation fit or not to the hypothesis. The conclusions should attempt to give an answer and have also to reflect your opinion about the subject, without making references to the information sources consulted.

You can explain until which point you have attained the goals brought up, what you have achieved to demonstrate, which subjects come off pending, or suggest applications of the results. As you should have already understood the research of the knowledge, always continues and does not have end.

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HOW DO I PRESENT MY RESEARCH PROJECT?
The research has been carried out, the data picked up, interpreted the results and elaborated the conclusions but remains a very important part and that: presenting it. Probably you will find a heap of material which it will be necessary to sort and organise so that it makes sense. This entails writing a paper or dissertation and, often, oral presentation.

In the presentation of any research (oral or written), it should always come off very clear:

* What did you want to investigate? (the question the problem that you brought up)
* How did you made it? (the method to obtain the results)
* What did you found? (the results and the conclusions).

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WHERE DO I PUBLISH MY RESEARCH PROJECT?
Now it’is the moment of participating in activities, and make diffusion of your work of research. Present your research project to fairs and contest.

Do not forget to share what you have learn. To make public your work is an opportunity to start an open a dialog with other people with similar interests. Good research projects can not remain in a drawer!

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