Carbon Footprint Hypothesis

We all make everyday choices which impact the amount of carbon dioxide which enters our atmosphere. Driving cars, using energy in our houses, buying local products or products which travel great distances are just some of these choices. In this project, you will determine your contributions to atmospheric carbon dioxide. We will also collect and evaluate survey data for other students on the Auraria campus. We will be discussing the Greenhouse Effect later in the semester. You may want to watch that lecture early to get some perspective for this project.

If you have any questions about this assignment, please contact your lab instructor. They can also review your assignment before you submit it!

DIRECTIONS

A. Go to this survey and complete it for yourself: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q5bTQaDJoHgQsHFRB-cU-Tjb20rxciGusobiwQBASq8 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

B. Send this google survey to 5-10 students on the Auraria campus (they cannot be enrolled in this class). You can email it to classmates in another class via Canvas but you need to request permission from your instructors or you can just email it individually to some of your friends.

C. Create a hypothesis that you will test using the campus survey data. Think about the questions in the survey and your expectations about how students on the campus will respond and the relationships between multiple questions. The survey was given last semester also so there will be data from a previous semester as well. I recommend keeping your hypothesis pretty simple by only choosing one independent variable and a clear cutoff.

In this Discussion, you will claim your topics for this project and work on ensuring your hypothesis is appropriate. No one in the class can do the same hypothesis and topics will be awarded on a first-come-first-serve basis, so post yours early! Make sure to check the previous posts before posting yours to ensure it is not already taken. The Carbon Footprint Results assignment will not be graded if you did not have your hypothesis approved. I am having you post in the Discussion so you can learn from others so take advantage of being able to review your classmate’s work.

By Wednesday, you can receive 5pts for posting a potential hypothesis (late postings will receive a zero out of these 5 points). Your lab instructor will then respond to your post to let you know whether you need more work on it or not. If not, your instructor will approve your hypothesis and you will receive the other 5pts for this assignment. If your first attempt at a hypothesis needs work, your instructor will provide feedback. You will work back and forth with your instructor on this until you have an approved hypothesis by Sunday night. Be sure to check in often here to make sure you have time to modify your hypothesis as needed. Feel free to make an online conference or on-campus appointment with your TA if you would like to chat about your topic.

Include in your Discussion post:

1. One clear hypothesis that is testable using the data collected in the survey.
2. Identification of independent and dependent variable.
3. List at least two constants and two confounders for your experiment.
4. If there is a control in the experiment, list it.