Question

Chloe reads that given the correct conditions, cuttings from certain plants will form roots along the stem, enabling a new plant— identical to the parent plant—to grow. Chloe wants to investigate whether rooting hormone is beneficial or detrimental in this process.She takes cuttings from a shrub. For Group 1, she places some shrub cuttings in potting soil in partial shade. For Group 2, she dips some shrub cuttings in rooting hormone, places them in potting soil, covers them with a clear dome, and places them in direct sunlight. She waters the groups equally. She pulls up some cuttings after 3 days and again at 6 and 9 days to observe and measure root growth. All of the cuttings in Group 2 died, while the cuttings in Group 1 grew taller and developed roots. Chloe concludes that the root hormone was harmful to the cuttings.How do you evaluate Chloe's experimental design? What improvement would you suggest?

Answer 1

In this setting of the experiment, where Chloe wants to find if rooting hormone is advantageous or detrimental in this process. There are too many variables present in her experiment. These variables would affect the experiments.

She wanted to test the rooting hormone is a variable of interest. She also had a dome over the cuttings and set them in direct sunlight as variables. She can improve the experiment design by replicated the conditions of the control group.