Question

Can someone please help me with this question? I am confused and I do not understand. :(

A group of ten archaeologists discovers a series of fossilized footprints in eastern Africa and they are perplexed. They believe the footprints belonged to ancient hominins. They wish to ascertain the heights of the individuals. They come to you for advice. How would you advise them in designing an experiment to answer their question? Include in your answer the step by step experimental design and the results they might expect.

Answer 1

1- Scientific question: is height associated with the footprint size in hominids?

2- Hypothesis: the footprint size is associated with the height

3- Experimentation:

a) to collect data about the footprint size in different hominids such as Homo Neanderthalensis, H. habilis and H. sapiens

b) to measure the fossilized footprints

4- Results: to compare statistically the differences among footprint sizes (i.e., footprint size data in different hominids vs fossilized footprints)

5- Conclusions: to confirm or reject the working hypothesis

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scientific method, the first step is to formulate a question that leads to the working hypothesis, whose answer will enable understand the reasons for a given observation. After this, it is necessary to formulate a working hypothesis, ie., a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon which is scientifically tested. Subsequently, it is required to test the hypothesis by experimentation or observational procedures to test our prediction (i.e., the working hypothesis). Finally, the statistical analysis of the results is used to obtain a conclusion in order to confirm (or reject) the working hypothesis.