You have asked a question, studied some background, performed an experiment, collected data, shared it with others, and made sense of the data. Now, it’s time for you to share what you have learned.

Ask yourself, “What do I know now that I didn’t know before I started the experiment?”

Your conclusion should address the research question: Which combination of solvent and method will work best for removing mustard and Kool-Aid from a shirt without losing the color of the material? Answering the research question is an important part of the conclusion.

What method and solvent would you suggest that the KanCRN director use to remove the mustard and Kool-Aid stains without losing the color of the shirt? If you feel that you cannot make a good suggestion, explain why you can't? Can you provide any advice that will help him with at least part of the problem?

However just answering the question is not enough. You have to explain why you arrived at that conclusion. You have to support your answer with evidence.

Where do you find that evidence? You'll find it in the Picturing the Data section. You developed your evidence there when you carried out the process. The patterns you discovered in the data led you to your conclusion. You should now use those patterns to support it.

In your conclusion, you need to look at your hypothesis. If your hypothesis was correct, what was correct about your thinking in making your hypothesis? If your hypothesis was incorrect, where did you go wrong in your thinking? Thinking about your thinking is one of the most difficult things a researcher does, but it is also one of the most important.

Your conclusion should also include the strengths and weaknesses of your experiment.

What did you do in your experiment that makes you feel that your conclusion is accurate?

If you conducted this experiment again, what would you do differently and why?

Do you feel enough data has been collected?

If others conducted your experiment, would they arrive at the same conclusion?

What about weaknesses? Did you find any flaws in the design of the experiment itself? By pointing out the weaknesses of your experiment, you often strengthen your conclusion.

After you have thought about your information, your conclusion should be shared with other researchers so they can learn from your explorations as well.

After sharing your conclusion, you might be wondering where you go from here. Often a researcher finds himself/herself thinking about new questions that have come up from working on a project. Go to the More Questions Section to find out how you need to deal with these questions.