My Background Research

I would like to dedicate this blog to explain a bit about my background research that I completed prior to generating my plan. I began my research on the 12th of February. I decided that I needed to come up with a unique idea that will present quantitative results and so, I made my way to my cousin's house who has a PhD in Science from the University of New South Wales. We spent four hours that night trying to come up with an idea. We were put off our countless ideas as they either were irrelevant or wouldn't present quantitative data. In our conversation, pH was mentioned and after sitting in silence, I decided on my problem. We quickly jotted down ideas and began our research. We used her year 11 biology, chemistry and physics textbooks to research and also turned to the internet. We searched four main aspects in order to draw to our hypothesis
- What effect does the soil pH have on plants?
- How and why do different soils affect plant growth differently
- Which soil pH will enhance the growth process of plants?
- Which plants grow fast in any form of weather?
After we collated our research, I was able to begin working on my plan. I spent a week after that, researching and brainstorming ideas before I decided on my experiment. My research concluded the following:
- Basil plants are fast growing plants that grow up to 12 inches per month
- Soil with a pH of between 5.5 and 7 allow plants to grow the fastest
- Acidic and neutral soils work better as they are more enriched with nutrients
Through this background research, I was able to conclude with a plan that was sufficient enough for me to conduct a whole SRP experiment on. Of course, my cousin helped out a lot and I'm very thankful and excited to complete my SRP. :)