10/18/18

Lab #9: Results and Figures

Purpose: In this lab students learned how to create figures in Excel for a research paper using the experimental data obtained. Each group of students also got together to create a presentation of the cell count figure and optical density. The figures were created in preparation for the results section of the research paper.

Procedure:

1. Obtain the cell count treatment and control descriptive statistics gathered in the last lab to create a figure of the cell counts.
2. Highlight the means for both treatment and control variables and make a stacked bar chart of the data.
3. Add a descriptive title “Average Treatment and Control Cell Counts”
4. Add x and y-axis labels “control and treatment” for the x-axis and  “ cells/mL” for the y-axis.
5. Then, add a short caption describing the data shown.
6. Add the standard error bars to the chart by highlighting the standard error from the descriptive statistics and clicking “ error bars” in the chart settings.
7. Follow the same steps to create a chart for the optical density, except to find the correct treatment data subtract the “ppt and twine only” column data from the treatment column data to obtain the final treatment data.
8. Use this new column of treatment and the control column to obtain descriptive statistics.
9. Highlight the means to create a chart.
10. Add a title ” Average Treatment and Control Optical density’s”
11. Add the standard error bars to the chart.
12. Next, make a figure of the directional change assay by obtaining its descriptive statistics, both for the spins and for the directional changes.
13. Highlight the means of the directional change control and treatment and make a stacked bar chart.
14. Change the title to “ Control and Treatment Directional Changes”
15. Add the standard error bars to the chart by highlighting the standard error from the descriptive statistics and clicking “ error bars” in the chart settings.
16. Next, make another bar chart of the control and treatment spins by highlighting the means of the spins from their descriptive statistics.
17. Add the title “ Control and Treatment Spins”
18. Add the standard error bars to the chart by highlighting the standard error from the descriptive statistics and clicking “ error bars” in the chart settings.
19. Begin a powerpoint on google drive for the cell count and optical density figures. 

Sample Storage/ Label: none; worked in the computer lab

Data:

Conclusion: Throughout this lab I learned how to create figures in Excel based on collected data from the Tetrahymena experiment. This data will be used to further help form the results section of research paper. The bar chart figure was selected because it best represents the data and shows the differences between the control and treatment variables. The cell count figure shows the significant increase in counts for the treatment variable and the directional assay figures show the significant decrease in directional change and spins for the treatment sample. I also learned how to add error bars to the charts to represent the uncertainty of the data. My group and I created the cell count chart and I made a chart for my directional change assay. We also started putting together a powerpoint of the cell count and optical density  figures we created to present during next lab. Overall, I became familiar with creating different types of charts in excel and learned how to correctly choose a chart to best represent a data set based on which aspect of the results I want to make stand out. Next, I plan on utilizing this data and these charts to help explain the results in the results section of my research paper. I look forward to seeing everyone else’s figures and hearing about the results of the different assays performed.