TRANSCRIPT

VWoman: Hi. I'm Doctor Carla Rowen at the NASA Langley Research Center.

Boy1: Hi. We're trying to solve the problem of the barking dogs.

VWoman: I might be able to help you. We collect a lot of data here. That's how we understand problems so we can solve them.

VWoman: Right now we're developing a flight simulation experiment so we can test a new display idea. We'll collect data from pilots to see if the can fly you and your family around with our new display as opposed to the old one.

Boy1: We've received a lot of e-mails from neighborhoods.

Girl1: We really need to know the best way to keep track of all this data. How do you sort and collect your data?

VWoman: Well. First we start with a question or a statement of what we think is happening. We call that statement a hypothesis. For example in my case, I hypothesize that the new display will be better than the old display and that would be true for both younger and older pilots.

VWoman: The data we collect will fill in the test matrix. Each data point can be considered an observation. In my experiment, I'm using the computer and sensors in the computer to take these observations. You can also take direct observations by looking at things yourself, or indirect observations by asking other people to report things to you.

Boy1: How do we know what data is important to our problem?

VWoman: Well hopefully your data supports your hypothesis. That means the conditions you thought were important actually did influence your measures. If it doesn't, then you might want to collect some more data, different data, or rethink your hypothesis.

Girl1: This is great. Remember the matrix Doctor D showed us in the stink problem? We can use that to rule out some of the possible sources of the problem.

Boy1: But how do we set up a matrix?

VWoman: You really should set up your test matrix ahead of time, before you collect data. In my experiment it's pretty simple because I only have two factors of interest. The display type and age of the pilot. I have two levels for each of these factors. For the display type I have a new display and an old display. For the age of the pilots I have younger and older pilots.

VWoman: Your matrix helps you organize your data so you can look at it, analyze it, and understand what's important about your problem.

Boy2: We can look at the data and get an idea about the source.

Girl1: Thanks a lot for all your help. Now we might be actually able to make some sense of all this.

VWoman: Thanks for stopping by. Good luck.