Wednesday, 27 February 2013Teknik Menjawab Soalan - Operational Definition

Again in Biology SPM Paper 3 Question 1, this operational definition-type (OD) question is one of the most frequently asked by my students. Consider the examples below:

SPM 2008 - State the OD for population of Pleurococcus sp.

SPM 2009 - State the OD for the photosynthesis process.

SPM 2010 - State the OD for exhaled air.

SPM 2011 - State the OD for the hydrolysis of starch by amylase enzyme.

To begin our Teknik Menjawab Soalan short course, let's begin the definition of OD, according to Adanza (1995) in the book Research methods: Principles and Applications:

The words variables & experiments are highlighted since OD is closely associated with them in SPM-level experiments.

Let's look at these variables (MV & RV):

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

From the SPM questions, we can observe that the OD is asked for the indirect variables. Hence,

"The OD is the direct variables in the particular experiment."

Examples of questions with answers:

________________________________________________________________________

Q: OD for population of Pleurococcus sp.

A: The total surface area covered by the algae in different sites (in the experiment)

Q: OD for light intensity.

A: The distance of light source from the plant / presence of sunlight

(according to experiments)

Q: OD for exhaled air.

A: The volume of exhaled air collected using spirometer /

length of air column after being treated with potassium hydroxide solution

(according to experiments)

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If you still stuck with the question, ask yourself,

"how can we know the (variable asked) according to the experiment?"

Congratulations! You just finished the short course of TMS (Teknik Menjawab Soalan) for OD. Wish you well in your study ;)