Task 2 RA2 Identifying and Explaining Limitations in Scientific Evidence

In this task, you will practice identifying limitations in the evidence you have gathered for your research investigation.

You will also explain why these limitations matter, including how they may affect the reliability or validity of your data.

Do not suggest improvements, evaluate the overall quality of evidence, draw conclusions, or explain trends (this will occur in a later task).

Focus only on identifying specific limitations in at least two different sources and explaining their impact.

Important information about this activity

This activity is designed to help you practise identifying limitations in evidence and explaining why they matter.

The system will provide feedback on how clearly you identify limitations, link them to specific sources, and explain their impact on reliability or validity.

However, it will not check:

• whether the limitation you identified is scientifically correct
• whether the limitation is the most important one
• whether your interpretation of the evidence is accurate

It is your responsibility to:

• ensure the limitations you identify are relevant to your evidence
• check that your explanations are scientifically accurate

All evidence and sources referred to when identifying limitations must be included in your printed logbook. If your teacher cannot locate the referenced evidence, your analysis of limitations cannot be verified and may not be fully credited.

Identify limitations in the evidence and explain why they matter.

In your response, identify limitations for each piece of evidence you use and refer to them as Evidence Source 1, Evidence Source 2, etc. For each limitation, explain why it matters by describing briefly how it affects the reliability or validity of the data.

• Reliability refers to how consistent or repeatable the results are (was it repeated? etc)
• Validity refers to whether the data accurately measures what it is intended to measure. (was it a fair and well designed test? etc)

NOTE: You will evaluate the overall reliability and validity of ALLthe evidence in a later question (not in this question).

Focus on explaining why each limitation matters. Do not suggest improvements or draw conclusions (again, this will be completed in a later question).

Write your response in third person scientific style (do not use “I” or “we”).