Conclusion and Analysis: Error Analysis

The method for “counting” the colonies can be considered arbitrary.

It can therefore lead to the false misconception that there is a significantly higher number or  a significantly lower number of colonies than there really is.

This could ultimately lead to a false conclusion.

There were only two trials for the E. Coli samples exposed to 16C, rather than three trials.

Two plates were exposed to the incubator without any plated bacteria on them.

This caused a small amount of other bacteria (non-E.coli) to grow on the two plates which were then used to plate the E.coli after.

This could have led the group to miscount the number of colonies, skewing the numbers, and possibly leading to false results.

The data is not measured the same amount of times as the bacteria measured under the other two temperatures (which have 3 trials).

Inconsistent results could lead to a fault in the data collected, therefore skewing the results.