Scientific Method- Practical Research

Observations: McDonalds uses the phrase "I'm Lovin' It" as their slogan for advertising. Wendys uses "You Know When It's Real", and Burger King's is "Have It Your Way". Sonic uses the phrase "America's Drive-In". Rally's was the only restaurant that we tested that we couldn't find a slogan for. All of these places have commercials and ads containing the deals and cheap food they have to provide. But which of these restaurants has the best value, the most food for the least money?


Question: What is the cheapest fast food restaurant?


Hypothesis: McDonald's will be the cheapest fast food restaurant.


Experimental Set-up: 1. Go to the restaurant to be tested & purchase food
                                 2. Remove the container that the food comes in
                                 3. Weigh the food on the scale provided by Mr. Fligor
                                 4. Divide the weight of the food by the price of the food to
                                     find total value per ounce/gram/etc.


Data: 

	Sonic	Burger King	Wendy’s	McDonald’s	Rally’s
5 Chicken Nuggets	.03 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.03 grams/cent	.07 grams/cent
Plain Cheeseburger	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.06 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent
Small Coke	.07 ounces/cent	.06 ounces/cent	.06 ounces/cent	.06 ounces/cent	.2 ounces/cent
Small Fry	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent
Small Ice Cream	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent	.01 grams/cent

Conclusion: Our conclusion was that Rally's had the best value for food with what price they charged compared to the amount of food in ounces/grams that you receive. Our hypothesis that McDonald's would be the best value was incorrect. Possible sources of error may include malfunctions with the scale, differences in the way food was prepared and served that may have affected our averages, or errors in recording the data. Variables that may change the outcome of the experiment if it were repeated could be the location of the restaurant, because they may charge different prices at different branches of the same restaurant.