ASTR 430 ยท Lecture 13

Lecture 13: Capstone Proposal Design

Research Methods in Astronomy

A strong proposal makes failure informative by stating what result would change the conclusion.

Objectives and route

Terms for This Lecture

Hypothesis

Definition: A testable statement linking a proposed mechanism or relation to an observable outcome.

Why it matters here: In Capstone Proposal Design, Hypothesis is needed to reason about hypothesis, sample, method, power, risks, schedule, and data management rather than merely label the phenomenon.

Relationship: It is interpreted alongside Sample design and the lecture relation below; identify which quantities are observed, calibrated, or model-derived.

Limitation or common confusion: Compression should remove redundancy, not validity-defining caveats.

\(utility=expected information/(time+risk)\)

Why the method matters

A strong proposal makes failure informative by stating what result would change the conclusion.

Keep observation, calibration, transformation, model, and claim separate so each can be challenged.

one messagequestion-evidence-consequence
hypothesis, sample, method, power, risks, schedule, and data management. The geometry distinguishes inputs, transformations, and inferential limits.

Formal object

\(utility=expected information/(time+risk)\)

Define fields, units, defaults, version identifiers, and the boundary between measured, adopted, and inferred quantities.

Read the evidence

Identify which part is input, transformation, and claim. A caption should let a reader reproduce the path without asking the author what was omitted.

one messagequestion-evidence-consequence
hypothesis, sample, method, power, risks, schedule, and data management. The geometry distinguishes inputs, transformations, and inferential limits.

Worked audit

A 90-second talk needs one question, one evidence figure, one uncertainty statement, and one consequence.

Compression should remove redundancy, not validity-defining caveats.

Estimate direction first, record units or decision criteria, then test one assumption. This check is generated from shared ASTR430 values.

Failure modes

Active reasoning

Prompt: Use a scored matrix to rank three candidate projects under fixed time and archive constraints.

What would you record so a skeptical collaborator could rerun or challenge the conclusion?

Paired workshop

The workshop turns this method into a reproducible artifact: a query manifest, screening log, uncertainty table, figure critique, time budget, or proposal review. The deliverable includes result and provenance.

Takeaways

Exact source anchors

MAST data policies; Gaia credit instructions; NASA Exoplanet Archive; AAS Code of Ethics.

Archive, software, and ethics citations with verification status are in reference-log.md.