of the Universe $\Psi$ is obtained from the Hamiltonian constraint by replacing the momenta by operators in the standard way, and is given by (a, \_0, f\_n) = 0 where we choose a factor ordering such that the kinetic term appears as the Laplace-Beltrami operator on superspace.

Writing (a,\_0,f\_n) = \_0 (a, \_0) \_n \_n(a, \_0, f\_n) we would like to obtain from (2.8) an effective Wheeler-DeWitt equation of the form ( H\_0 + H ) \_0 (a, \_0) = 0 where $H_0$ is the part of the Hamiltonian operator in (2.8) independent of $f_n$ and $\Delta H$ represents the influence of the higher modes. By making the assumption that $\Psi_n$ varies slowly with the minisuperspace variables (see Sinha and Hu 1991 for details of this approximation) one can identify H = -\_[n]{} &lt;H\_n&gt; where the expectation value is taken with respect to $\Psi_n$. It is evident that the examination of this term will enable us to comment on the validity of the minisuperspace description. We will then make a further assumption that $\Psi_0$ has a WKB form, i.e, $\Psi_0 = e^{iS(a,\chi_0)}$ which can be used in regions of superspace where the wavefunction oscillates rapidly, such that using eqn. (2.10), 