Psychology, Stress and the Immune system

• The researcher asked the participants to split into pairs. They were then asked to split themselves randomly into group A and group B.
• The sample was then divided. Group A were given a caffeine based drink and Group B was given a caffeine free drink. The participants from both groups were asked to drink their drinks at the same time.
• The participants were left for 15 minutes. This was so that the caffeine, if it did have an effect on reaction time, had time to get into their bodies and take affect.
• Each participant then did something known as the ruler test. The ruler test was conducted by the researcher.
• The results were then recorded in a table and analysed.

To be able to conduct this experiment properly the researcher used 15 participants, a caffeine free drink and a caffeinated drink, plastic beakers, a 30cm ruler and one researcher.

Findings:

The results were collected in a table. They show the results of the ruler test, this demonstrates the difference in reaction time between each group.

From the results the researcher could create a table of central tendency. This includes the mean, mode and median.

These measures support the experimental hypothesis that was that the levels of caffeine will have an effect on reaction time.  A table of dispersion was done, it consists of standard deviation and the range. The researcher only found out the range.

This shows that the caffeine condition scores are more varied than the none caffeine conditions. The researcher then did a graph to show the difference in reaction time and caffeine levels.

This graph shows me that the reaction time of participants without any caffeine were significantly lower than the participants who had been given caffeine. All the findings show that the researcher’s experimental hypothesis was correct.

Discussion: