Statistics coursework. My first hypothesis is that people with a smaller hand span have quicker reaction times. My second hypothesis is that males have quicker reaction times than females.

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Introduction:

I am going to show that different people have different reaction times according to their gender and the size of their hand span. I will try to prove this by selecting a number of people, and testing their reaction times. I will record their reaction times in a table and then analyze them to produce a set of reliable results.

Hypothesis:

My first hypothesis is that people with a smaller hand span have quicker reaction times.

My second hypothesis is that males have quicker reaction times than females.

Method:

For this experiment I am going to use primary data. This means that I will collect the data myself as I am the one going to use it.

The way in which I will record the reaction times of the people I select will be to use a 10cm ruler. I will ask the person to hold out their hand as if they were holding a burger, with their fore finger and thumb 2cm apart. I will then hold the ruler upright (0cm at the bottom, 10cm at the top) above their hand so the bottom edge is level with their fore finger and thumb. Without letting the person know, I will drop the ruler between their hand. What the person has to do is to close their hand on the ruler as quickly as possible after I let it go. I will record the number at which they have caught the ruler. If the ruler falls straight through their hand before they manage to react, they score 10 points (maximum). This means that the quicker their reaction time, the less points they will score, the slower their reaction times, the more points they will score. I will test each person 3 times and take their average score.

For the hand span I will measure from the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb when the hand is stretched out.

Sample:

For my experiment I will take a random sample of 48 people; 24 males and 24 females. 12 of those males and 12 of those females will be taken randomly from a year 10 bottom set maths class. The other 12 males and 12 females will be taken randomly from a year 10 top set maths class. I will use the random sample method as it does not have any chance of being bias.

Fair test:

To make my experiment a fair test I will hold the ruler the same height above each persons hand, as if it was higher it would look as if they had a very fast reaction time, when really they could have a slow one. E.g. If the ruler was being held 8cm above one persons hand, the ruler could fall 10cm, but they catch it at 2cm, giving them a score of 2.
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I will make sure each person holds their fore finger and thumb the same distance apart (2cm). In addition I must make sure that each person has no idea when I am about to drop the ruler, otherwise they will know when to close their hand.

This will rule out any possibility of my results being bias.

Data:

All the data I will collect will be Quantitative data (all the data will be in number form, e.g. 21.5 cm). Quantitative data can be split into two parts; discrete data and continuous data.

Discrete ...

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