To perform this experiment I will use a reaction timer. The tester will hold the ruler, and whilst standing ask the subject to put their thumb and first finger over the bottom of the reaction timer. To ensure all subjects have their fingers the same distance away from the ruler, I will turn the ruler sideways and ask the subjects to leave their fingers at the same width as the ruler when it is turned sideways. Once I’ve ensured their fingers are in the correct position, I will wait for a random amount of time before dropping the ruler. When I am testing the reaction for sight, when I drop the ruler, the subject has to try and catch it as soon as possible, and their initial score will be the distance at which they caught the ruler (I will measure the distance from the top of their thumb.)
Then I will ask them to estimate a minute, I start the stop watch and after a number of seconds they will tell me when a minute is up and I will record that time.
When choosing my subjects for the test, I must ensure that my choices are not biased, and that I get a good range of results in terms of age. Considering I will be doing most of my work inside my school, I decided to take results,from years 7 – 11.
Another precaution I will be taking to ensure that my results are not biased is that I will choose my subjects using the randomise function on my calculator to generate a random number between 1 and the number of people in the class by entering rnd(Y-1), where Y is the number of people in the class. This generates a random number in the range of 1-Y, but it generates real numbers, so if the number is not an integer, I will round it to the nearest integer. I will use this randomly generated number, and find the person who is in that position on the register (which is ordered alphabetically), and test them. This method will hopefully ensure that my results are totally unbiased.
In total, I collected results from 50 subjects from a range of different groups. I collected results from:
- 10 Year 7 Students (age 11-12)
- 10 Year 8 Students (age 12-13)
- 10 Year 9 Students (age 13-14)
- 10 Year 10 Students (age 14-15)
- 10 Year 11 Students (age 15-16)
I used the same ruler in each of my tests in an attempt to keep the test fair and the same stopwatch.
This is an example of the table I will use.
I will compare the 3 pieces of data in the hypotheses to either prove or disprove the hypotheses. I will use standard deviation, graphs and other equations to show the methodology and findings of the hypotheses.
I am approaching the task in this way as I believe it to be the most appropriate. It is the best way of finding out how the amount of sleep can have on the body as it will compare two defined pieces of data in a way that will allow me to find out why it has this affect. Using standard deviation means that I can find out precisely how the data relates to each other.
σ = Standard Deviation
The equation for this is:
σ = √∑x²-x²
n²
Using graphs means I can show and prove my work in the form of a picture. It may help those who don’t understand statistical data to interpret my work to its full and understand what I have and why I have done it.
Using Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient means that I can find out whether a graph has positive or negative correlation and whether the hypothesis is correct or not.
The equation for this is:
Correlation = 1- 6Σd²
n³ - n
Problems which may occur
There will be certain limitations to this experiment for example people could lie about how much sleep they get per night or they might not take it seriously and give false answers when estimating a minute. This will cause anomalous results. Another problem might be is that students will not be willing to take the time out to help me with my coursework so therefore I will not collect enough data.