8/4/2019 Bio Intro Experiment

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Preet Aneja 12-04-16

Biology- Introductory Experiment

Research Question

Is there a significant difference in the reaction time between dominant and non-dominant hands?

Method

  The person to be tested will stand or sit near the edge of a table, resting their elbow on the table so that

the wrist of their dominant hand extends over the side

  The assessor will hold the meterstick at the 10 cm mark between the person’s thumb and index finger,

but not touching

  Without warning, the assessor will release the meterstick and let it drop, while the person will need to

catch it as quickly as possible as soon as they see it fall

  The assessor will then record the distance in cm that the meterstick fell

  Repeat the method, this time using the person’s non-dominant hand

Variables  Independent Variable- dominant and non-dominant hands

  Dependent Variable- distance the meterstick falls in cm (+/-1 cm)

  Controlled Variables- meterstick (different types may have different weights and/or thickness), catching

with one hand only, and dropping the meterstick from the same height (10 cm)

Observations- Table

Reaction Times of Dominant and Non-Dominant Hands

Dominant Hand +/- 1 cm Non-Dominant Hand +/- 1 cm

24 1820 20

20 17

26 17

32 15

34 12

27 23

24 30

31 48

36 26

28 28

14 21

32 23

27 32

46 29

23 17

88* 26

Average +/- 1 cm 28 24

*88 is an atypical value, and is therefore not calculated in the average or standard deviation

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Preet Aneja 12-04-16

Conclusion

To determine whether there is a significant difference in the reaction time between the use of the

dominant and non-dominant hand, a two-tailed, unpaired t-test was used on Excel. The null hypothesis would

be that there is no significant difference between the distance the meterstick dropped from the left hand

compared to the right hand, and the alternate hypothesis would be that there is a significant difference between

the distances the meterstick dropped from the left hand compared to the right hand. When the t-test was applied,

the null hypothesis was proven to be correct, as the p value was 0.18 (greater than 0.05).

Evaluation

For the most part, the experiment was conducted in an orderly and organized fashion. The method waswell adhered to, but there is always the possibility of inaccuracies. Some of the inaccuracies that could have

occurred would be: not dropping the ruler from exactly the same height and at 10 cm, not recording the

information exact enough, and there could have been a tendency for the non-dominant hand to perform better in

the test since the majority of the class used their dominant hand first. For next time, two sets of eyes can be used

to ensure that the ruler is being dropped from almost exactly the same height and 10 cm every time. One person

can dedicatedly be recoding the measurements. As well, to make the results more realistic, there could be a

break between the test of the dominant and non-dominant hand, so that when the next hand would be tested, the

brain would not fully understand and recognize what was going to happen/what to do, thus resulting in more

accurate measurements for both hands.

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Dominant Hand Mean

The Average Distance on a Ruler caught by a

Dominant and Non-Dominant Hand

Non-Dominant Hand Mean

Error Bars indicate 1 SD