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
8/4/2019 Bio Intro Experiment
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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.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
D
i s t a n c e o n r u l e r ( + / - 1 c m )
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