Fastest Reaction Time On Athletes-Background Research

[HaNnZRoX]

i am conducting an experiment on which athlete has the fastest reaction time
and i cant find any background research. Can you please help me?
Any suggestions or information is warmly welcomed!

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Here is a list of projects on reaction times from the science buddies website. Many projects have background information and references to help get you started.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... gclmby#819

Remember that you will want to ask a question that can be answered by doing a carefully controlled experiment. What is your question going to be?

Let us know if you have any questions.

Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hi,
thank you for helping me with the background research!
My question is going to be 'Which type of athlete has the best response time?'
Do you think it is alright?
Also, when i am testing the reaction times should i use a reflex tester on the internet or use the ruler technique?
Thank you

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

You can use either method to test reflexes, however, if you can use the internet reflex tester because it will eliminate any variation caused by the measurement method. Although, perhaps you wlll want to check the internet test to make sure it is accurate.

The key to success on this project will be to have carefully controlled groups of test subjects and to have a large enough population in each group to obtain significant results. How will you define athlete? What types of athletes are you going to test? What will you use for a control? How many times will you test each subject? If you compare weight lifters, badminton players, and marathon runners, for example, what are you going to do if someone excels in all 3 sports? I recommend that you prepare a questionnaire that will ask questions about age, gender, history of playing video games, recent hand injuries, and anything else that you think might affect results besides the specific sport you are testing. If you use the internet reflex test, you can consider doing a vision test on each subject to verify that everyone can see the video monitor. How are you going to analyze your results? Let me know if you need suggestions. The details of your experimental design are very important for this type of study.

Here is information on sample size:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ants.shtml

Here is information for informed consent, which you need to get in advance from each test subject. Also, check with your teacher and get approval for doing this

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ects.shtml

Another important part of this project will be your data analysis. Look at the following information and decide how you are going to analyze your results. If you do this now, it will help you design a better experiment:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ysis.shtml

Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hi,
Thank you so much for the last reply!
It helped me alot!
I decided to use an internet reflex tester. I was looking at groups of three for each sport.
Does this seem a low amount? Should i go up to 5?
I am going to test athletes that only play one sport. Should i consider the ages of each group?
I am going to prepare a questionnaire for each participant and a vision test to determine the sight of each of them.
How would I do this?
If anyone has any results from previous reflex sports projects, I would be grateful to have those results!

Thank you
Hannah

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

It sounds like you a making good progress in planning your project. I would say that 3 participants would be a minimum number and that your results will be much more significant if you can increase the number to 5. You will see why when you get to the statistical analysis of your data.

It would be best to use subjects of all the same age and gender, but this is ideal, and you may not be able to do this, but do match your subjects as much as possible. Try to do the test when your subjects are not hungry, tired, or ill, as these factors would affect results. You might give each subject a chance to practice the test one time before your do the actual recorded test to make sure they understand how to do the test. But don’t let anyone practice several times before recording results.

Have you tried searching for previous results on this subject? There must be some published results, and having this information would help.

Best regards,


Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hiya,

Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions!
In the next fortnight I am working on getting my variables, equipment and method done.
the following are the variables i have come up with so far

• type of athlete
  type of reaction time test
  conditions

Are there any I have missed?
The equipment and method are going to take some time, so if you have any suggestions feel free to share them!
I will be using 5 participants for each sport if i can.

Thank you
Hannah

[donnahardy2]

Hi Hannah,

It's good you will be trying for 5 participants. In my experience, it is sometimes difficult to get actual participation from people even after they have promised to help you. It's one of the challenges in doing science fair projects with human subjects.

Here is an unpublished, but very good review paper that lists factors that affect reaction times. You should go over the list and try to eliminate any variables that you can, except the participation in a particular sport, which is your independent variable in this project. The paper includes a bibliography from the scientific literature and you might want to check out some of the references.

http://biology.clemson.edu/bpc/bp/Lab/110/reaction.htm

Here are a couple of published papers on reaction times.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8177649

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12167300

Here is a sports related website that explains how to improve reaction times.

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/reactime.htm

You can never do too much background reading for a science fair project. The science fair judges will be impressed if you include a few of the scientific references on your topic in your bibliography.

The success of your project will depend on meticulous attention to the details, and I think you are doing a very good job in your preparation. Let me know if you have any other questions, or when you have the data available to analyze.


Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hi,
I am conducting my experiment now and am just wondering how do I get observations from my project. I can't really smell or hear anything useful, what is one observation i could make that would help me to get inspiration for the next ones?
Also I am getting ready for the presentation part of my project and I am wondering what colours would be suitable for my board?
The questionnaire is working out very well and the participants seem very enthusiastic about the test!

Thanks,

Hannah

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

I’m not sure exactly what you are doing for your experiment. It would be helpful if you could describe exactly how you are measuring reaction time. Hopefully, you have a standard test and you are measuring the actual time it takes for each participant to react in a test. For your results section, you will be presenting a graph showing time of reaction vs. type of athlete. If you have your data available, please post it and I'll make suggestions for data analysis.

Your observations would be anything that you notice that you think might affect your results. For example, you might want to make a note about the room temperature if it is warmer or cooler compared to other tests, or if one of your subjects appeared to be unusually excited or upset about something. The written observation would help you explain results in your data analysis section in the event you have made a note associated with a data point that is an outlier. Your project will be complete without additional observations, but I’m sure you will notice something since you are working with human subjects.

You are going to have lots of data to analyze and here is helpful information from the science buddies website on this topic:

http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... ysis.shtml


An attractive board will enhance your project and you should select your favorite colors and perhaps add some visual that will help the viewer understand what happened in your project. Here is information on color selection. You could use a complementary color scheme to make your project really stand out, or use analogous colors for a calmer presentation. Remember that your data should be the center of attention in your project.

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/col ... monies.htm

http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... oard.shtml

What is the title of your project?


Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hi,
I am now creating an application for my project.
But I am stuck, all I've come up with so far is
'This would be helpful to people who are choosing a sport to play to help decrease their response time'
But I think that it's not enough.
Who or what would my experiment be helpful to?

Thanks
Hannah

[donnahardy2]

Hi Hannah,

You are on the right track. One application is that your research might help coaches and athletes determine if what they are doing will improve performance in a particular sport. It would also be useful as a tool to predict performance in a particular sport. It could contribute to the understanding of human nerve-controlled reactions. And, it might help you win a certain carnival games.


Donna Hardy

[HaNnZRoX]

Hi,

Thank you for the application ideas. I didn't think of those.
The title for my board is 'How Fast Are You?'
I am now gettiing ready to design, paint and create my board!
Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions and ideas, they helped me very much!

Again, thank you

Hannah

[donnahardy2]

Hi Hannah,

You are welcome! Good luck to you at the science fair.


Donna Hardy