Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello scientists,

The science project we chose was crossed and uncrossed hand/eye dominance in basketball free throw shooting. We have some questions to ask. First, how does crossed and uncrossed hand/eye dominance affect free throw shooting in basketball? How does it affect other sports such as golf and archery? Which is more likely to have, crossed or uncrossed? Which is more beneficial to have? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this project so that we can get better results that we can use to compare with other activities?

Thank you,

Jacob Karadsheh

Hi Jacob,

Welcome to Ask an Expert.

In regards to your first question - the goal of the project is to answer this precise question. So, make a hypothesis, do the experiment, and then decide for yourself whether there is a relationship between crossed hand/eye dominance and free-throw shooting. Take a look, if you haven't already, at the "What Is 'Eye Dominance'?" article that the bibliography links to - it discusses how eye dominance affects things besides basketball. A Google search for "crossed hand eye dominance" yields some additional helpful resources. You will find that you can answer many of your questions yourself after a bit of research.

In terms of ways to improve this project, I think the most important thing is to (1) have a large sample group, with controlled variables in the population (e.g., same gender, same age, etc.) and then (2) to thoroughly analyze the data. Applying some statistical methods once you have collected your data will be a nice way to pump up the quality of the project. I'd be happy to help you with that when the time comes.