Cell Phone
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Cell Phone
Hi, My name is Devin. I am in 6th grade and doing my science project about reaction time when a person is talking on a cell phone. People will be trying to catch a meter stick while they are talking on the cell phone. I will measure where they caught it. The farther down the stick, the longer it took them to catch it. Here is my problem. I know that I can only have one thing different each time i do a test. But if I say "go" before I drop the meter stick and they try to catch it, then that is not really like driving on the road. No one says "Go" before a car pulls out in front of you. But if my subject does not know when I will drop the meter stick, then isn't that having two variables. I don't know what I should do. Could you please advise me. Thank You
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chloemkohl
- Student Expert
- Posts: 54
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:17 am
- Occupation: Student
Re: Cell Phone
Hi Devin! This sounds like a really interesting and well-thought-out experiment.
You are correct - in a controlled experiment, only one variable can be changed -- the independent variable -- to ensure that you know exactly which variable is affecting your results. Most controlled experiments have two different groups - an experimental group, in which your hypothesis is tested, and a control group to serve as a comparison.
I would recommend splitting your participants into two groups. In one group you should say "go" before dropping the meter stick, and in the other group you should drop the meter stick without saying "go" in order to test their natural reaction time. In this experimental setup, the only variable that is changing will be whether or not the participants have a warning before the meter stick is dropped.
Another possibility would be separating into two groups by phone usage - one group is on a phone call and another group isn't. In this setup, you would need to decide whether or not you want to say "go," and this would have to be consistent between the two groups. The changing variable in this experiment would be whether or not the participants are using a phone.
To ensure that this remains a controlled experiment and only one variable is changed, try to keep everything else as consistent as possible. For example, drop the meter stick at the same time for each person (ex. 1 minute into the phone call), and make sure to drop the meter stick from the same height.
Good luck with your experiment, and feel free to reach out with any more questions! Don't forget to update us with your results!
- Chloe
You are correct - in a controlled experiment, only one variable can be changed -- the independent variable -- to ensure that you know exactly which variable is affecting your results. Most controlled experiments have two different groups - an experimental group, in which your hypothesis is tested, and a control group to serve as a comparison.
I would recommend splitting your participants into two groups. In one group you should say "go" before dropping the meter stick, and in the other group you should drop the meter stick without saying "go" in order to test their natural reaction time. In this experimental setup, the only variable that is changing will be whether or not the participants have a warning before the meter stick is dropped.
Another possibility would be separating into two groups by phone usage - one group is on a phone call and another group isn't. In this setup, you would need to decide whether or not you want to say "go," and this would have to be consistent between the two groups. The changing variable in this experiment would be whether or not the participants are using a phone.
To ensure that this remains a controlled experiment and only one variable is changed, try to keep everything else as consistent as possible. For example, drop the meter stick at the same time for each person (ex. 1 minute into the phone call), and make sure to drop the meter stick from the same height.
Good luck with your experiment, and feel free to reach out with any more questions! Don't forget to update us with your results!
- Chloe
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cuteawesome153
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:26 am
- Occupation: Student
Re: Cell Phone
Hi, Devin
I know that you don't know me and I don't know you but I liked the research you did about the cell phone... I am going to start making a research about a soccer ball of how far they go when they are being kicked and if there are more sizes of soccer balls. I wonder if the cell phone will be helpful for research.
I know that you don't know me and I don't know you but I liked the research you did about the cell phone... I am going to start making a research about a soccer ball of how far they go when they are being kicked and if there are more sizes of soccer balls. I wonder if the cell phone will be helpful for research.