Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was wondering if i could interview someone about how age affects reaction time for my science fair project. Please respond as soon as you can.

Hi Katelyn,

This topic seems to have two issues.

1. I'm not sure what you mean by "interviewing someone." Don't you need to measure someone.
2. And since you need to get data over time, a subject's reaction in the past is not available.

sorry i didn't word that question correctly. for the problem #1 i need to talk to an expert about the project for part of the assignment. For the problem #2 i am testing people of all ages to see if there is a common difference between the older and younger people.

do you think that it would be better if I changes the question to "do physically fit people have better reaction times than people who aren't fit?" and just test people of the same age?

Hi Katelyn,

Well, that's an interesting idea. I don't know, however, how you would precisely define physical fitness.

Doing some web searches:

http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/reactiontime.html provides good descriptions of the factors. It includes:
age, gender, nature of the signal, visibility, response complexity, time of night

to the above,
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_factors_ ... ction_time adds alcohol and stress

The above were generated by supplying "what factors affect reaction time" to answers.com
I only looked at the top hits. You may find more information by looking at the later hits.

I was thinking of doing sports involvement instead of actual physical fitness.

Hi Katelyn,

You are moving in the right direction now. You want something that is:

1. objectively quantifiable
2. easily measurable
3. significant

It is fairly easy to determine if 1 and 2 are met. Item 3 is the subject of the experiment. You start with a hunch here, and, with any luck, it works out.

Thanks! I have a sheet of questions that I need to ask an expert. Can I type it up for you to answer?

Hi Katelyn,

Thanks for your post. I believe the protocol for this site is to post for you to your questions. Then the experts will try to answer the questions. The answer could come either from me or from one or my fellow experts (or both). I'll know to be lookout for the questions and will answer them if I can. Note: the questions need to be in scope, in other words, relating to your science project.

Hi Katelyn,

Oops, I mangled the second sentence in my last post. The correct post is:

Thanks for your post. I believe the protocol for this site is for you to post your questions. Then the experts will try to answer the questions. The answer could come either from me or from one or my fellow experts (or both). I'll know to be lookout for the questions and will answer them if I can. Note: the questions need to be in scope, in other words, relating to your science project.

Here's the questions. If you can't answer all of them that's okay.

About you
1. What do you do in your job/line of work?
2. What skills are most useful to you in your job?
3. What got you interested in your profession?
4. How do you find science helps you in your everyday life and/or job?
5. What do you think is the most important lesson/information you have ever learned?

About my project
6. Do you think my plan is a valid experiment ( does sports involvement affect a 9th grader's reaction time)?
7. What would you suggest to improve my experiment?
8. do you know of any sources that could help me (besides the ones you said before)?

Thanks again!

Please respond as soon as possible.

Hi Katelyn,

I saw your mail and will respond on Tuesday. I do not understand the urgency based on your
"Project Due Date: May??"

Yeah, the whole project isn't due for a while, but the expert interview is due pretty soon. but Tuesday is fine (=

Hi Katelyn,

Here’s a try at the questions. Please let me know if you have any questions.
----------------
About you
1. What do you do in your job/line of work?
I'm retired now. So "do" is "did"
I had two basic classes of positions: technical and business. My business positions included product management of programming languages, compilers as products. (I introduced the first C++ to market.) I also analyzed the market for various products, including energy management systems (computers in buildings that control energy usage).
My technical work included proving programs correct and writing specifications for new features for the telephone network.
2. What skills are most useful to you in your job?
My undergraduate and first graduate degrees are in mathematics. I also have an M.B.A. (masters in business administration) in corporate strategy.
3. What got you interested in your profession?
The technical work had two components - first was job availability and second was help from a friend. The business work started from my wife who got an M.B.A. I liked the material she was studying and decided to get an M.B.A., too.
4. How do you find science helps you in your everyday life and/or job?
My first job, where we were proving program correct was directly linked to my mathematics work, where we were proving mathematical constructs correct. My mathematics work also helped in writing precise specifications.
5. What do you think is the most important lesson/information you have ever learned?
Choose good people in your circle - my friends and my wife!

About my project
6. Do you think my plan is a valid experiment ( does sports involvement affect a 9th grader's reaction time)?
Yes, as long as #7 is followed.
7. What would you suggest to improve my experiment?
Make sure all terms are precisely defined, sports involvement and reaction time.
8. do you know of any sources that could help me (besides the ones you said before)?
a. background information about interviews is at: http://www.sciencebuddies.com/science-f ... =24&t=4492
b. A sample interview is at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =26&t=4658
c. inputting “does sports involvement affect reaction time” to google.com
d. inputting “does sports involvement affect reaction time” to answers.com
Note in c. and d., you may need to modify the query if you don’t get good results.

Thanks a ton! that's perfect!

I don't think that i will have any more questions for a little bit, but thank you for everything!

Hi Katelyn,

Your post is very sweet; you're welcome! If any questions do come up, please post them here. Thanks.

Good luck on your project!