Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My science project outline is due in 15 days. It would be great to interview an expert before then, but afterwards will be okay. If not, I need help getting some background info on my topic. I'm going to be doing a project to see if dogs act as stress relievers. I would have about 10 people in a room taking a test (Group A). After they're done, another 10 people would come in (Group B). This time I would bring in my dog. Every 5 or so minutes, I would have my dog interact with each person. Once everyone is finished, I would average out each groups test scores and see which group got higher- the one with the dog (Group A) or without the dog (Group B).

Hi,

With regard to arranging interviews on this site please see the following Science Buddies policy statement:

http://www.sciencebuddies.com/science-f ... =25&t=4489

You have a good project idea. “Pet therapy” is widely used in hospitals and medical settings. Dogs seem to have a calming effect on people who interact with them. Here is more info:

http://www.holisticonline.com/stress/st ... herapy.htm

http://dogs.about.com/cs/sportsrecreati ... herapy.htm

http://www.content4reprint.com/pets-and ... herapy.htm

Hope this helps.

Best regards,


Barrett L. Tomlinson

Thank you so much! The info is great. I read the policy statement and I know I can't ask for personal info, but could I interview you? All I need is a few simple questions answered, and all you have to do is type in the answers! I hope you can help me out, and if you can't then do you think you could possibly give me a name of someone who can? THANK YOU!

Hi Science Sarah,

Go ahead and post your questionnaire, making sure it does not contain any information that will identify you and one of us will answer you as completely as possible, following the science buddies guidelines. However, you should also try to find someone in your community to talk to. I'm definitely not an expert in the topic of pet therapy and I'm not sure if the other science buddies volunteers have expertise in the subject. You would be more likely to find an expert in this area by contacting a local convalescent home, hospital, or your local SPCA and ask for a referral:

http://spcala.com/programs/aatherapy.sh ... agodBVwqpw

http://www.ehow.com/how_5319590_pet-the ... ation.html

I think that a telephone interview with a subject matter expert would be helpful for your background research, as you will get more details and perhaps some suggestions for an experiment by talking to someone who knows this topic.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Donna Hardy