Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello science people! :)

I have a couple of quick questions to ask. I am doing a project this year to determine if singing vs playing an instrument vs sports will be better for improving lung capacity in normal healthy teenage girls (13-18) , and taking that data and applying it to people that have lung conditions (asthma or copd etc, ) I will be testing their lung capacity through peak flow as well as timing their inspiration and expiration rates(ex/ timed using a stopwatch) I will test their blood pressure and their pulse oximetry . these tests will take place one week before the weekly or bi-weekly testing begins(haven't decided on weekly or biweekly, which would be more efficient in showing progress and results?) and then the tests would continue after each sport/choir class/band class has taken place. for approximately 2-3 months.
~side note~ I can only use girls s there is a HUGE majority of girls at my school (25:3) will this be a problem with the judges?

1) is there any more testing I should do in regards to measuring oxygen capacity?
2)is this grade appropriate ? im entering grade 12
3)will i need a medical supervisor for this project ? thanks so much anyone who gives help ! :)


-Rachel :)

I really like the idea!
The grade shouldnt be a problem? I think grade 12 is the cut-off though..
In terms of danger, i dont think you would need a medical supervisor... The only need for a medical supervisor would be for a mentor.

Cheers!
Shamus

Hi,

Welcome to Science Buddies! This is a great project idea, although the amount of testing you are considering doing is very ambitious. With any project involving humans, you should check with your local scientific review committee and make sure you have approval for this project before proceeding. Make sure you follow all of the rules to avoid being disqualified during judging. Since you are measuring lung capacity and blood pressure, I think you should be able to get approval. Also, you will need to obtain a signed consent form from each participant. Since there is a shortage of males in your school, you can use only female subjects’ there’s no problem with that. Many medical studies are done with just one gender. Here is the information from the Science Buddies website on working with humans:

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

Have you done background reading on this subject? I recommend doing as much as possible before designing your experiment. You need to become an expert on lung capacity testing.


Donna Hardy

Thanks Guys!

yes grade 12 is the cut off ,so i'm going to put all my effort into making this the best project it can be , ill have to check with my committee on the medical personnel, I may get a family doctor to sign off on the tests I plan to conduct , just for safety reasons. I had a problem with human subjects last year and ALMOST got disqualified , but i had to significantly change my project, which I don't plan on doing again as it took up a great amount of my time lol.

I have done quite a bit of back ground research and also I did a similar (less experimental project) when I was in grade 8, I went to CWSF with that one. So the testing that I have chosen is based on what I know so far. I want to be as conclusive as I can with this , that's why i'm doing a lot of tests Good to know that only testing females will be okay, I've been stressing about that trying to find information on it , I thought that it may give me a disadvantage when trying to prove my point .

one more question: should I use people not involved in any activities as a control group?




Thanks so so so much for the advice



~Rachel

Wow! Canada Wide?
Mind I ask what your project was?

Cheers!
Shamus

Hi,

Using a control group of individuals not involved in any activities would be a good idea if you can find suitable test subjects. It would be also useful to prepare a detailed questionnaire and ask your participants about all physical activity they are involved in and ask about any medical issues (if it’s OK with the SRC) that would affect breathing and make sure your participants do not have a cold or active allergy when you do the testing. When working with humans, it’s difficult to control all parameters, so a questionnaire might help explain any unexpected results when you get to data analysis.

Has anyone published a study like yours before? It would be helpful to have a project based on published results, but different enough so that it will be a truly unique project.


Donna Hardy

Yup canada wide was amazing :) I did a project on the lung functions of smokers vs non smokers between the ages of 30-40 and just compared it to previous research done :) I really would like to go again . It's so amazing .

A questionnaire is a great idea thanks! Were only human and I expect there to be some bumps in the road with this one , but its not fun if theres no challenge :) As always I started off looking to see if my project had been done already , so far I haven't been able to find anything that was quite like mine, there were a couple done strictly for physical activity , and a minor one done for singing but it was inconclusive, there were no projects done comparing all three before . I plan to keep searching , I'm heading to a bigger city in a few days where I will have access to a lot more information .

Thanks again :)

~Rachel

Does anyone have some websites or information on where i could find scientific research papers on any of the tests i am going to carry out? id just like to know what to expect so i can get a better grasp of what i should make my hypothesis


thanks!

~Rachel

Hi,

Here are some websites that include references. You can look at the bibliography in each reference to find more papers on your topic.

Here is the Science Buddies project description for this topic.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p009.shtml

The Wikipedia article on lung volumes is not complete, but it does include some references you can check out. Maybe you could help edit the article after you complete your research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_volumes

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/reprint/171/6/591.pdf

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ng-size-ca

Here is a list of research papers with some related to your topic.

http://www.nejm.org/medical-research/co ... y=research&

I hope this will help you get started.

Donna Hardy