2018-2019 Science Fair

Assess how you conducted your experiment.

● Please move this document to your s​ hared Biology folder.

● To complete this, you will need to refer to your project proposal.
● After you answer all the questions, remember to ​submit the document in Canvas​.

Sample size
1. Below, put what you planned for sample size and/or repeated measures (#9 in experimental proposal).
The sample size would be 3 people, and the repeated measures would be; each test subject would be
tested 5 times on VR, and once on a flight.

2. Below, put the actual sample size and/or repeated measures you completed by the deadline (February
5).
The sample size was still three, and each subject was tested 5 times on VR, but the first part involving the
flight had to be removed from the experiment for personal reasons.

3. If there are differences between your initial plan and what you completed by the deadline, explain
a) why they are different, and
They are different because in my original plan I was planning on testing people on their flight back from
their trip and test different games as coping mechanisms on the return flight. This couldn’t happen
because one person had to cancel the trip because of health issues, and another couldn’t do the baseline
test because of personal problems. Because I only had a third of my test subjects left that I could test for
this part, I emailed Ms. Sanders and asked what I should do. I was told to cut that piece of my project
entirely and only focus on the VR testing.

b) what you could have done differently to reach your goal on time.
Nothing because the issues with this part of the test wasn’t a matter of running out of time, rather it was
because of unrelated issues and personal restrictions.

Procedure
4. Below, paste a copy of your planned steps from your project proposal (#15).
1. On an outbound flight, participants will take their pulse during takeoff, once while in the air, and
during landing.
2. Participant will write down information on paper or in phone to record their pulse and reactions.
3. I will take a picture of participants taking their pulse and a picture of me teaching them to take their
pulse.
4. They will take their pulse by:
a. Turning their left hand so their palm is face up.
b. With their index and middle finger of their right hand, they will draw a line from the base of
their thumb to just below the crease in their wrist (fingers should rest to the left of their
large tendon that you can see when you bend your wrist).
c. Apply a gentle pressure (press too hard and won’t be able to feel pulse).
 d. Wait for 30 seconds (use a watch to count or phone stopwatch).
5. During takeoff on return flight, participants will take their pulse during takeoff, once while in the
air, and during landing.
6. After the baseline pulse reading, participants will do the following on the return flight:
a. At anytime that the participant becomes stressed, they will use the coping mechanism
(iphone games) to ‘cope’ with their fear.
b. While they are using the coping mechanism they will take their pulse after they have played
the game and have felt their stress levels drop.
c. Participant will write down information on paper or in phone to record their pulse and
reactions.
7. After Excursion, all participants will be notified of a time to meet in Ms. Maria’s room to do the first
test with the VR. Participants will do/experience the following:
a. Each participant will use the VR set one at a time.
b. The participant will be told what will be shown and all information about the simulation
(safety and instructions of use)
c. During takeoff, once while in the air, and during landing (in the simulation), the participant
will take their pulse.
d. Once test is finished, the participant will write down information on paper or in phone to
record their pulse and reactions, or tell me directly.
e. Repeat steps a through d, until each participant has had a chance to experience the VR set.
f. Repeat steps a through e, five different days/times during the day.
g. I will take a picture of each participant using the VR set.

5. Carefully look over your initial plans. In a numbered or bullet-pointed list below,
a) identify in detail things you actually did differently, and
b) explain why you made each change.
- I completely vetoed the first half of my experiment completely (steps 1-6)
- This is because I could only test one of the test subjects because ⅔ of the people I was
testing couldn’t test for this because of personal needs/restrictions. Had I tested only this
one person the data wouldn’t have been fair or accurate for testing and there wouldn’t have
been anything to compare the data to.
- I changed the when I would have them record their heart rate. I changed it to before, during and
after they do the VR, each day.
- I changed it to this to show the difference in HR when they are doing the VR vs. when they
aren’t.

Variables
6. In your proposal, find your standardized (#8) and extraneous variables (#10) and list them in the table
below.
Standardized variables Extraneous variables

- Airline difference - ‘Triggers’ may be more intense (environment)

- Pilot
- Length/type of flight

7. Standardized variable review:

Did you successfully standardize all the variables you planned to?
If not, explain why not.
All of my variables are irrelevant because they applied to the flight

8. Extraneous variable review:

Were there other factors (that you did not originally list) that you think could have affected your results?
Identify them and explain your answer.
Had I actually performed the first part of the test, I should have also included what had actually happened
that was the reason for me testing this for my experiment: personal needs and health concerns (getting
sick and cancelling the trip).

Impact on Results
9. Think about all the ways the implementation of your experiment differed from your initial plans (your
answers to questions above).
Discuss how these changes may make your project stronger and/or make it weaker (i.e. make your
results more reliable or less reliable).

By having to remove roughly half of my testing, and making it no longer possible to compare coping
techniques (essentially my entire main purpose for this experiment), it was definitely a step down in
progress. Because half of my testing was gone, I had to change the entire direction and purpose of my
project. Originally it was ‘comparing the effectiveness of different coping mechanisms’, and after having
to cut out the first part of testing it became, ‘testing the effectiveness of VR as a coping mechanism’. This
was definitely not what I had in mind for my project when I started and definitely made my research and
tests weaker as well as my project as a whole. The purpose is much weaker and there isn’t much
sustenance for the actual experiment.

Reflection on learning
In August, y’all shared your thoughts on what the point of school is. Many of your responses involved
building skills. You may recognize some of them in this list below, which has a few of my top priorities for
skills to build in this class.

10. Read over the skills and indicate with a comment where you feel you are with each, at this point in the
year.

I think I have I’m making progress. I’m struggling: I see This is a very weak
very strong I feel pretty good some improvement area for me. I don’t feel
skills in this about it. but it’s really hard. I’ve improved at all.

Design I think that I could

experiments definitely improve
because it isn’t my
strongest point, but
I definitely don’t
think I am
completely
 clueless.

Manage​ time & I think I am

long term work very good at
time
management
and I know
how to
manage time
for big
projects and
long term
work
because I
have
practiced it
before.

Work​ ​well I am good at making

independently: sure that I get work
with focus, done even if I don’t
self-reliance, & want to, and it can
initiative be hard but I am
definitely improving
on staying focused
and relying on
myself and no one
else.

Own ​your own I definitely

learning: take am asking for
responsibility for help when I
your work; know I need
know when you it, maybe a
need help and little too
ask for it. often, but I
am
responsible
for my work,
and if
something
doesn’t go to
plan, I ask for
a bit of help.