Along with biology 105, this second general biology course, biology 106, is also a prerequisite required for physical therapy schools. In this class, we had to create our own case study with a partner and carry out the proper experimental procedures following the scientific method. After learning more about my partner and trying to discover a common interest, we decided to focus on the topic of exercise and energy since we both enjoy living healthy lifestyles. Specifically, we wanted to investigate the perceived energy level of individuals exercising at the Otto Recreation Center at two different times of the day, 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. We speculated that individuals who exercise in the evening would have an increase in perceived energy level than those who exercise in the morning as a result of some observations we had made, like the morning exercisers being more sluggish while the afternoon individuals more lively. After establishing our independent, dependent, and control variables, we planned and executed our experimental procedures. We then analyzed our results through completing statistical calculations, such as mean, standard deviation, and confidence intervals, and creating a table and graph of this data. Our results were followed by a thorough discussion of what we discovered through our study along with citations of reliable resources found on MavScholar. The final case study report can be found in the link below.
I believe this experience of conducting research and writing an informal lab report as instructed by our professor helped me to attain significant growth in both Information Synthesis and Original Research. I fulfilled Level 4 of Information Synthesis through this experience, which is “demonstrates ability to reflect upon how the paper/project led to new knowledge and understanding about the research process.” This was the first research project in my undergraduate studies where I was interacting and working with humans, which was very exciting to me but also proved to be difficult. I learned that the human mind and body are very complex, and there may not be a single answer to a question one is asking. There are several variables that can indirectly influence what one is studying and because of this, the results may not always be as correlated or true as one thinks. For example, we asked individuals their perceived energy level before working out on a scale of 1 to 5. We didn't have many restrictions on their answers or include notes such as how much caffeine they consumed, how stressed they felt, how much sleep they had gotten the night before, etc. As a result, our findings were limited in their meaning and conclusions were difficult to make. Through our research we discovered that our hypothesis was fairly vague and there were several outside variables that couldn’t be controlled. I learned from this experience that research is often an ongoing process that is changed over time to include better methods and the discovery of new knowledge. Studies can be taken much further or broken down into different components to learn more about the topic of interest, and I think this particular case study would benefit from being conducted again with more specific materials/methods and inclusion criteria of participants.
This experience also helped me achieve substantial progress in Original Research since it consisted of brainstorming and developing our own research question and methods. Level 1 of this theme, “identifies research question or creative proposal that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline,” was attained by deciding that even though this was simply just a class assignment, my partner and I wanted to make it meaningful and study something in which we were both interested. Through discussion, we discovered that we both had a passion for exercising and going to the gym. Because I am an Exercise Science major, I thought it would be fun to investigate something related to movement and the complexity of the human body. After doing some simple observation, we wondered why there appears to be more individuals exercising later in the day than in the morning at Otto Recreation Center. This question sparked the beginning of our research project.
Level 2 of Original Research is “develops research question or creative proposal that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline.” This was completed in many ways, starting with developing our research question, which was why did it appear that more individuals worked out in the evening compared to the morning, into a hypothesis and prediction that could be tested. The next part of the research process, planning our experiment, was the hardest part in my opinion. It required a lot of brainstorming and creativity and consisted of ultimately determining who our participants would be along with our constants and variables. I knew this study couldn't be too extensive because of the lack of time and resources, so it had to remain simple yet provide data and have at least a little bit of meaning behind the numbers. After careful consideration, we settled on our study population to be random individuals doing cardiovascular exercise at the recreation center on certain days and times of the week, Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. The energy level scale was also designed during this time and consisted of a ranking of 1 to 5 with 1 being equal to dragging/extreme sluggish while 5 was bouncing off the walls. At this point, our planning, which may have been stressful and tedious at times, was complete and the conducting of the research could finally take place. Although this is the most exciting and fun part to me, I realize the importance of being prepared and organized in order to be successful. There are numerous steps that go into the research process, and the brainstorming and planning of the experiment is not to be underestimated.
Finally, Level 3 of Original Research, which is “conducts primary research or engages in creative practice that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline,” was completed by actually performing the experiment with my partner, analyzing the data, organizing the results, and formulating the discussion. The results of this study showed no statistical difference in the mean number of energy level of individuals exercising at the Otto Recreation Center at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the two days we collected data. This refuted our hypothesis that individuals who exercise in the evening have a higher perceived energy level before their workout than those who exercise in the morning due to higher energy availability from food consumed throughout the day. There are several factors that could have influenced the results and prevented this hypothesis from being met, and I think it comes down to energy being a multifactorial variable and not having the ability to control external factors, such as caffeine consumption, amount of sleep, etc. Overall, I had a great first experience with research and gained confidence in my capability of performing my own research. I will take what I have learned from this experience, both its successes and failures, to help me become a better researcher for my future studies.