13. Practical Flashcards
Describe the previous research by Maaike et al (2012).
-Previous research on sleep and aggression showed that poorer sleep quality was associated with higher aggression in 80.8% of studies. -Maaike et al 2012 conducted a meta analysis from 74 studies. Poorer sleep quality was associated with higher aggression pooled results showed a correlation of 0.28. Their findings confirm that poor sleep quality is consistently associated with higher aggression.
-Our findings were unable to replicate this as we concluded there was no significant relationship between sleep and aggression.
What was our biological practicals aim?
To see if there is a relationship between aggression and sleep.
What was our biological practicals alternative hypothesis?
There will be a significant positive correlation between average number of hours of sleep (max 10 hours) from questionnaire response and aggression score on Buss Perry aggression questionnaire (max 4).
What was our biological practicals null hypothesis?
There will be no significant difference between average number of hours of sleep (max 10 hours) from questionnaire response and aggression score on Buss Perry aggression questionnaire (max 4).
Operationalise the independent variable.
Average number of hours of sleep (max 10 hours) from questionnaire response.
Operationalise the dependent variable.
Aggression score on a Buss Perry questionnaire (max 4).
What was our biological practical’s sampling method?
Opportunity sample of people who were known to us and had an email address, based in Surbiton (London).
Describe your biological practical’s sample.
18 females and 4 males, 22 in total using a volunteer sample, participants varied in age from 16 to 61 and were known to students of SHS in London.
Describe our method of collecting data in the biological practical.
Used a questionnaire to gather data on the covariables, average hours of sleep they get per night on average in hours and aggression score by asking participants via email to complete the Buss Perry aggression questionnaire.
Describe your procedure.
- We sent a standardised email to participants and provided a link to an MS form and asked them to complete a questionnaire with closed questions about their age and average number of hours sleep they had per night, and asking them to give consent without any deception.
- In the questionnaire there was a link to the Buss Perry aggression questionnaire which we asked them to click on and make note of their aggression scores. The final questions asked them to provide their scores for the 4 aspects of aggression measured by the Buss Perry test.
Describe our quantitative data analysis.
-We correlated the average number of hours of sleep of the participants and their total aggression score using a Spearman’s rho test.
-We plotted the data on a scattergram to show the relationship between average hours sleep per night and aggression scores for the participants.
How did we adhere to ethical guidelines in our biological practical?
-Gained informed consent and did not deceive them about the aim of the study.
-Provided email so that they had the right to withdraw.
-Noted about not taking the result to heart and not an accurate measure of aggression to minimise potential psychological harm.
-Kept all responses anonymous and confidential.
What were the results of our biological practical?
Spearman’s rank calculated correlation coefficient:
-0.156
This shows that there was a negative relationship between hours of sleep and aggression so the more sleep correlated with less aggression. This was a weak correlation.
Also found that the relationship had happened only due to chance, not significant. Critical value was 0.361, n=22, calculated value was -0.156 which is lower than the critical value and therefore we accept the null hypothesis.
What did we conclude from our biological practical?
-Weak negative correlation (-0.156) which was not significant, critical value was 0.361.
-There is no significant relationship between sleep (average hours on questionnaire, maximum 10) and aggression (Buss Perry questionnaire, maximum 4).
What is a critique that can be made of our biological practical?
The questionnaire included closed questions that collected quantitative data which undermines complexity of human experience and doesn’t allow for context (situational factors) to questions that would affect levels of aggression. This means that participant answers may not be reflective of their actual real life aggressive responses due to a lack of internal validity and use of closed questions.
