Does age affect height?
By - Sritej Veeramachaneni, Surbhi Kumar, and Edwin Chung
Question
Does age affect the height of a male in high school?
Hypothesis
The 17 year old boys will be taller than the 16 year old boys.
Type of Investigation
This is a comparative investigation.
Parts of the Experiment
Independent variable - Age
Dependent variable - Height
Control - None
Experimental Group - 16 and 17 year - old boys' height measurements
Analysis
The table displays that among 16 year old males, the height of the shortest person is 65 inches and height of the tallest is 75 inches, while the heights of 74 inches and 67 inches are the upper and lower limits of the 17 year old group. It is important to note that the ranges of both groups are very similar. The first bar graph further extends this notion by showing that there is a large area of overlap between the error bars of the two groups. The 2nd bar graph of median heights shows not only that the median ages of the 16 and 17 year old male groups are similar, but also visually demonstrates the congruent ranges. Statistical analysis further proves that there is no correlation between the height and age; the p- value acquired from a t test with both groups greatly exceeded 0.05.
Conclusion
The claim of this experiment is that the height of a male in high school is not affected by the age. The hypothesis was proven inaccurate as it was initially predicted that 17 year old males would be taller than the 16 year old males. The results of a test done to analyze the heights of males from the two age groups provide evidence against the hypothesis as the p value was greater than 0.05, indicating the data was not statistically significant. It is also evident in the data table that the measurements range from 60 to 70 inches for males of age 16 and 17 years old. The error bars for males of both age groups overlap extensively as well. The reasoning behind this is that males of ages 16 and 17 are not very different in terms of physical maturity and thus do not display great disparities in their heights.
Sources of Inaccuracies/Errors
Inaccurate reports of heights from the participants could have affected the outcome of the results as the data gathered in the experiment may not be a reflection of the actual trend of heights among 16- and 17-year-old boys. Mistakes could also have been made while converting the heights of the males from feet to inches. Another potential source of error is that the age of each participant was reported as either 16 or 17 while the actual precise ages of the participant would vary based on how many months he had been 16 or 17; this failure to make more precise distinctions among the age groups could have hindered the results of the experiment.
Bibliography
- William. "The T - Test." T-test. N.p., 26 Oct. 2006. Web. 4 Sept. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.socialresearchmethods.net%2Fkb%2Fstat_t.php>.
- "Claim Evidence and Reasoning." Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Sept. 2014. <http://faculty.winthrop.edu/macric/CRTW_201_current/Reasoning_from_Evidence_to_Claims.pptx>.
- Jennifer, Martin. "Designing a Questionnaire." Blackboard. N.p., 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 3 Sept. 2014. <https://cisd.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-24784-dt-content-rid-108404_1/courses/1415_CHS_3121A_Martin/Designing%20a%20Scientific%20Questionairre%20miniposter.pdf>.