Circadian Rhythms: Experiment

Circadian Rhythms: Experiment


        Circadian Rhythms are the times of day that you get either hungry, tired,
or energetic.   This paper is to describe an experiment that I have thought up
that will test to see if circadian rhythms differ from people who perceive
themselves as night-time people and people who perceive themselves as morning
people.

What is your hypothesis?

My hypothesis is that night-time people's circadian rhythms are
extremely different than morning people's circadian rhythms.

What population are you going to study?   How will you sample this population?

Participants for my experiment will be ninety-nine undergraduate female
students from Iowa State University.   Prior to the experiment all participants
will have to fill out a questionnaire.   This questionnaire will primarily
determine if they feel themselves as being either morning or night types of
people.   Subjects for my experiment will be randomly chosen from these
questionnaires.   I will select three night-time people and three morning-time
people. I will then give each of them a journal.   In this journal each subject
will write in it the time that they become hungry, or the time that they became
tired.   They will do this for three days.   At the end of the three days they
will come back to my laboratory.   They will then be put in an isolation booths.
In one of the booths there will be a clock that doesn't have the right time on
it. In another one there will be a window so that they can see where the sun is.
In the third one there will be no windows and no clocks.   All they would have is
a light bulb in the ceiling.   All the booths will have a bed and a bright red
button on the far wall.   The button will be for ringing.   They will ring when
they are tired, hungry, or need to use the facilities.   My assistants and I will
record when they become hungry and when they become tired.   They will be in this
room for three days.   At the end of the three days my assistants and I will make
sure... [continues]

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