Living Environment Regents Practice Test

How could an experiment measuring the effect of watching basketball games on pulse rates be improved?

1. The experiment should include more control groups.

2. Data collection should be limited to just the first quarter.

3. The experimental group should be larger.

4. Pulse rate measurements should be taken only once.

The correct answer is: The experimental group should be larger.

Increasing the size of the experimental group enhances the reliability of the experiment's results. A larger group allows for a more diverse range of participants, which can help ensure that the findings are representative of the broader population. It also reduces the impact of anomalies or outliers, which may skew the data if the sample size is too small. Moreover, a larger sample size typically leads to more statistically significant results, making it easier to draw meaningful conclusions about the effect of watching basketball games on pulse rates. This can provide greater confidence in whether the observed changes in pulse rates are due to the basketball games rather than random variation or individual differences among participants. In contrast, while adding control groups could provide more depth to the experiment, it is not as directly related to understanding the specific effect of the basketball games as increasing the sample size. Data collection limited to just the first quarter might miss variations in pulse rate during the entirety of the game, and taking pulse rate measurements only once would not accurately capture the potential fluctuations that may occur during and after viewing.