• Question: How much information and evidence do you have about your projects aims and limits?

    Asked by newton to Pete, Rebecca, SallyB, Sally, Sian on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sian Lawson

      Sian Lawson answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      When you apply for the funding to do a particular project you have to convince other scientists that your aims are realistic within the time and budget and that it’s the right level of ambition.

      The evidence for this comes from the previously published work, from building a good logical argument, and from doing some pilot studies.

    • Photo: Sally Fenton

      Sally Fenton answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Good question!

      Well most of the information for my project aims comes from previous research into how young people who play youth sport tend to be fitter, healthier and happier! Also alot of information in the area of obesity …..and how increasing childrens participation in physical activity can maybe help prevent young people from becoming overweight/obese…. comes from government research and surveys which have been carried out in American and England. These are things like the the Health Survey for England and reports from the Center for Disease Control in America.

      Overall there is alot of evidence that the research I am doing is worthwhile and will help to benefit the health of young people…every piece of scientific research has to have this background information so scientists are allowed to look into. There are people who work on boards called ethics committees who make sure the research that is being done is worth while and not just a waste of time! It is also reviewed by other scientists who make sure of this aswell.

      In terms of limits to my study there are quite a few problems which may occur. Because I am carrying it out over a long period of time and need to collect results from people more than once in a year..there may be alot of people who chose to drop out and not take part anymore..this will affect the results of my study. There will also be limitations with the equipment I use. Although the equipment i will use in my research is accurate..sometimes things do go wrong…measurements are not accurate and equipment breaks etc. but you find ways to counteract this by doing things like not using data which you know is wrong…and make sure the results you get are accurate in the end!

    • Photo: Peter Styring

      Peter Styring answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      We usually set some quite challenging aims that actually try to push the limits. It’s not really worthwhile trying to prove things that are obvious! By pushing limits you usually discover new, exciting and unexpected results which lead to new areas of work.

    • Photo: Rebecca Randell

      Rebecca Randell answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I have completed one study comparing the effects of one day and 7 day supplementation of green tea on fat burning during exercise. I found that if you drink a lot of green tea (approx 8-10 cups) a day your fat burning is increased during exercise.

      However we didn’t find a massive increase and thats because some of the machines we were using were giving out wrong values which we didn’t realise until we had finished. I know a workman shouldn’t blame his tools but I promise there was something wrong with the machines and not me!!!

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