Paperclips: An Experimental Study

A within subject’s experimental design, compared the perceived differences in length of different sized paperclips on different body parts. The perceived distance of the paperclips, were rated on a scale of 0 to 2; zero meaning equal, one meaning shorter and two meaning longer. There were three conditions; the Finger-Wrist condition, the Finger-Forearm condition, and the Wrist-Forearm condition. 20-psychology students participated in the study. All 20 participants participated in all three conditions. The 20 participants consisted of 13 females and 7 males, with age ranging between 19 and 45 (M=23.5). Of the 20 participants, 18 were right handed.
Materials
Three ‘metal paperclips’, of three lengths; 35 mm, 45 mm, 55 mm were used.
Procedure
Participants were randomly allocated an order to complete the three conditions. In condition one the participant’s finger then wrist was pressed. In condition 2 participants’ finger then forearm …show more content…
Due to the nature of the data, a main effect for Body part could not be calculated. The interaction between response and body part was not statistically significant F (4,76) = 2.53, p= .05.
Inspection of the means indicates that participant’s responses in the wrist-forearm condition (low acuity) (M = 45.50 SD =17.77 95% CI [37.18., 53.82]) were less accurate than the Finger-Wrist condition (M = 48.2 SD = 15.23 95% CI [41.03, 55.29]) and the Finger-Forearm (M = 48.6, SD = 17.82, 95% CI [40.32, 57.00]) (See Appendix A) Three paired samples t-tests revealed trivial effect sizes and non-statistically significant differences in accuracy of participant responses for the Finger-Wrist condition t (19) = -0.20, p= 0.84 95% CI [-5.6, 4.6] g= 0.03, the forearm-wrist t (19) =1.02, p = 0.32 95% CI [2.8, 8.1], g = 0.16, and the Forearm-Finger t (19) = 1.02, p= 0.32 95% CI [-3.3, 9.6] g = 0.18 (see Appendix