The Relationship Between Genetics and Sleep for Bronx Science Students
- bxgenetics
- Jun 12
- 4 min read
BY SOPHIA MELENDEZ
The goal of this survey was to examine the relationship between genetics and sleep patterns amongst Bronx Science students. The survey focused on three main aspects of an individual’s sleep pattern: the amount of time the individual sleeps each night, the amount of time it takes for the individual to fall asleep, and how easily the individual can fall asleep in a moving vehicle. In order to connect the data on sleep patterns to genetics, each individual was asked about their parents’ sleep pattern as well. The data collected for the amount of time the individual and their parents sleep each night was quantitative data, so a matched pairs t-test was conducted to analyze this data. The data collected for the amount of time it takes for the individual and their parents to fall asleep and the data collected for how easily the individual and their parents can fall asleep in a moving vehicle were both qualitative data, so a chi-square test for independence was conducted for each data set.
With the matched pairs t-test, the null hypothesis was rejected, meaning there is evidence to support the claim that the true mean difference between hours of sleep a Bronx Science student gets and hours of sleep their parents got when they were teenagers is greater than zero. This could indicate that there is no relationship between genetics and the amount of sleep an individual gets each night. However, these results may be biased. Most students taking this survey are answering for their parents without asking them. This creates some biases in the responses, making the results of this test unreliable.
With the chi-square test for independence for the data on the amount of time it takes for the individual to fall asleep, we failed to reject the null hypothesis. This means that we do not have evidence to support the claim that the amount of time it takes the student to fall asleep is dependent on the amount of time it takes their parents to fall asleep. This could indicate that there is not a relationship between genetics and the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. However, for this test, the Sample Large Enough condition was not met, so different results may be received if this test was conducted with a larger sample size.
With the chi-square test for independence for the data on how easily an individual can fall asleep in a moving vehicle, we were able to reject the null hypothesis. This means that we have evidence to support the claim that the ability of the student to fall asleep easily in moving vehicles is dependent of the ability of their parent to fall asleep easily in moving vehicles. This could indicate that there is a relationship between genetics and how easily an individual can fall asleep in a moving vehicle.
The first statistical t-test was performed with the conditions below.
Conditions:
Randomness:
Sample was chosen at random, but could be considered a convenience sample based on those that the survey could reach within Bronx Science → proceed with caution
10% Condition
60 students is <10% of all Bronx Science students, so condition is met
Sample Large Enough
Boxplot of the data is nearly symmetrical, so n = 60 should be large enough
Summary:
Since the p-value, 2.813610-9, is less than 0.05, we reject H0. We have evidence to support the claim that the true mean difference between hours of sleep a Bronx Science student gets and hours of sleep their parents got when they were a teenager is greater than zero.
The second statistical test was performed with the conditions below.
Conditions:
Randomness:
Sample was chosen at random, but could be considered a convenience sample based on those that the survey could reach within Bronx Science → proceed with caution
10% Condition
60 students is <10% of all Bronx Science students, so condition is met
Sample Large Enough
Not all expected counts are greater than 5 → proceed with caution
Summary:
Since the p-value, 0.1354, is greater than 0.05, we fail to reject H0. Therefore, we do not have evidence to support the claim that the amount of time it takes the student to fall asleep is dependent on the amount of time it takes their parents to fall asleep.
The third statistical test was performed with the conditions below.
Conditions:
Randomness:
Sample was chosen at random, but could be considered a convenience sample based on those that the survey could reach within Bronx Science → proceed with caution
10% Condition
60 students is <10% of all Bronx Science students, so condition is met
Sample Large Enough
All expected counts are greater than 5, so condition is met
Summary:
Since the p-value, 0.007866, is less than 0.05, we reject H0. We have evidence to support the claim that the ability of the student to fall asleep easily in moving vehicles is dependent of the ability of their parent to fall asleep easily in moving vehicles.
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