How to write a lab report for HE 370 – Exercise Physiology
*** All lab reports MUST be turned in typewritten, double-spaced, and stapled
together
Organization of lab report:
 Cover page with the following information:
o
o
o
o
Your name
Title of lab
Day you attend lab
Name of lab TA
 Title of lab
 Purpose of lab
o Tell what you did, how you did it and why you did it
 Methodology
o List all materials, equipment, and machines that were used for each
specific lab.
o When appropriate, explain the procedures for completing the lab. Not
all labs will require the procedures, but when you are asked to complete
them, make sure that you include each step and all equipment needed for
the lab. If you were to mail your procedures to an Exercise Physiology
student in Florida, they should be able to perform the lab with only your
instructions, no other documents.
 Results
o Tables, graphs and charts if required
o Answers to questions
1. Answering questions:
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When answering questions, be as specific and concise as possible. Your
grade depends more on your ability to answer the given question than the
amount of information you include. Use your own words.
Use your text and lab manual to answer the questions. “Nora said or Sara
said” does not constitute a proper source and will not count as a reference.
To answer questions completely, you may have to look in chapters other
than those assigned. (Hint: use the index to look up key words)
Do not plagiarize the author’s work. Cite where appropriate and give page
numbers where you found your information.
2. If question involves data:
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
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All tables must be presented in tabular format (see rank order table).
Label tables clearly
Include a title for each table
3. Graphs:
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Graphs must be on graph paper or a computer printout (ex. Excel)
Label the graph (title, y-axis, and x-axis)
Include units with you axes labels (beats per minute, Liters per minute,
seconds, etc.)
4. DO NOT TURN IN THE GROUP DATA SHEETS; YOU WILL NEED THEM FOR
FUTURE LAB WRITE UPS. TURN IN YOUR PERSONAL DATA SHEETS
ONLY. IF PERSONAL DATA SHEETS ARE NOT TURNED IN WITH THE LAB,
YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE FULL CREDIT FOR THE LAB REPORT.
5. General Calculations:
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Most of the lab write-ups you will do require mathematical calculations.
Using Microsoft Excel is an acceptable program to help you with these
calculations. Showing your work is imperative, so if you use a calculator,
make sure you write down the numbers you used to find the answers.
There is a small statistical component for most labs known as the
correlation coefficient. This measure indicates the extent of which two
variables are related.
The following shows how to do the calculation for the correlation coefficient
using the Rank Order Method:
Subject
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Predicted
VO2 Max
41.3
47.5
35.6
61.3
47.5
50.8
41.3
35.4
40.2
55.9
38.0
47.5
Rank
7.5
5
11
1
5
3
7.5
12
9
2
10
5
Actual
VO2 Max
44.7
50.3
34.2
58.6
47.0
53.9
39.5
40.1
40.9
58.6
41.2
45.9
d = the difference between the ranks
n = number of subjects
n = 12
Rank
7
4
12
1.5
5
3
11
10
9
1.5
8
6
d
0.5
1
-1
-0.5
0
0
-3.5
2
0
0.5
2
-1
Σ d2 =
d2
0.25
1
1
0.25
0
0
12.25
4
0
0.25
4
1
24.0
Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient ( r ):
R=1-
6 Σ d2
2
n (n - 1)
r=1-
6 * (24.0)
12 * (144 - 1)
R = 1 - 0.08392
r = 0.916
1. Create the table with data organized by columns.
2. Determine the ranks for each data column (rank highest to lowest). If two
values have same rank, average the two ranks and give each value the average
rank (ex. If two values are tied for sixth place, assign each of the tied values the
rank of 6.5 which is the average of the ranks 6 and 7. If they were tied for third
place, then you would assign each of the tied values a rank of 3.5. The same is
true when you have three or more tied values, just take the average of the ranks
and assign the average for the ranks to each value.
3. Calculate the differences between the ranks of the data columns. This will be
included under the heading “d” in the table.
4. Calculate the square of each difference. This will be included under the heading
“d2” in the table.
5. Calculate the sum of the squared differences. This will be Σ d2.
6. Using the formula given above, calculate the value for r.
7. Using the following table, determine whether the calculated r-value is statistically
significant (rcalculated > rcritical for the number of subjects included in your data set).
8. For each rank order calculation, include whether the relationship is
significant or not significant, a direct or indirect relationship, and a
weak or strong relationship. The range of values for r can go from -1.00
(indirect) to +1.00 (direct). The closer the value is to 1.00 (negative or positive)
the stronger the relationship. A negative correlation indicated that the two
variables are inversely related.
Critical Values of the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient at the 0.05 Level of
Significance:
n
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
r
0.886
0.786
0.738
0.683
0.648
0.623
0.591
0.566
0.545
0.525
0.507
0.490
0.476
0.462
0.450
0.438
0.428
0.418
0.409
0.400
0.392
0.385
0.377
0.370
0.364