Formulating the Method
KNES 510
Research Methods in Kinesiology
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Planning the Methods

Parts of the method section
Participants
 Instruments or apparatus
 Procedures
 Design and analysis


Two principles of planning
Less is more.
 Simple is better.
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2
Describing Participants

Special characteristics: what relates to the
study?
Age, HT, mass and sex
 Training level


What to tell about participants
Number
 Loss of participants


Protecting participants (see chapter 5)
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Participants - Proposal

For this study 48 males, ranging in age
from 21 to 34 years, will be randomly
selected from a group (N = 147) of welltrained distance runners (VO2 max = 60
ml/kg/min or higher) who have been
competitive runners for at least 2 years.
Participants will be randomly assigned to
one of four groups (n = 12).
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Participants - Defense

In this study 48 males, ranging in age from 21 to
34 years, were randomly selected from a group
(N = 147) of well-trained distance runners (VO2
max = 60 ml/kg/min or higher) who had been
competitive runners for at least 2 years. The
participants had the following characteristics
(standard deviations in parentheses): age, 26
years (3.3); height, 172.5 cm (7.5); weight, 66.9
kg (8.7); and VO2 max, 65 ml/kg/min (4.2).
Participants were randomly assigned to one of
four groups (n = 12).
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Describing Instruments

Questions to consider in selecting
instruments
Validity and reliability
 Difficulty of obtaining measures
 Access to equipment or tests
 Knowing how to use them


What should be presented
Description (including validity and reliability)
 Drawing, photograph, sample items
 How it is scored

6
Describing Procedures

What will happen
When, where, how much time
 Pilot data: can you do this?
 Scheme for data acquisition, recording, and
scoring


Planning treatments
How long, how intense, how often
 Participant adherence
 Pilot data: can participants do this?
 Appropriate treatment for participants

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Avoiding Methodological Faults

Details of the procedures
Specific order of things
 Timing of events
 Instructions given
 Briefings, debriefings, safeguards


Piloting your procedures
Can you do this?
 Can participants do this?
 Do measures work?
 Do treatments work?

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Example – Methods

Subjects
Thirty adult subjects between the ages of 19
and 29 years of age will volunteer for this
study.
 The subjects will be randomly assigned to one
of three groups: 1) control group (n = 10); 2)
slow velocity training group (n = 10); or 3) fast
velocity training group (n = 10).
 The study will require two (control group) or
five (slow velocity and fast velocity training
groups) visits, lasting approximately one hour
per visit.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

All subjects will be tested on visits 1 and 5,
and the two training groups will train on
visits 2, 3, and 4. There will be 48-72
hours between testing and/or training
sessions.
10
Testing/Training Schedule
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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Strength Testing
Following a five-minute warm-up, subjects will
perform three maximal, concentric isokinetic
muscle actions of the leg extensors of the
nondominant leg on a Cybex II dynamometer
(Cybex, Inc., Ronkonkoma NY)
 The tested velocities will be 30, 150, and
270.s-1.
 The order of testing velocities will be
randomized.
 The intraclass reliability coefficient for
isokinetic PT is R = 0.959.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Training Protocol
The training groups will perform slow velocity
(30.s-1) or fast velocity (270.s-1) isokinetic leg
extensions.
 The subjects in each training group will
perform four sets of 10 maximal muscle
actions at their respective velocities on visits
2, 3, and 4.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Electromyographic Measurements
Three separate bipolar (20 mm center-tocenter) surface electrode (circular 4 mm
diameter Ag-AgCl, Biopac Systems, Inc.,
Santa Barbara, CA) arrangements will be
placed over the longitudinal axes of the
vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, and vastus
medialis muscles.
 Intraclass reliability coefficients for
electromyographic measures from the
superficial quadriceps femoris range from R =
0.80 to 0.88.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Mechanomyographic Measurements
The MMG signal will be detected by
accelerometers (Entran, EGAS-FT-10-/V05,
Hampton, VA).
 The accelerometers will be placed over the
bellies of the vastus lateralis, rectus femoris,
and vastus medialis muscles between the
active EMG electrodes.
 Intraclass reliability of mechanomyographic
signals range from R = 097 to 0.98.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Signal Processing
The sampling frequency will be 1000 Hz for all
signals.
 The EMG and MMG signals will be bandpass
filtered (fourth-order Butterworth filter) at 5100 Hz and 10-500 Hz, respectively.

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Example – Methods, cont’d.

The EMG and MMG amplitude and frequency
values will be calculated for a time period that
corresponds to a 50 range of motion from
approximately 110 to 160 of leg flexion (i.e.,
at 30.s-1 the amplitudes and frequencies for
1.67 s of the MMG and EMG signals will be
calculated, at 150.s-1 the amplitudes and
frequencies for 0.33 s will be calculated, and
at 270.s-1 the amplitudes and frequencies for
0.19 s will be calculated) .
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Example – Methods, cont’d.

Signal Processing, cont’d.
The amplitude of the signals will be expressed
as root mean square (rms) amplitude values.
 All frequency analyses will be performed with
custom programs written with Labview
software (version 6.1, National Instruments,
Austin, Texas) and expressed as hertz (Hz).
 Frequency data will be expressed as mean
power frequency (MPF).

19
Design and Analysis

Design a study in which
the treatments cause the changes observed
 the variables are related with no intervening
variables

20
Design and Analysis, cont’d

Analyzing the data
Correct analysis
 Correct interpretation


Establishing cause and effect

Independent variable  dependent variable
21
Data Analysis Example

Statistical Analyses



Isokinetic PT data will be analyzed using a 3-way (or
a 3 x 2 x 3) (velocity [30, 150, and 270.s-1]  time
[pretraining, posttraining]  group [slow velocity, fast
velocity, control]) mixed factorial ANOVA.
EMG and MMG data will be analyzed using 4-way
(muscle [vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, vastus
medialis]  velocity [30, 150, and 270.s-1]  time
[pretraining, posttraining]  group [slow velocity, fast
velocity, control]) mixed factorial ANOVAs.
An a-priori alpha of 0.05 will be considered significant
for all comparisons.
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Methodological Characteristics
Influence Each Other

Interactions among
participants and measurements
 participants and treatments
 measurements and treatments
 participants, measurements, and treatments
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Next Class
Midterm Exam
 Chapter 19
 Write (due the week after midterm):

First draft of methods
 First sub-heading of lit review complete

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