Discussion Board and Reply to Two Peers
Based on this unit’s assigned reading from Bonita, Beaglehole, & Kjellström, how would you design a study that attempts to determine if focused meditation can reduce a person’s heart rate? Describe the study design you would use. Also, identify a potential error and ethical issue that might be relevant. Please post a response of at least 150 words to the topic. Your required follow-up replies should have at least 75 words each. Please format any references in APA style and include a citation for information that you paraphrase or quote.
In order to determine if focused meditation can reduce a person’s heart rate, I would perform an experimental study, which is also randomly controlled with the participants. This experiment could be done either one and done in the office that day, or over a long period of time, such as a few weeks of practicing focused meditation daily. For simplicity, I will be covering the one and done in the office scenario.
I would begin by having the participants selected and have a control group and a sample group determined. I would then have both groups provide a heart rate sample from when they are in a normal doctor/patient setting. Following this, the control group will be left in the room for fifteen minutes on their own with no focused meditation, and I would get another heart rate after the fifteen minutes. For the sample group, I would describe how focused meditation works and how to do it, then instruct them to practice this on their own for fifteen minutes on their own. Following the fifteen minutes of focused meditation, I would then take their heart rate again to see if the meditation assisted in lowering the heart rate of the sample patients. Hopefully following this, I would have data to support the hypothesis that focused meditation could reduce a person’s heart rate. If this is inconclusive, I would then switch to the hypothesis that perhaps the meditation must be practiced for a longer period of time in order to take effect, and try the longer version of the experiment over a period of weeks.
There is a potential error when it comes to this trail, and it is human error. There is both one on the provider/researchers side, and one on the patient’s side. The provider/researcher could take the heart rate incorrectly, or if taken mechanically, it may be a faulty machine if not tested prior. On the patient’s side, they may not be able to focus correctly or not understand the instruction for focused meditation in order to properly perform it, leading to unsatisfactory or inconclusive results in the study. For ethical errors, I suppose potential bias on my part. Since I am the researcher and I am trying to prove my hypothesis, I may be biased in trying to prove it right. However, as a researcher, understanding I may have a bias is a good start to ensuring the bias does not affect the study.
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