is this biology ia topic okay?

[Sam :)]

I'm in standard level biology and I am working on my IA with the physiology/health topic.

My proposed topic is: the effect of different movie genre clips on pulse rate

My 5 variables would be a control group (who didn't want a clip), an action clip, a comedy clip, a romance clip, and a documentary clip. These movie genres would be determined by the IMDB for constancy.

Is this an acceptable topic? Will it interfere with IB's ethical guidelines? All of my movie selections will be PG or PG-13 and my partcipants are all over 16 years of age.

If this is not acceptable, is it salvageable (is there anything I can do to make it acceptable)?

THANK YOU

[qsicyrs]

I'm on my second biology IA. Your experiment only shows an indirect affection to pulse rate. Clearly, your experiment wouldn't be able to impress your teacher, though it could be interesting. My teacher have said don't change your variables. Such as, instead of using red bull, monster, gatorade, etc. to test the effects, use the concentration of one of them (eg. 5% red bull, 10%, 15%, etc.) Don't go with different types of movies, it'll end up with bad results. I've learnt that mistake through my first IA which I barely pass from.

[Lero]

I wouldn't pursue that particular idea. Your independent variables need to be related in a closer way, and I think it would look awkward graphing movie genres against heart rate and trying to find a common relationship. There is also the room for error due to different subjects and their natural reactions or inclinations to different movie genres. Try and keep things simple, you could examine the effect of running distance/duration on heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure or body temperature.