3-23-12

With funding from my parents and godparents, I have officially purchased a galvanic-skin-response GSR device to measure the electro-dermal activity (EDA) of my participants. This period, I have been working on the semantics of my plan to test people. Here is what I have so far:

I will need to acquire at least 10 volunteers (for statistical accuracy), which I do not think I will have a problem with since I have had many people offer for me to test them. HOWEVER, most of these volunteers are of high-school age, so my data will only apply to this age group unless I can find at least 10 participants in another age group.
Firstly, I will hand the participant the GSR to begin recording data. I will need to establish a baseline stress level for the particular individual. This will be accomplished by asking them to think of a stressful time in their life for 10 seconds, then a calming time in their life for another 10 seconds (to equalize whatever is in their forethought that may be adding stress at that particular moment), and then scaling between 1 - 10 how stressed they perceive themselves to be. This is the best way to get subjective data to complement the objective output of the GSR.
Next, I need to stress the individual. I will use flashing lights and loud noises (and perhaps frightening images) to create this effect (after confirming, of course, that they do not suffer from any sort of epileptic disorder). I hypothesize that the GSR graph will peak during this phase.
Following this trial, I will obtain a second stress-level reading after equalizing the level of stress. This time, I will ask participants to scale their stress level between 1 and 32 (an arbitrary number to keep them from relating their answer to the one given in baseline testing - it is important to keep this number even so that a 50/50 answer is still possible).
The calming phase, where I expect the EDA to reach its minimum, will come next. In this period, participants will be asked to lie prone on their backs with a bean-sac on their chest. I will instruct them to focus completely on the task of keeping the sac stationary while they draw controlled breaths  using their abdomen alone.
Finally, I will take the final assessment (equalizing the forethought stress, as before) using a different arbitrary number, 16.
I will ask the participant to leave the GSR in their hand until they have walked out of the testing room, so I can see if the final, walk-away stress level is significantly less (making the experience, as a whole, calming).
After the subject has left, I will put their measurements on the same scale for easier use in displaying my data. This is the part of my project that I have yet to think through (I will have a discussion with Dr. J about this). I plan to compile the data in a way that will allow me to extrapolate it to chronic stress, which is a long-term version of the instantaneous stress I have gathered.
Sound good?