fastR (version 0.10.3)

step: Stepping experiment

Description

An experiment was conducted by students at The Ohio State University in the fall of 1993 to explore the nature of the relationship between a person's heart rate and the frequency at which that person stepped up and down on steps of various heights.

Format

A data frame with 30 observations on the following 7 variables.

• order performance order

• block number of experimenter block

• restHR resting heart rate (beats per minute)

• HR final heart rate

• height height of step (hi or lo)

• freq whether subject stepped fast, medium, or slow

Details

An experiment was conducted by students at The Ohio State University in the fall of 1993 to explore the nature of the relationship between a person's heart rate and the frequency at which that person stepped up and down on steps of various heights. The response variable, heart rate, was measured in beats per minute. There were two different step heights: 5.75 inches (coded as lo), and 11.5 inches (coded as hi). There were three rates of stepping: 14 steps/min. (coded as slow), 21 steps/min. (coded as medium), and 28 steps/min. (coded as fast). This resulted in six possible height/frequency combinations. Each subject performed the activity for three minutes. Subjects were kept on pace by the beat of an electric metronome. One experimenter counted the subject's pulse for 20 seconds before and after each trial. The subject always rested between trials until her or his heart rate returned to close to the beginning rate. Another experimenter kept track of the time spent stepping. Each subject was always measured and timed by the same pair of experimenters to reduce variability in the experiment. Each pair of experimenters was treated as a block.

Examples

# NOT RUN {
data(step)
xyplot(HR-restHR ~ freq, data=step, groups=height, type='a')
xyplot(HR-restHR ~ height, data=step, groups=freq, type='a')

# }