This study was conducted on 60 voluntary, but randomly selected students. Their ages ranged from 18 years old to 32 years of age, with an average participant age of 20. The training experience of the group was varied going from untrained to elite athlete.
Materials:
The subjects body fat percentage (BF%) was tested twice with two different methods to provide a comparison. The first method used Harpenden Callipers on four different upper body sites. The second was a bio-electrical impedance test using a Bodystat 1500.
Design:
This study used two controlled experiments looking at body fat percentages. All 60 participants completed both experiments, following the same protocol for both. This was done in order to reduce any possible variables that could have occurred within the testing of participants. The reason for this is because the aim of the experiment was to test the difference in results from the different methods.
Procedure:
Firstly the participant’s were subjected to a bio-electrical impedance test using a Bodystat 1500 machine. The participant had two electrodes applied to them. One placed on the back of the hand towards the wrist in line with the middle knuckle, the other placed on the top of the foot again in line with the middle knuckle. The tester then inputted the participant’s data into the machine. Data included the subject’s gender, age, and height and activity level. The Bodystat 1500 works by passing a safe battery generated pulse through the participant’s body from one electrode to the other. To calculate the participants body fat percentage, amongst other data, by measuring the impedance at a fixed