Division III SHEWASSA Experiments Reveal What Colors Our Perceptions
By Division I Media & Journalism reporter Alex
Have you ever wondered why so many “Sale” signs are red? The psychology of color and sound and how they affect our interactions with our environment has been researched for many years, and the results are monetized in every store you walk in. This important science was the focus of a Division III MST project this spring. Led by Ariadna, and in accordance with long-standing Meridian tradition, the project was assigned an easy to pronounce but understandable-to-insiders-only acronym SHEWASSA, which stands for Simple Human Experiment With A Strong Statistical Analysis.
The Division III students were conducting experiments to find statistical correlation that would make future decisions about color and sound rooted in science. They worked in groups of two or three, focusing on generating a question and methodology to collect and process data. As the Humans needed for a successful SHEWASSA project are extremely busy people, space was carved out in the school day for Division III to conduct their experiments with other Meridian teachers and students participating as test subjects. Some of the research done asks how light affects our choice of food or how color affects a person's memory.
Once data was collected, the Division III students calculated the mean, median, and mode by using box and whisker plots before drawing a conclusion. They also needed to calculate the “P” value, which is the likelihood that the results from the experiment were purely random, rather than meaningful data. They took many precautions to decrease the “P” value, including keeping their research questions secret so that participants wouldn’t be swayed to respond in any particular way.
The SHEWASSA is both a challenging and time consuming project, but it yields intriguing results and useful knowledge. Ever agonized about the right color for a room in your house, a backpack, or even a pencil? A SHEWASSA may be just the thing for you.