1. Talia Matharu Worthing College Sport and Exercise Science 2015
Unit 5 Research Project
Talia Matharu
Worthing College Sport and Exercise Science
2015

2. To investigate if a relationship exists between the BMI of college students aged 16 to 19 and the sugar content in the drinks they purchase.

3. Abstract
Rising BMI in adolescents is a growing problem among society. Consumption of high sugar content drinks may play a role in this. I have researched previous investigations related to BMI and consumption of sugared drinks which lead to me producing my two hypotheses. The method involved obtaining 40 participants and measuring there height and weight to find BMI, then getting them to complete a 10 question lifestyle questionnaire designed to find out about food and drink consumption habits and exercise amount and intensity. Using Spearman's rank correlation order after analysing the data the results from the quantitative data stated there was a negative week correlation of Overall it was concluded that the results may be explained by the population being too varied.

4. Contents: General Page 4 - Contents: General
Page 5 - Contents: Appendices
Page 6 - Contents: Figures and tables
Page 7 - Acknowledgement
Page 8 - Introduction
Page 9 – Literature review and references
Page 10 – Project hypothesis
Page 11 – Method
Page 12 – Data Collection
Page 13 – Data Analysis
Page 14 – Results
Page 15 – Discussion
Page 16 – Conclusion
Page 17 – Review 1/3
Page 18 – Review 2/3
Page 19 – Review 3/3
Page 20 – Further recommendation 1/5
Page 21 - Further recommendation 2/5
Page 22 - Further recommendation 3/5
Page 23 - Further recommendation 4/5
Page 24 - Further recommendation 5/5

5. Contents: Appendices Page 24 – Appendices 1 Page 25 – Appendices 2

6. Contents: Figures and tables
Page 30 – Figures and tables 1
Page 31 - Figures and tables 2
Page 32 - Figures and tables 3
Page 33 - Figures and tables 4
Page 34 - Figures and tables 5
Page 35 - Figures and tables 6
Page 36 - Figures and tables 7
Page 37 - Figures and tables 8
Page 38 - Figures and tables 9
Page 39 - Figures and tables 10
Page 40 - Figures and tables 11
Page 41 - Figures and tables 12
Page 42 – Figures and tables 13

7. Acknowledgements
Thank you to the 50 participants how participated in my study. Whom without my study wouldn’t have existed. Also my teacher Paul Cox for imparting his wisdom with me, enabling me to design and carry out this investigation.

8. Introduction
The time scale of my project spans from 2nd February to 27th March. The designing to the research project, including the plan, making the tables graphs and questionnaire will have been mad by the 6th February. Over half term 23rd to 27th February the literature review will be written. I am to have all the data (quantitative and qualitative) collected by 12th March. From then until the 27th March my time will be used analysing the data and constructing this PowerPoint detailing my full research project. The aim of my project was to investigate if there was a relationship between college students aged consuming high sugar content drinks and their BMI. I chose this as my project aim as at college I studied nutrition in sport and science and developed a real interest in the subject. Weight and obesity is also a rising issue among society today, especially in young children and teenagers, it has also be present in the media and on television. There was a personal interest as well; as a person who doesn’t drink high sugar content drink themselves, I wanted to see if it made a difference to BMI.

9. Literature review and references
This hyperlink is where my literature review can be found –

10. Project hypothesis
1) If college students purchase high sugar content drinks then they will have an increased BMI compared to a person purchases water. 2) If the participant who purchase high sugar content drinks regularly exercise (according to government recommendation or more) then this will counteract the effects of consumption of high sugar content drinks.

11. Method
Select 5 high sugar content drinks sold in the college shop, create a table showing the nutritional value per 500ml of drink.
Create a excel document ready to record the quantitative data of height and weight of each participant and they drink they purchased (see figures and tables 11). Also create a lifestyle questionnaire on to obtain the qualitative data (see appendices 2 ).
Produce a transcript for when you approach people asking them to be a part of the investigation (see appendices 3).
Set up a space with the scales and height measurements equipment to take the participants measurements, also with a laptop set up ready for the participants to take the lifestyle questionnaire.
Approach people with the rehearsed script, if they respond say they will participate then take them to the set up space explain what my investigation is about, how there information will be used and the rights they have (see Unit 5 – Task 1), collect the quantitative data by taking their measurements, then collect the qualitative data by getting the participants to complete questionnaire. This will need to be done until 40 people agree to participate (20 purchasing water, 20 purchasing 1 of the 5 high sugar content drinks).
Once all the data has been collected, collect the findings from the questionnaire via the analyse data section on (see figures and dates 1-10). Put all the measurements recorded of the participant along with the drink they purchased into an excel document (see figures and tables 11)
Using the excel document containing the measurements, create another excel document input the data and work out the spearman rank order correlation to see if there is a relationship between the variables I am investigating (BMI and consuming high sugar content drinks). (see figures and tables 12 and 13).

12. Data collection
My research is field-based as I am actively collecting quantitative and qualitative from the participant in which I found in the natural environment when purchasing a drink. My data collection is of primary data, of which I am collecting two types; quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data obtained is the measurements of 40 participants height (cm) and weight (kg), which will be used to calculate each participants BMI. The quantitative data is collected to discover if a relationship exists between BMI and consumption of sugared drinks. The qualitative data obtained is in the form of a lifestyle questionnaire, in which there are 10 closed questions for the participants to answer. The questionnaire is to help support or explore the results of the quantitative data. The quantitative data is nominal as through analysing it the data is then categorised through BMI. The qualitative data collected is a mixture of discrete and nominal data; the question that separate a value, for example ‘male/female’ are discrete and the question which assist in group the population, for example age groupings.

13. Data analysis
Firstly I set about analysing my primary quantitative data. I imputed the heights and weights of the participants into an excel document, I then calculated there BMI and imputed that into the same document (see figures and tables 11). Due to needing to analyse the relation between two ranks (drink purchased and BMI), this led me to using Spearman rank-order correlation. It is a non-parametric equivalent and is used when your data ranked, this test is used to find a relationship between two sets of data. To carry out the Spearman rank-order correlation is copied the data from figure and table 11, I then had to rank the drinks purchased and BMI of the participants from highest to lowest. The data must be squared and then summed (see figures and tables 12 and 12). The Spearman’s rank order will give me a correlation number which will state if I have a ‘very week, weak, moderate, strong or very strong correlation). After this I will use my qualitative data to attempt to explain the correlation or any anomalies with the results. By looking at each participants questionnaire, identifying the drink they purchased and their BMI and comparing this with the information they provide from the questionnaire about the type of exercise they do and how times a week they do this. From this I will make an educated assumption about weather this has any baring as the results of the data or any anomalies.

14. Results
The results collected from the quantitative data analyse I carried out should a very weak correlation of between the BMI of participants and drinks purchased. Therefore what I hypothesised was proven untrue by the primary data I collected. The hypothesis I established was originally based on the research and papers I read when writing the literacy review (see page 9).
The questionnaire provide vital information which may assist in explaining the results of the quantitative data. Majority of the subjects asked partook in regular exercise and a lot trained more than 3 times a week. The regular exercise may count towards counteracting the affects of the excess sugar ingested via the high sugar content drinks.

15. Discussion
The results of my investigation showed there was a very weak negative correlation between BMI and consumption of sugared drinks. These findings were not what I was expecting to uncover. I believe this could be down to the sample size of my investigation, 40 subject isn't fully representative of the population. During the research for my literacy review, the paper in which was most similar to the investigation I was conducting was that of Forshee, R., Anderson, P., Storey, M. 2008, their investigation was ‘Sugar-sweetened beverages and body mass index in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis1’2’3’4’. This study differed from mine as it was meta-analysis. Similarly to mine, they were exploring the relationship between BMI and sugar-sweetened beverages. They also had a similar hypothesis that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with weight gain. Forshee et al, got a association, this correlation was very weak but still a positive correlation, unlike the result of my investigation in which there was a association between the two variables. I believe this difference in results was down to flaws in my investigation, which if I were to redo this investigation I would change in hope to receive different results, more in line with those I researched for my literacy review.

16. Conclusion
My aim was to investigate if a relationship exists between the BMI of college students aged 16 to 19 and the sugar content in the drinks they purchase. The results is received where in complete contrast to what I hypothesised at the onset of my investigation. One reason it may not have resulted as I expected is because I didn’t use an appropriate sample size, to collect enough information to identify a trend within the data, I would have also been more prosiest with the population of my investigation by doing it on people who trained more than 3 times a week or those who don’t train at all. Also in hindsight, this type of investigation should be longitudinal; sugar and diet are things that do not have an immediate effect on a person, their effects are seen over time.
My second hypothesis I believe was proven right by the qualitative data collected, that if a person exercises according to the government recommendation the effects of consuming high sugar content drinks may be mitigated; I also believe this is a strong factor which influenced the Spearman's rank order having a result of very weak.

17. Review 1/3
My project aim was to identify if a relationship existed, I believe my research did this as it stated there was a negative relationship, it highlighted in the case of my investigation there was a very weak relationship between the two variables. Although this wasn’t what I had hypothesised and contrasted all the investigation researched and other sources read, it still produce a relationship eve if it was incorrect which may have been down to flaws in sample sizes and specificity and data collect. Although the investigation didn’t produce the results had an initially expected due to flaws within the design out the investigation, I am happy with the way I conducted the study, I believe it was done to I high ethical standard.

18. Review 2/3
I believe a main strength of my investigation was my organisation of data collect, data results and how it was all presented. I believe having a well organised system in which to input my data lead to it being easier for me to analyse the data once I had learnt the procedure of Spearman's rank order correlation. Another strength of m investigation was gaining the knowledge to how to use excel spread sheets correctly and then how to analyse data using Spearman's rank order, (see figures and tables 11 to 12), this knowledge was taught to me by my teacher Paul Cox. The qualitative data I collected my done via I believe using this for the first time and design a professional survey was another positive for m investigation. Before embarking on this study I had never designed or carried out an investigation, I feel I have learnt so much and my knowledge and vocabulary in this field has increased. I also feel now I have this knowledge I would be able to conduct further investigations in the future.

19. Review 3/3
I believe a weakness is that the population of my study was to wide. It was ‘college students aged 16 to 19’, this population includes 16 to 19 year old student both how exercise according to the government recommended amounts or more and those who live a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I believe this had a serious impact as to why the results of the relationship between BMI and consumption of sugared drinks was a negative weak correlation. I feel another weakness was the questionnaire design to collect the qualitative data had an error – the 10th question ‘what exercise activities do you participate in?’ didn’t have an answer option of ‘no exercise activities’. I think this will have impaired the qualitative data, as it didn’t allow me to properly analyses the BMI of those who don’t exercise compared to those who do. This hindered the analyse when trying to explain the quantitative data result.

20. Future recommendations 1/5
If I were to do this investigation again I would change the population, making it more specific to either college students aged that ‘exercise according to the recommended weekly guidelines’ or ‘don’t exercise according to recommended weekly guidelines’. I would do this because I feel the population scope was to varied and this had a strong input to why the results showed a weak negative correlation between BMI and consuming sugary drinks, when in fact all previous research I read and is stated in my literacy review would indicate there is a positive correlation between the two variables. I believe this change would improve the investigation by making it more prosiest and make the actual effects on BMI clearer, also it would help to conclude the question that arose from my literacy review ‘Is there anything that can counteract the effects of consuming sugary drinks? ‘ and second hypothesis about weather participants who exercise and consume the sugary drinks will show less of an effect on there BMI. I believe this because exercise is one of the biggest things a person can do to reduce BMI if they are overweight or obese. Thus if the investigation was altered in this way by focusing on either people who do or don’t exercise according to weekly recommendations and the results showed there was a relationship between drinking sugary drinks and BMI but exercise can help counteract these effect, this could be benefit people in that it is evidence exercise can reduce BMI and hopefully encourage people to start exercising and increase there health in the long term. Also showing sugary drinks aren’t good for you and reduce the number of people drinking them.

21. Future recommendations 2/5
If I were to do this investigation again I would change that it was a one off and instead change it to a longitudinal study like some of the abstracts I used for my literacy review did. I would ask them to be apart of a study spanning a year, I would use the same method for first approach the participant – measuring them and getting them to fill out the lifestyle questionnaire, additionally I would meet them once every two months (six times within the year) and re take their measurements. I believe change would improve the reliably and validity of the results, it would also allow me to track the change in BMI, assessing if it increases or decrease is made over time. This would then show from the first testing if a relationship does exist and for the other five tests the long term effects to BMI consuming drinks could have. The investigation would then be able to show if there is a link between drinking sugary drinks and a long term effect on BMI, if it is as I hypothesised the people who do drink high sugar content drinks regularly there would be an increase in BMI over time. I feel like this would benefit the people who participated in my investigation as I could educate from the results to this effect on drinking sugared drinks and using the information from the other sources in my literacy review. Hopefully this would then help them to make an educated decision about there own health and stop drinking the drinks, in hope of reducing BMI and stopping it increasing further and therefore lowering their risk at developing disease and medical problems associated with having a high BMI or being obese.

22. Future recommendations 3/5
If I were to do this investigation again, I would change the variables. Instead of using five different sugary drinks and water, I would look at one sugary drink and water. One of the sources from my literacy review focused solely on energy drinks, as this is consider to be there worst of all sugary drink due to the extra caffeine they contain. I believe this change would improve my investigation as it would focus directly on the effects of one specific drink in comparison to water. Also I believe energy drinks contain more sugar and therefore the effect on BMI would be greater. The investigation would then show a clearer difference between consuming sugary drinks and drinking water. I feel this would then benefit people who drink energy drinks, as the results could be used for education purposes to teach them of the effects of consuming these drinks can lead to. Hopefully stopping the rate of consumption and reducing it, thus stopping an increase in BMI due to this factor.

23. Future recommendations 4/5
If I were to do this investigation again I would repeat the measurements I took three times to insure precision and reliability. I would also go to two decimal places. I believe this change would then increase the accuracy and reliability of my data, making my investigation more credible and the results more accurate. I feel this change in measurements would benefit people who may use my research after, possibly for there own research or more education purpose, as the results would be reliable leading to better results.

24. Future recommendations 5/5
If I were to do my investigation again I would uses children from the nursery at college, aged two to five, as my population group and compare the BMI difference between those how drank water and those how drank sugared drinks, such as fruit shots or juice. I believe this change would improve my investigation as it would reduce the impact of my second hypothesis about exercise. Children aged two to five will have more controlled conditions and will roughly all be exposed to a similar amount of exercise during breaks and play time as they will all have the same set routine. This would then change my investigation my taking away the need for my second hypothesis and need for collecting the qualitative data via the lifestyle questionnaire. I feel this would then benefits children, as the results would be shared with the parents and hopefully influence them to make an educated change on what they allow their children to drink. Also as the impact sugary drinks have on BMI, one source in my literacy review paid particular attention to the effect sugary drinks also have on children teeth, by hopefully reducing/stopping children drinking these drinks, I would reduce the likelihood of developing tooth decay.

25. Research Project Appendices

26. Appendix 1

27. Appendix 2

28. Appendix 3
Hello, I am carrying out an investigation for my sport and exercise science BTEC. It is related to the consumption of sugared drinks and BMI. The drink you’ve just purchased is one of the 5 I am using to analyse for my study. I was wondering if you had the time to be a participant in this investigation. I requires me taking your height and weight and you completing short lifestyle questionnaire.

29. Research Project Figures and Tables

30. Figures and tables 1

31. Figures and tables 2

32. Figures and tables 3

33. Figures and tables 4

34. Figures and tables 5

35. Figures and tables 6

36. Figures and tables 7

37. Figures and tables 8

38. Figures and tables 9

39. Figures and tables 10

40. Figures and tables 11

41. Figures and tables 12

42. Figures and tables 13