Sgt. Samuel H. Buckstein edited Biases.tex  about 10 years ago

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\subsection{Biases and Limitations}  There were several biases and limitations which can be identified in the selection of participants and execution of the experiment. The first is that the sample participants were drawn from engineering students at the University of Toronto. As such there is a significantly lower percentage of girls to draw from in the student pool. The population tested in this experiment therefore represents the standard engineering male:female ratio of 3:1. Furthermore, due to the busy time of year it was difficult to attract students to participate in the study as it involved more time than a simple online for. This led to a smaller sample size than desired. Another limitation is that due to the long range of distances required, the experiment had to be conducted outside. This lead to differences in weather conditions such as wind and cloud cover between participants. Most significantly, the 20 m 20m  target was not shaded as well as the 10 m and 30 m targets, which may have decreased accuracy at this distance. It is also significant to note that the paintball is powered by pressurized air tanks. With use or extended storage, the pressure in the tanks decreases, leading to a decrease in muzzle velocity and apparent accuracy. As such, those shooting later ``in'' a tank would be shooting with a lower velocity and it might be more difficult to shoot accurately. Tanks were changed several times throughout the experiment in an effort to compensate for this as best as possible, though the effect may still have been noticeable. Additionally, not all of the sample population fired paintballs from all three distances, requiring differnt t-tests to be used depending on the case.  Finally, the target size is limited and thus some individuals miss the target entirely. As such, a spread value can not be measured entirely accurately for this shot and instead a penalty spread value of 150 was applied for each shot which missed the target.