-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org
[mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Allison Brager
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 10:44 AM
To: r-help at r-project.org
Subject: [R] statistical advice
Hello,
I am a researcher in sleep and circadian rhythms who is
having much trouble deciding on proper statistical analyses.
Before I state my question, I provide a brief synopsis of the
looming problem; I am interested in activity bout
distributions across a 24 hr day. In addition to looking at
the number of activity bouts across the day, I am also
interested in the duration of each activity bout. My current
method of analyzing numbers and durations of activity bouts
involves; 1) documenting the number of activity bouts for
each condition (alcohol or water drinker) and then, using
repeated measures ANOVA to account for three days of activity
recording 2) displaying the number of each bout duration
(expressed in 15 minute bins) in a frequency histogram, that
again, documents differences in bout number between
conditions. My concern lies in the size of the frequency bins
for the bout durations. My advisor suggested 15 min bins, my
co-advisor suggests 60 min, I think 10 min (from
*Quantitative analysis of the age-related fragmentation of
hamster 24-h activity rhythms* by Plamen D. Penev, Phyllis C.
Zee, and Fred W. Turek) which leads me to my question: IS
THERE A MORE CONTINUOUS WAY OF ANALYZING ACTIVITY DURATION
DIFFERENCES THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE "COUNTING"?
If you would like more insight on my experiment in order to
have a more accurate understanding of the problem, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Allison Brager
--
Graduate Student
Department of Biological Sciences
Kent State University
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