A mixed-methods study of physiological reactivity to domain-specific problem solving: methodological perspectives for process-accompanying research in VET

Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training

Table 2 Stress before, during, and after the task

Stress measurements	Before		During		And after the task		p	Partial η ^2(a)
Variable	M	±SD	M	±SD	M	±SD	p	Partial η ^2(a)
PS	27.94	19.26	–	–	57.06	21.97	<.001	.668
HR	77.18	9.94	78.64	11.26	78.06	14.44	.745	.011
RMSSD	50.51	22.53	44.84	20.21	48.20	18.79	.219	.105
LF/HF ratio^b	1.59	.54	1.40	.44	1.44	.53	.130	.129
SCL^c	3.90	1.27	6.26	2.10	7.08	2.30	<.001	.690
SCR^d	.31	.17	.37	.13	.36	.13	.045	.196

15 ≤ n (persons) ≤ 18; PS = perceived stress [mm]; HR = heart rate [bpm]; RMSSD = root mean square of successive differences [ms]; SCL = skin conductance level [µS]; SCR = mean amplitudes of skin conductance responses [µS]
^aGreenhouse-Geisser-adjusted p values; Multiple comparisons, Bonferroni-corrected
^bLF/HF (before) > LF/HF (during), p = .011
^cSCL (before) < SCL (during) < SCL (after), each p < .001
^dSCR (before) < SCR (after), p = .064