2.4. Statistical Analyses
Means between sex and age groups were analyzed and significant differences were sought between the groups. Data were assessed for normality through the Shapiro–Wilk test due to the small sample size (In relation to the required sample size, a calculation using the G* Power software (ver. 3.1.9.7; Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany) was performed using the following parameters: one tail, medium effect size d = 0.3, alpha = 0.05, statistical power = 0.80 and a 1:1 allocation ratio. The total sample size would consist of 64 subjects (i.e., 32 individuals per group); our study therefore corresponds to a pilot study, since a total of 24 individuals completed the study (EG = 12; SG = 12). The perception that pilot trials are simply a casual prelude to a larger trial may somehow threaten the rigor with which they are implemented, and such an approach to pilot trial design and implementation runs the risk of providing misleading results, as stated by Arnold et al. [All analyses were performed using the statistical package SPSS v.24 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). An alpha value of 0.05 was set across all the analyses performed.