Design a True Experiment

Does music improve performance on a math problem Hypothesis

The louder the music played during a math problem solving task , the longer it would take to finish the task

Independent variable

Music played during the task , with three levels no music , soft music and loud music

Dependent variable

Performance on the math problem task measured in the number of minutes to finish solving the math problem

Subject

The subjects will be college freshmen students who are currently taking engineering courses . They will be recruited on a voluntary basis

through an advertisement on the campus bulletin . Race , sex and age will not be controlled for and will serve as limitations of the experiment

Assignment of subjects to groups

A the 3 groups corresponding to the conditions of the experiment , the absence of music , music that is played softly and music that is played loudly all throughout the duration of the problem solving task

Procedure

The subjects will be placed on three different rooms with individual tables and chairs . The room will be arranged in such a way that subjects will not be facing each other . They will be given a math problem to solve , with and pencil and a timer that they will press once they start working on the . At the signal of the researcher they will all start working on the problem and in the first room , music will be played softly , in the second room , music will be played loudly and in the last room music will not be played . The subjects are instructed to press the end button of the timer once they have completed the task

Predicted result of the study

Music has been found to stimulate cognitive functioning and since problem solving exercises mental faculties , it is predicted that soft music played will enhance the performance of subjects in the accomplishment of the assigned task than the group who did not have any music played in the room . However , a louder music would interfere with the concentration of the subjects in working on the task and hence this group would take more time in finishing the task than the group with soft music

Conclusions that you draw based on those result

Music facilitates concentration at certain levels if it is played at a level which is not distracting to the individual it would help the subject focus more on the math task since problem solving is a cognitive task . However , if music is played too loudly it loses its ability to enhance cognitive functioning

References

Hyde , J .S , Fennema , E . and Lamon , S .J (1990 ) Gender differences in mathematics

performance : A meta-analysis . Psychological Bulletin 107 , 139-155

Gosling , S . D , Ko , S . J , Mannarelli , T Morris , M . E (2002 . A room with a cue

Judgments of personality based on offices and bedrooms . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 82 , 379-398

Juslin ,

. N (2000 . Cue utilization in communication of emotion in music

performance : Relating performance to perception . Journal of Experimental Psychology : Human Perception and Performance , 26 , 1797-1813

Oldham , G . R , Cummings , A , Mischel , L . J , Schmidtke , J . M Zhou J (1995

Listen while you work ? Quasi-experimental relations between personal-stereo headset use and employee work responses . Journal of Applied Psychology , 80 , 547-56

Spencer , S .J , Steele , C .M . and Quinn , D .M (1999 ) Stereotype threat and women 's

math performance . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 35 , 4-28

Number of minutes to finish solving the math problem

No Music ...