Assingments % - The Impact of Background Music on Study Performance

Design an experiment with one independent variable (with at least two levels) and one dependent variable. Additionally, what levels of measurement would you use when collecting your data?
Example: XYZ hospital wanted to increase compliance of staff using hand sanitizer after every interaction with a patient. In order to gain compliance, they set up a buzzer when staff exited the patient’s room. For the treatment group, a buzzer would ring for 1 second after exiting the room unless staff had pressed the hand sanitizer lever. The control group did not have the buzzer activated, so no sound would emit when exiting the patient’s room.
Independent Variable: Presence of a buzzer sound or not.
Dependent Variable: Number of times the hand sanitizer lever was pressed.
Level of Measurement: Ratio
In your responses to other students, identify a strength or weakness of another student’s example design.
Initial discussion question posts should be a minimum of 200 words and include at least two references cited using APA format.

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The Impact of Background Music on Study Performance

Experiment Design

This experiment investigates how background music affects study performance among college students.

Independent Variable: Background music (two levels: no music vs. instrumental music)

Control Group: Students study in complete silence.
Experimental Group: Students study while listening to instrumental music.

Dependent Variable: Score on a standardized comprehension test after a study session.

Levels of Measurement:

Independent Variable: Nominal (Presence or absence of background music)
Dependent Variable: Ratio (Test scores, measured on a scale from 0 to 100)

Study Procedure:

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each group will be given a 20-minute study session to review identical reading material. After the session, all participants will take a comprehension test. Test scores will be compared between the two groups to determine if background music influences study performance.

Rationale:

Research has shown that background music can either enhance or hinder cognitive performance depending on factors such as complexity and personal preference (Perham & Currie, 2014). This experiment aims to provide further insights into whether instrumental music specifically influences academic performance.

References

Perham, N., & Currie, H. (2014). Does listening to preferred music improve reading comprehension performance? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2), 279–284. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2994

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