personal investigation - language and music

state the variables you are assessing

IV: tempo of music (slow tempo – 65bpm vs fast tempo – 180bpm) 

DV: percentage score on test of written comprehension 

state an operationalised alternative hypothesis

there will be a significant difference in the percentage score on the test of written comprehension for participants that listen to fast tempo music (180 bpm) compared to the participants that listen to slow tempo music (65bpm) 

identify if your hypothesis is directional or non-directional

non-directional

Explain why you chose to use a directional or non-directional hypothesis

we have chosen a non-directional hypothesis as the research we read on music and language comprehension was mixed, with many studies focusing on volume and tempo, meaning our study will not be an exact replication, and therefore a non-directional hypothesis is more appropriate 

state an appropriate null hypothesis

there will be no significant difference in the percentage score on the test of written comprehension for participants that listen to fast tempo music (180 bpm) compared to participants that listen to slow tempo music (65bpm). any difference will be due to chance.

identify potential confounding variables that could affect the study of language and music

• music familiarity

• reading ability

• hearing ability

identify potential extraneous variables that could affect the study of language and music

• fatigue

• background noise of the environment

• brightness of the room

explain how you will control for these variables

• standardised procedure (brightness, background noise)

• any students with word processing disorders/ hearing impairments are unable to participate

identify the main characteristics of your sample group

20 students between the ages of 17-18 from a college in the East Midlands 

identify the sampling method you employed to select your sample

• opportunity sampling

• we will approach college students who are available at that time and willing to take part

• we will ask if people are available for 15 minutes to complete our study

advantage one of using chosen sampling technique + linked to variables

• easier than methods like random and stratified as they require access to all names in the sampling frame, which we do not have

• so, by approaching college students who are available at the time (in the canteen) this is much more convenient for us

advantage two of using chosen sampling technique + linked to variables

• the method is much quicker than methods like stratified that require pre-work before approaching the selected participants (working out proportions and subgroups) whereas with opportunity

• we can just approach the students who are available to us, saving time. 

limitation one of using chosen sampling + linked to variables

• for this experiment is researcher bias

• we may only approach certain students (those who look friendly, have similar qualities to us)

• which will affect the validity of the sample completing the reading comprehension test

limitation two of using chosen sampling + linked to variables

• will likely produce a sample that is not representative of the college population

• as we only used college students who were available to us at the time (in the canteen at lunch time)

• this will not include all students in the college and therefore lack population validity. 

 

identify your experimental design

we used independent groups design

advantage one of chosen experimental design

• it reduces the materials needed for the experiment

• if we used repeated measures, we would need 2 different comprehension tests as the students cannot sit the same test twice

• this would affect the validity of the findings

advantage two of chosen experimental design

• it has no order effects

• as the students will only do one condition (fast or slow tempo), their results will not be impacted by boredom or fatigue of doing both conditions

limitation one of using chosen experimental design

• one disadvantage of using independent groups design is that we needed to collect more participants than if we used repeated measures

• as we needed different students to do fast tempo vs slow tempo, this was more time consuming than using repeated measures, where the same students would have completed both fast and slow tempo conditions

limitation two of using chosen experimental design

• individual differences

• as different students did fast vs slow tempo, participant variable such as literacy levels and IQ may affect the validity of our results

 

identify location of this research

we used a lab location for our experiment

advantage one of lab location

• access to specialised equipment

• wouldn’t have in the field

• computer, speakers

advantage two of lab location

• high control over extraneous variables

• by choosing specific classroom, could control noise level outside + temp of room

• increases internal validity of study

disadvantage one of lab location

• increased chance of demand characteristics

• students asked to attend classroom in presence of us (the researchers)

• may unconsciously change behaviour to suit experimental aims

• e.g. try harder on comprehension test

• reduced internal validity

disadvantage two of lab location

• artificial nature of task and environment

• tested language comprehension out of context (random classroom)

• more natural environment (a lesson)

• less ecological validity

step by step procedures

• opportunity sampling (approached students around college, ask if they want to take part)

• random allocation to decide condition of each P

• two conditions: fast tempo music → 180bpm

• listened to songs through headphones, tested students individually then took scores on record sheet

appropriate descriptive statistic

mean and standard deviation

explain why choice of descriptive statistic is appropriate

• mean: measured language as a percentage score on a written comprehension test

• interval data: score reflects equal intervals

• standard deviation: already calculated mean score, need for SD → provides more precise measure of dispersion for data compared to range

appropriate graphical representation

bar chart

explain why appropriate graphical representation

• calculated mean percentage score of written comprehension

• for two discrete conditions of slow and fast tempo music

appropriate inferential statistic

mann whitney u

why appropriate inferential statistic

• looking for difference between slow and fast tempo music and the impact on written language comprehension

• design: independent groups → students in fast tempo or slow tempo

• level of measurement: at least ordinal, DV percentage score on the written comprehension test

briefly summarise findings

	SLOW TEMPO	FAST TEMPO
MEAN	82.5	69.1
SD	-5.5	13.07

Calculated value (U): 19.50 

Critical value: 23 

conclusions drawn from findings

• calculated value of U was 19.50 which is less than critical value of 23

• findings are significant at p=0.05

• therefore, non-directional hypothesis

first issue of reliability + dealing with

• worried about consistency of delivery of instructions to students

• deal with: created a set of standardised instructions that P’s read

• ensured that all students got a consistent experience

second issue of reliability + dealing with

• operationalisation of language and music

• as group, had different ideas how to measure language and music → would affect consistency of our study

• to deal: operationalise music as ‘fast vs slow tempo’, language as ‘percentage score on written comprehension test’

• all agreed and applied consistently

issue one of reliability

• sample: collected from canteen during same free period

• would have affected population validity → unrepresentative of all students in college

• to deal: spread out (diff periods, areas) canteen, study room, field

• increase representativeness, population validity

issue two of validity

• confounding variable of hearing impairments

• without controlling for it, would impact validity

• to deal: students asked in brief, if disability, as would affect ability to participante

• any students with, unable to participate

• improved internal validity of our study

explain how you assessed the validity of your study

• assessed construct validity

• by the way we operationalised language and music

• CV is low, operationalised language as ‘written comprehension’ - doesn’t measure whole construct of language (reading, spoken)

ethical issue one

• concerned about gaining fully informed consent

ethical issue two