The Effect of Music on
Concentration
Introduction
The aim of our experiment was to see whether no
music, classical music or hard rock had a better effect on concentration. Our
hypothesis was that the completion rate of the maze would be highest when the
participants listened to jazz music. An alternate hypothesis would be that the
completion rate would be higher when listening to heavy metal. The null
hypothesis would be that the completion rate remained the same throughout all
three conditions and therefore music had no effect on concentration.
This hypothesis was selected because we believed
that the more distracting the music, the lower the concentration. This is an
example of a directional hypothesis as we predicted that jazz music would
increase concentration. A non-directional hypothesis simply states that there
is an effect but does not explain in which direction.
The independent variable in our experiment, the
one we changed, was the type of music the participants listened to. The
dependent variable, the one we measured and observed, was the maze completion
rate in each condition. A confounding variable would be if the participants
listened to their music at different levels, this was easily rectified by
making sure each participant listened at equal volumes. Another confounding
variable would be if the participants were already used to this genre of music
and therefore did better. This could be rectified by carrying out a survey
prior to the experiment.
As it is hard to fully define and measure what
exactly concentration is, this experiment just focused on the ability to
complete a maze in given circumstances. This is known as operationalizing.
Method
The experimental method involves the
manipulation of one or more variables to determine their effect on a dependent
variable. Strengths of using the experimental method involve the ability to
replicate the experiment as it was carried out with a standardized procedure.
This however leads to the lack of ecological validity as the artificiality of
the setting may produce unnatural behavior that does not reflect real life.
Experiments are conducted in a controlled environment enabling the researcher
to eliminate as many extraneous variables as possible which leas to less
confounding results. This allows a cause and effect relationship to be
established. Other limitations include the existence of demand characteristics
and experimenter effects. Participants may figure out what the aim of the
experiment is and therefore alter their responses or behavior to ensure
adequate results are provided and helpful.
 |
| The maze used in the experiment |
The design that we used was the independent
measures design. By using this design each participant was only in one
condition rather than all three. If we had used a repeated measures design the
participants would either of had to complete the same maze or complete a
different maze. Each circumstance leads to confounding variables. If the same
maze was used for all three conditions, results would be contaminated by order
effects where the participants have remembered the path and therefore do better
the second and third time they do the maze. If a different maze was used in
each condition, it would be hard to measure the difficulty and make a valid
comparison.
The sampling style we used was random sampling
however this turned out to be haphazard sampling as all the participants were
from the same socio-economic background. This meant that our sample lacked
representativeness. Stratified sampling would be more representative as it is a
probability sampling technique where the researcher divides the entire
population into different subgroups, then randomly selects the final subjects
proportionally from the different strata.
Procedure
1.
Participants were asked to get
out their iPad and earphones, those without earphones were provided with them
as all already had iPads.
2.
A pen was provided for each
participant if they did not have one.
3.
They were then randomly and
equally split into three groups, however as there were only three boys, one was
placed in each condition.
4.
Each group was assigned to a
different table and spread out.
5.
Participants signed the
informed consent form and received a full briefing.
6.
Participants were asked to
search the required song on their iPads and make sure their volume was
relatively high.
7.
The mazes were then distributed
upside down and each participant was asked to write their group on the back of
the paper.
8.
Participants were given 1
minute to complete the maze.
9.
After 1 minute the mazes were
collected.
Ethics
In order to conduct a moral experiment ethics
have to be taken into consideration. Informed consent is required before any
research is carried out to make sure that the participant is ok with taking
part. Participants must be fully debriefed about the actual aim of the
experiment and offered the opportunity to withdraw their results after the
experiment has been completed. Results must remain confidential once given
consent. In our experiment the participants were not deceived in any way nor
did they undergo any mental, physical or emotional harm and therefore we can
conclude that an ethical experiment was carried out.
Results
There were four participants in each group. The
completion rate was calculated by dividing the number completed by 4 and
multiplying by 100 to receive a percentage.
Our results show that the overall completion
rate was highest in the conditions where the participants listened to either
jazz or just in silence. This proves our hypothesis. The completion rate in the
rock group was 50% while the completion rate in the jazz group was 75%.
Discussion
This experiment could have been improved by
using a larger sample size to increase reliability as four people is too small.
Not only this but our sample was not very representative as we only used IB
students so it is not easy to generalize. The background of the student was
unknown as well which may of skewed results. We did not conduct any sort of
survey before hand which meant that perhaps a student in the jazz group was
already used to listening to this genre while studying and therefore could
concentrate more.
Our results have shown us that music does indeed
have an effect on concentration. Completing the maze listening to either jazz
or in silence produced the same completion rate. We can therefore see that it
may be lyrics which have an effect on concentration rather than the actual
music itself as the jazz was instrumental. This however can not be proven with
these results and only further research can back up this claim. In order to
develop this topic further, more research such as surveys, interviews and
observations may provide more evidence to show that different types of music
have an effect on concentration levels. These results support the attention
drainage effect which states that music with a higher intensity is more
distracting and has a greater effect on task performance and concentration.
This information could be used to improve student's learning at schools.
Certain flaws in our methodology include gender
imbalance and outside noise. Although the ratio of boys to girls was the same
in each condition, it was an unequal ratio of 1:3. As for the outside noise,
this may have affected results as the participants in the control group with no
music could hear the music of the other participants in separate conditions.
Appendix
Materials
•
Song
“Hard Rock Hallelujah” by Lordi
•
Song
"Best of Jazz instrumental jazz music for working-30 famous jazz standards"
•
iPad
•
Earphones
•
A
pen for each participant
•
Standardized
briefing instructions
•
Standardized
debriefing instructions
•
Informed
consent note
•
Timer
Music links:
Hard rock hallelujah http://youtu.be/uGe8qID9gSs30 minutes of jazz http://youtu.be/TZM0eOW7c6w
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