Identify the type of investigation used (i.e., non-experimental, experimental, o

Question

Identify the type of investigation used (i.e., non-experimental, experimental, or quasi- experimental) • If the investigation has an independent variable, dependent variable, and/or extraneous variable, identify each.

4. A researcher tests the effect of listening to instrumental music on learning of material in a statistics book. Subjects (college students) are randomly assigned to groups and all tested during one testing session. Group A wears headphones and listens to instrumental music and Group B wears headphones but no music is being played. The music is the same for all subjects in Groups A. Each are given an equal amount of time to study and then tested over the material. Group A performs significantly poorer. The students participating in the study are unaware of the hypothesis and the person scoring the examinees is unaware of which group the subjects were in. The researcher concludes that listening to instrumental music may be detrimental to learning. a. Type of investigation? b. Variables?

Explanation / Answer

This research would be considered a true experiment, or a randomized experiment. The fact that the students participating in the study are unaware of the hypothesis and the person scoring the examinees is unaware of which group the subjects were in makes this a true randomized variable. The outcome of the research results can be shown as credible value, and that participant results have not been tainted or skewed. The randomized experiment is the strongest the three different types of experiments. This particular case shows a direct cause and effect from the research. As for the variables, in this case it is difficult to make any particular changes to the variables.

The independent variables in this case are minor. Because the participants are wearing headphones, and listening or not listening to the same music, the control of the independent variable is strict.

The dependent variable is this case would be hard to change. Because each participant are randomly chosen, and they all listen to the same music, with the same amount of time.

The extraneous variable is can vary by the amount of skill level of each participant in the subject matter. Some may already understand statistic quite well, while others may not have the knowledge base to do well in this subject matter.

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