3. Researchers conducted a study to examine the effect of music on exam scores.

Question

3. Researchers conducted a study to examine the effect of music on exam scores. They predicted that scores would be higher when students listened to soft music compared to no music during the exam. One hundred (50 male, 50 female) students were randomly assigned to either the soft music or no music conditions. Students in the music condition listened to music using headphones during the exam. Students in the no music condition completed the exam as they normally would. As predicted exam scores were significantly higher in the soft music condition compared to the no music condition. The independent variable is: The dependent variable is: Is there anything in the study description that could be a confound? What is it? Does this study have low or high internal validity?Explain.

Explanation / Answer

The independent variable is - Listening to music during giving exam

The dependent variable is - performance during exams (exam scores)

The confounding variables are - intelligence, preparedness for giving exam, state anxiety etc. These are confounding variables as these have not been controlled by the experimenter. Had the experimenter made the groups matched on these variables, then the extraneous variance must have been controlled.

The internal validity of the experiment is low as there are a number of confounding variables which have not been controlled.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse 3
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.