"Rock Study" an investigation of study habits in relation to music on Western

This Progress Report submitted by Amanda Checco, Hannah Farrin, Owen Burke, Cameron Vail [e-mail:Checcoam@muohio.edu] on 9/19/02.

"It's study time- BREAK IT DOWN!" a study

Research Question:
How do different genres of music (specifically instrumental jazz, pop, folk and rap) effect memorization and study skills in the categories of visual art, reading/writing and mathematics on the Western Campus?

Preliminary Research Design:

We will select songs from the instrumental jazz, pop, folk and rap genres. Each of these music genres has specifically different qualities that will help us differentiate why they achieve the results they do. For example we are using instrumental jazz because it has no words, pop because of its repetitiveness, and rap and folk because of their intricate melodies and storytelling component. In order to get a song that is most typical of its genre we will refer to a widely used music database online called ÒKazaa.Ó This will assure that the songs we choose are generally regarded by the public as typical of their categories. The music will be played with a portable CD player and earphones at a medium sound level.

Our subjects will be 75 students from the Western Campus. We will test 25 in a visual arts category, 25 in a reading category, and 25 in a mathematics category. Each of the 25 people in these three groups will be tested over a period of one week (5 days) with a specific jazz, pop, folk and rap song. Each meeting time will be at the same hour, at the convenience of the test subject. The tests for each category will go as follows:

Visual Arts
Subjects will be shown a basic picture with specific details (i.e. a picture with a tree that has 7 apples, and 8 flying birds) they will study this picture for one minute with the first song. After one minute they will be asked to re-create the picture they saw, including as many details as possible. According to how many details they replicate, they will be given a score from 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best) Each night they will be given a new image to study with the next music selection. On the 5th night they will study a picture with no music, so we can compare their music genre results to results with no music. These results will be compiled into a Òcontrol groupÓ which includes all 75-test subjects.

Reading/Writing
Subjects will study a list of 20 related words (country names, classic book titles, colors etc.) to each music genre. After one minute of studying, they will be asked to write down the list. According to how many words they can remember we will give them a score from 1-10. Each night they will study a different list to a different song. On the Fifth night they will study with no music, these results will be compiled into the control group for all 75 subjects.

Mathematics
Subjects will be given a sheet of 50 simple math equations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) to solve in one minute while listening to each specific music genre. According to how many problems they are able to solve in the allotted time we will rate them on a scale of 1-10. Each night they will be given a different set of 50 problems to solve while listening to each different music genre. On the fifth night they, too, will solve problems to no music.

Note About Control Groups:
In order to create a control group (people who study with no music) we have decided to test all 75 subjects in all 3 groups with no music (on the 5th and last night of their tests). This way we can see how individual subjects study while not listening to music. We will compile their 5th night results separately (to create the group) from the rest of their tests.

After the Tests
After the test subject has taken all 5 tests in their subject area with each music genre we will interview them on the process, and get feedback on which music they believed kept them focused and allowed them to study better/faster. We will interview them about their study habits: what kind of learner they are (visual, kinesthetic, auditory etc) how many hours a week they spend studying, and their GPA. These surveys are not meant to prove any direct effect of music on GPA or Study habits, but rather, a correlation to provide evidence to what we discover through our tests. We will not use this information for factual details, but rather discuss what we find in this section of our results.

Predictions:
Subjects listening to no music will produce the best results. Music with words will inhibit those studying. Music without words will help subjects focus on their tasks better than music with words specifically in the areas of reading and writing. Music people prefer listening to in general will enhance their memorization skills.

More Questions:
Our study focuses on regurgitation of facts. We are not studying fact retention, but are looking into testing subjects and asking them to recall facts a day later with the similar music to see if the music generates a data-memory recall.

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