PSY1005S/PSY1007S
Work piece 2
Experimental Research Proposal
Name & Surname: Sarah Milborrow
Student Number:
MLBSAR001
Tutorial group:
11
Tutor:
Sanelisiwe Kene
Date:
10 August 2015
_________________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE
This work-piece serves as a research proposal, as well as an ethics application
Your tutor will evaluate the idea for your practical assignment and the extent to which you have
thought this idea through. You will receive feedback about the feasibility of your proposal in the
form at the end of this tutorial work-piece template.
Your study feedback may be rated as:
1. Approved without amendments (proceed with research)
2. Approved with amendments (may proceed on condition that suggested amendments are
attended to)
3. Not approved (you may not proceed with the proposed idea; new proposal is required).
You MUST therefore complete all sections of this work piece and you MUST have your study
approved by your tutor before you can proceed with your research.
INCOMPLETE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE EVALUATED.
1. Answer the following questions:
a) What is the title of your study?
The effects of different noise environments on concentration and memory recall.
[1 mark]
b) What is your hypothesis?
The more intense the noise environment and the more lyrics the music contains the lower
the persons concentration level and therefore the lower their memory recall.
[2 marks]
c) What is your independent variable and how will it be varied?
The different types of noise environments or different music types varied through the
inclusion of various music genres ie: pop, rock, classical as well as a control (no music)
[2 marks]
d) What is your dependent variable and how will it be measured?
Concentration level; measured through memory recall (measuring how many words in a series
of words the subject remembers in order in a limited time)
[2 marks]
e) How have you operationally defined your variables?
Different types of noise environments – songs from different genres of music (pop, rock, classical and the
control) which are listened to over the one minute memorizing period.Different types of noise
environments – songs from different genres of music (pop, rock, classical and the control) which are listened
to over the one minute memorizing period.
[2 marks]
Concentration level – defined as “The action or power of focussing all one’s attention” or “close attention”
online, this being measured through memory recall which can be indicative of this. Measurements being
recorded in a scale of 1-10; for both the order of the recall as well as the number of words recalled from a
list of 20 words.er of the recall as well as the number of words recalled from a list of 20 words.Concentration
level – defined as “The action or power of focussing all one’s attention” or “close attention”
online, this being measured through memory recall which can be indicative of this. Measurements being
recorded in a scale of 1-10; for both the ord
[2 marks]
f) Who will your participants be, how will you select them, and how many will take part in
your study?
University Students between the ages of 18 and 25.University Students between the ages of 18 and
25.
[3 marks]
Sample will be randomly selected on a volunteer basis. The participants can sign up to the study
through email.
[2 marks]
At least 12 participants (3 per environmental group) preferably more, however preferably an equal
number of participants in each of the four environmental groups.
[1 mark]
g) Briefly describe the procedure you will follow in carrying out your research.
The subject listens to the selected genre of music for their selected environmental group over
the one minute duration of the memorisation period; getting one minute to memorize the
sequence and words in a 20 word-series. The participant then recalls the words in sequence.
With this data the experimenter can assess the effects of the different environmental
conditions or noise environments (music genres) on the concentration levels of the
participants; recording the data in scales of 1-10 for both number of words remembered and
for correct sequence.
[5 marks]
h) Are there any ethical concerns in your research? If so, what are they and how do you plan
to control for them?
Studies with human participants always raise ethical concerns. Such as confidentiality
animosity; to alleviate this, confidentiality can be offered, at the very least, as the research
design does have an experimental design and therefore the experimenter will have to deal with
the participants. Furthermore experiments such as this may lead to stress in the participants or
possible offence and thus allowance for the participant to withdraw from the study at any
stage must and will be included.
[4 marks]
i) What confounding variables may affect your results, and how do you plan to control for
these?
Personal music taste – whether the participant enjoys the music affects the participants
concentration level to an extent, particularly if they get distracted by the music, either because
they do not like the music or because they enjoy it and it distracts them from the task at hand.
Natural personal memory recall – the different subjects could naturally remember more or less of
the word less and this could affect the results regardless of which music genre they listened to.
[2 marks]
Both of these confounding variables can be controlled through the random selection and
‘distribution’ (into the different environmental groups) of a large sample group of participants
in similar areas of life (eg: university student) which raises the likelihood that they will have
similar memory capacities, although it will still vary to an extent and it also removes the
likelihood of unevenly distributed sample groups of personal music tastes, cultural groups, etc
thus alleviating the likelihood of skewed data because of these confounding variables.
[2 marks]
Total:
25
/30 marks
Your tutor will complete this form and upload this as part of your feedback.
PSY1005/7S Practical Research Assignment
Proposal Outcome
Approved without
amendments:
Approved, on condition that
the student makes the
following amendments:
Has not been approved:
Initials /electronic signature
of tutor evaluating the
proposed project:
Date:
