EFFECT OF MUSIC ON TEST TAKING PERFORMANCE

I. Rationale

It has been assumed that test administrators must carefully attend to external variables which
may affect a test taker's performance. Nowadays, it can be observed that there are companies
who have no testing area hence the applicants are exposed to different extraneous variable. One
of those variables is the use of background music in the workplace (Dobbs et.al, 2011).

In modern society, noise is an all but constant factor in our daily lives. Hockey (1979)
provided nine conclusions regarding the effects of noise on performance: 1) noise results in both
positive and negative outcomes; however, these are less likely to occur early in performance, 2)
negative effects have a greater likelihood among complex tasks,3) improvement from noise
exposure is often seen in less complex tasks or those in which boredom is experienced (noise
acts to increase alertness), 4) low to moderate levels of steady noise (<90 dB) are not as likely to
affect performance as intermittent noise or noise above these levels, 5) memory effects can occur
with as low as 70-80 dB of noise early on in task performance, 6) verbal comprehension can be
negatively affected by noise that is less than that needed to impair the intelligibility of speech,7)
noise can increase attentive focus during the encoding of information while reducing the
availability of that information, 8) noise’s central effect on information processing is to tunnel
attention toward the central-features of a task, and finally, 9) noise appears to increase one’s
subjective sense of confidence in one’s decision making even though no additional evidence for
such confidence has been added. Finally, Jerison (1959) studied the effect of noise on human
functioning in a laboratory setting. He suggested that noise creates or increases psychological
stress, which is the muse of changes in functioning.

One of the most frequently reported decrements in Henderson, Crews, Moxosesian,

Texas and Barlow (1945) explored the effect of music as a source of distraction during the taking
of a test. On the other hand, Rauscher, Shaw and Ky found out that classical music improves task
performance. In addition, University research in France, published in Learning and Individual
Differences, found that students who listened to a one-hour lecture where classical music was
played in the background 
scored significantly higher in a quiz on the lecture when compared
to a similar group of students who heard the lecture with no music.

Hence, the findings of the study will benefit all industries because it is important to
realize the extent to which testing conditions may influence applicants’ scores on a pre-
employment examination.

II. Purpose of the Study (Specific Objectives)

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of environmental noise,
classical music, pop music and no distractions on test-taking performance. Specifically, this
study intends:

1. To determine if environmental noise, classical music, pop music affects and with no
music affects participants’ test performance

2. To know if test scores of respondents under control and experimental group correlates to
academic performance they had during their tertiary level

3. To know if there a significant difference on the test performance of both male and female
respondents under the two groups.

III. Research Questions

This study intends to explore the impact of environmental noise, classical music, pop
music and no distractions on test-taking performance. Specifically, it sought to answer the
following questions:

1. Is there a significant relationship among environmental noise, classical music,

pop music, no distractions and test performance?
 2. Is there a significant relationship among environmental noise, classical music,
pop music, no distractions and test performance?

3. Is there a significant difference between gender and test performance under the
two groups?

IV. Methods to be used to answer the research questions

Research Design

The researcher utilized the descriptive method of research. A descriptive research is a

purposive process of gathering, analyzing, classifying and tabulating data about prevailing
conditions, practices, beliefs, processes, trends and cause and effect relationships among
variables (Reber et. al, 2009)

Specifically, this study was identified under the correlational design that discovers
predictive relationships among variables (Reber et al, 2009). This study determined if
background noise and classical music affects test performance.

Samples and Sampling Techniques

The researcher used a purposive sampling since the researcher set a certain criterion to
the respondents who can participate in the study. These are participants who are a graduate of
any four-year course and whose age ranges from 21-30 years old. The main goal of using this
sampling is to focus on the characteristics of a population that are of interest of the researcher.
The subjects of this study were obtained from National Power Corporation, where the researcher
is currently employed.
Research Instrument

1. Eysencks Personality Inventory, an 81 item questionnaire which took ten minutes to

complete in order for the researcher to understand which participants scored as extroverts
and introverts.
2. MD5 is a quick and easy test of mental ability which involves finding missing letters,
numbers or words. This test is designed to assess the candidates’ ability to use logic and
reasoning to solve cryptic problems, under a tight time pressure.

3. Demographic survey questionnaire to know respondent’s gender and academic

performance obtained in College.

Data Gathering Procedures

Prior to start of the test, all participants were provided a demographic survey to know
their age, sex and instructed to indicate their weighted average obtained in College. They were
also presented with a consent form in which they were informed of their right to withdraw at any
given point in time. Following the signing of the consent form, the researcher informed the
participants that their identity would remain anonymous.

Forty participants were selected from the different departments and randomly assigned
proportionately by gender into four groups. The participants were given Eysencks Personality
Inventory and Mental Abillity Test (MD5). Each group composed of ten (10) participants were
tested to each condition simultaneously: popular music, classical music, with environmental
noise and quiet environment. Following the test, participants that were exposed to classical and
pop music were asked to assess the background music using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5,
where 1 indicates strongly dislike, 2 denotes dislike, 3 denotes neither like or dislike, 4 denotes
like, and 5 denotes strongly like.
 The researcher prepared samples of Classical, Pop music and Environment Noise.. The
popular music entitled “Kahit Ayaw Mo Na” was the top hit song this 2019 and for Classical
Music this study used Mozart.

Data Analysis

This study was tested under ANOVA analysis to analyze how background music,
environmental noise and taking the test in quiet environment can influence test performance.
Moreover, a one tailed paired samples t-test is used to compare test results of extroverts and
introverts with an alpha level of .05 was used for the analysis.

V. Working Bibliography

1. Dolegui, A. (2013). The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance. Inquiries,

Vol 5 No. 9 pp. 1-1. . Retrieved from: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1657/the-
impact-of-listening-to-music-on-cognitive-performance

2. Godsmith, M. Does Classical Music Affect the Average Student's Test Scores?.
Retrieved from: https://www.theclassroom.com/classical-music-affect-average-students-
test-scores-15259.html

3. Kumar, N. (2016). The effect of listening to music on concentration and academic

performance of the student: Cross-sectional study on medical undergraduate students.
Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences, pp. 1190-
1195 .Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311435289_The_effect_of_listening_to_music_
on_concentration_and_academic_performance_of_the_student_Cross-
sectional_study_on_medical_undergraduate_students
4. Mallory, C. (2012). The Effect of Music on Math and Science Standardized Test Scores.
Retrieved from: https://web.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-022812-
093901/unrestricted/IQPFinalDraft.pdf

5. Manthei and Kelly. Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test
Scores of Undergraduate. Retrieved from: http://music.arts.usf.edu/rpme/effects.htm

6. Mowesian and Heyer. (2018). The Effect of Music as a Distraction on Test-Taking

Performance. Taylor and Francis Online, pp. 104-110.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00256307.1973.12022580

7. Rastogi and Silver. (2014). Association of Music With Stress, Test Anxiety, and Test
Grades Among High School Students. Journal of Young Investigators. Retrived from:
https://www.jyi.org/2014-may/2017/3/29/association-of-music-with-stress-test-anxiety-
and-test-grades-among-high-school-students