A researcher investigated whether the type of background music played during studying affects reading comprehension. Group A studied with instrumental ambient music playing, while Group B studied with lyric-heavy pop music playing. Both groups then completed a reading comprehension test scored out of 100.
Table 2: Descriptive statistics for the reading comprehension scores for Group A and Group B
| Group A (Instrumental music) | Group B (Lyric-heavy music) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mean | 82.4 | 71.8 |
| Median | 83.0 | 72.0 |
| Mode | 84.0 | 75.0 |
| Standard deviation | 8.5 | 18.2 |
What do the mean and standard deviation values in Table 2 suggest about the effect of the type of background music on reading comprehension performance? Justify your answer.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Data handling and analysis with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 263 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
