A research team wanted to investigate whether listening to music with vocal lyrics affects students' reading comprehension.
An opportunity sample of 24 undergraduate psychology students volunteered to take part. There were 14 females and 10 males, aged 18–21 years. The participants were randomly assigned to either the 'vocal music' condition or the 'silent' condition, with 12 participants in each group.
In the 'vocal music' condition, 12 participants were placed in a quiet seminar room at 9:00 AM. A male researcher played a playlist of popular songs with clear vocal lyrics through a portable speaker. The participants were given 10 minutes to read a short article about the history of the Byzantine Empire, after which they completed a 15-item multiple-choice comprehension test.
In the 'silent' condition, 12 participants were placed in a different seminar room (which happened to be located next to a busy computer lab) at 3:00 PM. A female researcher instructed them to read the same article in complete silence for 10 minutes, after which they completed the identical 15-item multiple-choice test.
Before the study began, participants were told the experiment was measuring reading speed. They were fully debriefed after completing the test.
The comprehension tests were scored out of 15. The findings from the 'vocal music' condition were: mean = 9.20, standard deviation = 2.45. The findings from the 'silent' condition were: mean = 12.10, standard deviation = 1.15.
Outline and explain two extraneous variables that might have affected the results of this study.
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