Study Description

A sociologist wanted to investigate whether task concentration is affected by the type of working environment (noise level).

The researcher needed a stratified sample of 30 employees. They obtained this sample from a logistics firm consisting of 120 full-time and 80 part-time staff.

Participants were asked to complete a series of complex data entry tasks on a computer system.

There were two conditions in the study, Condition 1 and Condition 2.

• Condition 1 (Quiet environment): 15 participants completed the tasks in a room with a low background noise level of 35 decibels.
• Condition 2 (Noisy environment): the other 15 participants completed the tasks in a room with simulated office chatter and ringing phones at 75 decibels.

Each participant was tested individually. The sociologist recorded the performance by counting the total number of data-entry errors made by each participant over a 20-minute period.