Open-plan offices can often be noisy environments that hinder productivity. A cognitive psychologist investigated whether installing acoustic damping panels around workstations would reduce the number of times workers were distracted during a standard 4-hour afternoon shift.
She conducted a field experiment using a sample of 10 office workers selected via opportunity sampling. During Week 1 (without acoustic panels), the number of distraction events (defined as looking away from work for more than 10 seconds) was recorded for each participant. During Week 2 (with acoustic panels installed), the same participants' distraction events were recorded again. The data is presented in the table below:
| Participant | Number of distraction events during a 4-hour shift | |
|---|---|---|
| Without acoustic panels | With acoustic panels | |
| A | 18 | 14 |
| B | 25 | 22 |
| C | 12 | 13 |
| D | 30 | 21 |
| E | 15 | 11 |
| F | 8 | 9 |
| G | 35 | 21 |
| H | 22 | 18 |
| I | 19 | 19 |
| J | 27 | 20 |
The number of distraction events for participant (G) was fewer during the week with the acoustic panels than during the week without them. Calculate this reduction as a percentage. Show your workings.
513 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Data recording, analysis and presentation. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.