Research suggests many environmental factors can influence a person's level of concentration. Workplace lighting is an obvious factor, as is room temperature. However, there are also auditory factors, such as the type of background sound. A cognitive psychologist investigated this using an independent measures design. They compared ratings of concentration given by participants working with background classical music playing to those working in silence. Some of the data collected is presented in the table below.
| Ratings of concentration (0 to 20) given by participants working with background classical music compared to those working in silence (0 = 'unable to concentrate at all' to 20 = 'extremely focused') | Silence | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Background classical music | Silence | ||
| Rating | Rank | Rating | Rank |
| 15 | 15.5 | 10 | 7.0 |
| 12 | 10.5 | 8 | 4.5 |
| 18 | 19.0 | 12 | 10.5 |
| 14 | 13.5 | 5 | 1.0 |
| 16 | 17.0 | 9 | 6.0 |
| 11 | 8.5 | 14 | 13.5 |
| 19 | 20.0 | 7 | 3.0 |
| 13 | 12.0 | 11 | 8.5 |
| 17 | 18.0 | 6 | 2.0 |
| 15 | 15.5 | 8 | 4.5 |
Calculate the mean rating of concentration in each condition. 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.