A software engineering researcher is investigating whether the presence of lyric-free ambient music improves coding speed and efficiency compared to working in absolute silence.
Ten software development students were recruited for the study. Five participants were assigned to write a specific Python algorithm while listening to lyric-free ambient music. A different group of five participants was assigned to write the same algorithm in absolute silence. The researcher recorded the time taken (in minutes) to complete the task and successfully pass all pre-written unit tests.
The data collected is presented in the table below:
| Time taken to pass unit tests (minutes) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambient music group | Absolute silence group | ||||
| Participant | Time | Rank | Participant | Time | Rank |
| A | 18 | 3 | F | 25 | 7.5 |
| B | 14 | 1 | G | 22 | 5 |
| C | 20 | 4 | H | 28 | 9 |
| D | 25 | 7.5 | I | 16 | 2 |
| E | 23 | 6 | J | 31 | 10 |
| n1=5n_1 = 5n1=5 | n2=5n_2 = 5n2=5 |
Identify one strength and one weakness of the experimental design used in this study.
201 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Planning and conducting research. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.