Can this be done before Thursday at 5PM?

Testing anxieties can lead to a decrease in academic performance for an otherwise successful student. In one study lead by Chapell (2005), 5,551 graduate and undergraduate students were assessed for anxiety level as well as grade point average. The participants in Chapell’s study were split into groups of graduates and undergraduates; male and female; and low, moderate, and high test anxiety. Students were asked about their cumulative grade point average and were administered a questionnaire that assessed their testing anxiety. Generally speaking, the results showed that students who reported having low test anxiety also had an average 3.77 GPA, while students who showed signs of high test anxiety had an average GPA of 3.61 (Chapell, et al., 2005).

Stress can not only cause drops in performance, but also can be detrimental to a student’s health. In one longitudinal study, results show stress during young adult years can cause health risks such as increase in BMI and increase in blood pressure later in life (Farrell, Simpson, Carlson, Englund, & Sung, 2017). Stressful situations can cause a person’s heart rate and blood pressure to increase, and prolonged exposure to stress over time can cause stiffening of the arteries (Trapp, et al., 2014). Using coping mechanisms can aid in settling test anxiety in students. Not only can finding ways to cope with anxiety help students stay healthier physically, but it is also reported that students with lower self-reported stress levels experience greater amounts of happiness and life satisfaction (Ruiz-Aranda, Extremera, & Pineda-Galán, 2013).

Using music as a method for relieving stress and quieting the mind is a common practice among most people. We listen to music in our everyday lives during all sorts of activities. Listening to music can cause muscles and nerves to relax, slow blood pressure, and alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression (Yang, et al., 2016). This phenomenon can be credited to the pathways in the brain. Emotions in the human brain are localized in the thalamus, and when a person listens to music, their thalamus is stimulated and then impulses are transmitted to the cerebral cortex where the music has a soothing or exciting effect on emotions (Cook, 1986). One study was conducted in a psychiatric hospital to look at the effects of music on varying levels of anxiety. The participants suffered from a variety of mental disorders, but they were divided into groups based on level of anxiety intensity: mild, moderate, and severe. Music intervention was introduced into the participant’s routine for 10 consecutive days and consisted of the participant sitting in a sound proof room and listening to calming music for 20 minutes. The results concluded that anxiety levels dropped for all three groups after exposure to the music therapy. The researchers credit this response to a series of functions in the brain. When the brain is exposed to multiple stimuli at the same time, the stimuli compete with each other. This competition can allow the positive reaction to music in the brain, such as the release of endorphins, to mask unpleasant feelings of anxiety (Yang, et al., 2016). This positive response to music can be even greater when the music is chosen by the individual. Each person has their own preferences on which kind of music relaxes them and makes them feel better. In a related study, results show that people who are exposed to music they select for themselves as relaxing experienced a greater decrease in anxiety, heart rate, and respiration than those who had the relaxing music chosen for them (Labbé, Schmidt, Babin, & Pharr, 2007).

Music can be applied to a variety of real world situations that are considered stressful, and research shows that in most cases it is successful in relieving anxiety. Plenty of people fear the dentist, and the time spent waiting in the room for the dentist to appear can be the most nerve wracking. One study used music as a way to decrease anxiety before dental treatment, and they found that music has an effect on decreasing anxiety levels when compared to silence (Thoma, et al., 2014). Similar results can be found in studies addressing sports anxieties. One group of researchers exposed a group of competing athletes to music before having them preform a task and found that while the music had no effect on the level of competitive stress the athletes felt, the music did lesson their general anxiety about the situation (Elliott, Polman, & Taylor, 2012). This practice can even be stretched as far as applying it to consumers in the retail industry. In a study done by Feng, Suri, and Bell (2014), customers were observed in stores while they decided on purchases they wanted to make with different types of music playing in the background. Calming music produced the most sales, so it can be inferred that the soothing music created an environment that decreased anxiety about spending (Feng, Suri, & Bell, 2014).

Applying the soothing effects of music to the anxiety that students feel prior to an exam could greatly increase performance and decrease levels of anxiety. In a relevant study done by Lilley, Oberle, and Thompson (2014), researchers tested 80 students on the effect of music, either soothing or obnoxious, prior to a mathematics exam. Blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety levels were recorded throughout the study. Lilley and the rest of the researchers found that the soothing music produced lower anxiety levels, blood pressure, and heart rate and the obnoxious music produced the opposite. These findings could be expanded and applied to see the result on grades acquired when combined with music to relax prior to examination (Lilley, Oberle, & Thompson, 2014).

Music as stress relief has been explored, but examining the effect of incorporating music into the routine of students prior to examinations to relieve test anxiety could possibly have monumental effects on the student population. Not only is testing anxiety is a serious problem among college students, but overall morale is low and seems to keep getting lower in students. Success is a weight that young people carry on their shoulders, and on test days it is a heavy burden. If what we already know about the calming effects of music can be applied to students with test anxiety, then we might see an increase in performance as well as a decrease in anxiety.

In this study, the goal will be to measure the effect that music has on testing anxiety before an examination as well as the effects of this method on the student’s performance. The sessions will be composed of six parts: consent and introduction, a pre-assessment of anxiety levels, a period of study with or without music, a post assessment of anxiety, an exam on the materials given, and then a debriefing. Anxiety assessments will be calculated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Julian, 2011). The predicted outcome is that participants who are exposed to music will produce lower post assessment anxiety levels as well as higher scores on the examination.

Method

Participants

Participants for this study will be recruited through a convenience sample of 100 students (N = 100), 50 males and 50 females (n=50), by advertising participation through flyers passed out around campus. In order to qualify for participation, students will have to be in the 18-24 age range and be a current undergraduate student at the university. For participating, students will receive points that can be used for classes that accept research participation as extra credit. Students who test with special accommodations will be excluded from this study.

Materials

For this study, a heart rate monitor will be used to measure heart rate and a timer will have to be used to time the 30-minute study period. Students will listen to music that is projected through a speaker connected to a laptop with a music streaming program such as Spotify. Students will study and be tested on the first two chapters out of a general college biology text book. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire will be used to measure anxiety levels. A computer with SPSS data analysis will be required to calculate the results.

Design

This study will be set up in a mixed factorial experimental design and the data will be analyzed through a mixed effect ANOVA. Music, with two levels of music and no music, and the before and after assessments are the independent variables. The dependent variables being measured in this experiment are level of anxiety prior to exams and performance on exams, heart rate, and performance on the test.

Procedure

The study will consist of one meeting that will last about an hour and 45 minutes. Students will first be told that the purpose of the study is to measure testing anxiety and memory prior to an examination. To produce a realistic anxiety level, participants will be told that their score on the exam at the end of the study will determine how many extra credit points he or she will be awarded. They will then be asked to sign an informed consent form. The participants will be randomly assigned to a condition, either music or no music during the study period. The study will be conducted in a research lab with multiple rooms in order to provide a private place for the student to study while allowing the researcher to be on hand.

Pre-Study Session Assessment. The first part of the experiment will last about 15 minutes. The participant will be brought into the study room assigned to them and the research assistant will record their heart rate using the heart rate monitor. The STAI questionnaire will then be administered, which takes an estimated 10 minutes to complete.

Study Session. Once the pre-assessment is completed, the student will be instructed to study the material their exam for 30 minutes. The material will be taken from the first few chapters from a general biology book. Participants assigned to the no music condition will sit in silence during this period. Participants assigned to the music condition will be taken to a room with music playing from a small speaker at a moderate volume. The research assistant will leave the student to study alone.

Post-Study Session Assessment and Exam. After the 30 minute study period is over, the research assistant will record heart rate one last time and the STAI will be administered again, estimated to take another 15 minutes. An examination of randomized multiple choice questions from a test bank for the textbook will be administered and the student has 10 minutes to complete it.

Debrief. Following the exam, the student will be debriefed on the true purpose of the study, which is to compare study with music opposed to study without music and the effect of that condition on the performance on an examination. Participants will be told that their score on the exam does not affect the amount of points be awarded to them, and the reason for misleading them was to produce a realistic anxiety level without negatively impacting them. The full extra credit points will be awarded upon completion of the study. The scores that will be analyzed are heart rates before and after the study session, STAI results before and after study session, and performance on the examination. The between subjects and within subjects conditions will be analyzed using a mixed effect Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

Discussion

There are limitations to this experiment due to the subjective nature of music. The most obvious foreseeable issue is that not everyone enjoys music in the same manner, and one student might rely upon using music in their everyday lives while another prefers complete silence or background noise. The possible implications that music might have for decreasing test anxiety and increasing performance overshadows this, and might even be eliminated by prescreening participants for those who prefer silence and excluding them from the study. Another limitation is using a biology textbook as the study and examination material, and the examinations might be harder or easier for some than others. The data is also only taken from one test and one situation, so a longitudinal study would be more accurate in observing the effects that music has on testing anxiety

Proposed Budget

The researcher will need the following resources to complete the study:

Supplies

· Consent Forms (N= 100, $0.10).……………………………….…$10

· STAI Questionnaires………………………………………..........$600

· Heart Rate Monitor……………………………………………….$15

· Timer……………………………………………………………...$10

· Speaker……………………………………………………………$30

· Biology Book……………………………………………………..$130

· Exams (printed, N= 100, $0.10 per sheet)………………………..$10

Technology

· Laptop……………………………………………………………$150

· IBM SPSS Statistics Grad Pack 24.0 Standard 6 Month…………$50

Personnel Salary

· Research Assistant (N=2) $10 per hour, 133 hours……………..$2,670

Grand Total……………………………………………………………..$3,675

References

Chapell, M. S., Blanding, Z. B., Silverstein, M. E., Takahashi, M., Newman, B., Gubi, A., & Mccann, N. (2005). Test Anxiety and Academic Performance in Undergraduate and Graduate Students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(2), 268-274. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.97.2.268

Cook, J. D. (1986). Music as an intervention in the oncology setting. Cancer Nursing, 9(1). doi:10.1097/00002820-198602000-00004

Elliott, D., Polman, R., & Taylor, J. (2012). The effects of relaxing music for anxiety control on competitive sport anxiety. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(Sup1). doi:10.1080/17461391.2012.693952

Farrell, A. K., Simpson, J. A., Carlson, E. A., Englund, M. M., & Sung, S. (2017). The impact of stress at different life stages on physical health and the buffering effects of maternal sensitivity. Health Psychology, 36(1), 35-44. doi:10.1037/hea0000424

Feng, S., Suri, R., & Bell, M. (2014). Does Classical Music Relieve Math Anxiety? Role of Tempo on Price Computation Avoidance. Psychology & Marketing, 31(7), 489-499. doi:10.1002/mar.20710

Julian, L. J. (2011). Measures of Anxiety. Arthritis Care & Research, 63(S11): 10.1002/acr.20561. doi:10.1002/acr.20561.

Labbé, E., Schmidt, N., Babin, J., & Pharr, M. (2007). Coping with Stress: The Effectiveness of Different Types of Music. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 32(3-4), 163-168. doi:10.1007/s10484-007-9043-9

Lilley, J. L., Oberle, C. D., & Thompson, J. G. (2014). Effects of music and grade consequences on test anxiety and performance. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 24(2), 184-190. doi:10.1037/pmu0000038

Ruiz-Aranda, D., Extremera, N., & Pineda-Galán, C. (2013). Emotional intelligence, life satisfaction and subjective happiness in female student health professionals: the mediating effect of perceived stress. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 21(2), 106-113. doi:10.1111/jpm.12052

Smyth, E., & Banks, J. (2015). ‘Your whole life depends on it’: academic stress and high-stakes testing in Ireland. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(5), 598–616, 598-617. doi:10.1080/13676261.2014.992317

Thoma, M. V., Zemp, M., Kreienbühl, L., Hofer, D., Schmidlin, P. R., Attin, T., . . . Nater, U. M. (2014). Effects of Music Listening on Pre-treatment Anxiety and Stress Levels in a Dental Hygiene Recall Population. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 22(4), 498-505. doi:10.1007/s12529-014-9439-x

Trapp, M., Trapp, E., Egger, J. W., Domej, W., Schillaci, G., Avian, A., . . . Baulmann, J. (2014). Impact of Mental and Physical Stress on Blood Pressure and Pulse Pressure under Normobaric versus Hypoxic Conditions. PLoS ONE, 9(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089005

Figure 1. Heart rate before and after study sessions.

Figure 2. Anxiety levels before and after study session.

Heart Rate Before and After Session

With Music Before Session After Session 88 75 Without Music Before Session After Session 88 84 Column1 Before Session After Session

Heart Rate

Anxiety Levels Before and After Study Session

With Music Before Session After Session 40 20 Without Music Before Session After Session 40 40 Column1 Before Session After Session

STAI Score