The Effect of Background Music on the Mathematics Test Anxiety of ...

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28 group, while sections 002 and 004 were the experimental group. <strong>The</strong> control group had 150 participants and the experimental group had 170 participants. Instruments Mathematics test anxiety. An abbreviated version <strong>of</strong> the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) was used to measure math anxiety. In 1972, Suinn, Edie, Nicoletti, and Spinelli developed the original 98-item Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale. Each item describes a situation that may cause anxiety within the participant. <strong>The</strong> participant responds to each item on a scale <strong>of</strong> 1 to 5 (with 1 representing “not at all” anxious and 5 representing “very much” anxious). <strong>The</strong> math anxiety score is calculated by summing all <strong>of</strong> the values across the items. High scores reflect high levels <strong>of</strong> math anxiety. Some <strong>of</strong> the initial copies <strong>of</strong> the MARS were inadvertently published with only 94 items. In 1989, Alexander and Martray designed an abbreviated version <strong>of</strong> the MARS. This version was designed with the belief that “math anxiety is defined primarily by a math test (or evaluation) anxiety component and secondarily by anxiety about executing math tasks or taking math courses” (Alexander & Martray, 1989, p. 144). To develop the 25-item version, Alexander and Martray (1989) performed a factor analysis on a 69-item abbreviated version <strong>of</strong> the original 98-item MARS. <strong>The</strong> correlation between scores on the 69-item scale and the 98-item scale was .93. An internal consistency alpha coefficient <strong>of</strong> .97 was obtained for the 69-item scale. <strong>The</strong> correlation between scores on the 25-item MARS and the 69-item MARS was .93. Two-week test-retest reliability <strong>of</strong> the abbreviated (25-item) scale was .86. An internal consistency alpha coefficient for the
29 25-item MARS was computed in this study. <strong>The</strong> 25-item Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale can be found in Appendix 1. Mathematics achievement. Mathematics achievement was measured using the first exam for the College Algebra course. All four sections <strong>of</strong> the course took the same exam. Two forms <strong>of</strong> the exam were used. <strong>The</strong> order <strong>of</strong> the questions was the only difference between the two forms. <strong>The</strong> exam contained 20 questions, and a score <strong>of</strong> 100 points was possible. <strong>The</strong> College Algebra exam can be found in Appendix 2. <strong>Background</strong> <strong>Music</strong> <strong>The</strong> background music used was <strong>Music</strong> for the Mozart <strong>Effect</strong>, Volume I Strengthen the Mind. Campbell (1997) suggests that listening to classical music by Mozart can improve concentration, memory, and spatial perception. Procedures <strong>The</strong> participants were asked to complete the 25-item MARS during the week prior to the exam. After the students arrived to take the exam, the door was closed and the students were given 10 minutes to study. Both the control group and the experimental group were asked not to talk during this time. During this 10-minute study period for the experimental group, background music was played. <strong>The</strong> control group studied 10 minutes in silence. When the 10-minute study period was over, the music was turned <strong>of</strong>f for the experimental group. Both groups were given the exam. After each student completed the exam and turned it in, he or she was given the 25-item MARS to complete again. Research Design and Statistical Analysis As noted previously, the research questions for the present investigation were the following. Associated hypotheses are listed.
Page 1 and 2: The Effect
Page 3 and 4: iii Acknowledgements I would like t
Page 5 and 6: v Table of Content
Page 7 and 8: vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Factors
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER 1 Rationale, Literature Rev
Page 11 and 12: 3 Spielberger (1985) described trai
Page 13 and 14: 5 Factor analyses. Researchers have
Page 15 and 16: 7 Anxiety Subscale of</stro
Page 18 and 19: 10 Table 1 (continued) Ferguson (19
Page 20 and 21: 12 to 66 students attending the Tex
Page 22 and 23: 14 the Missouri Mathematics Placeme
Page 24 and 25: 16 differences between the mean exa
Page 26 and 27: 18 students to one of</stro
Page 28 and 29: 20 background music on reading comp
Page 30 and 31: 22 Anxiety level. Researchers have
Page 32 and 33: 24 The final study
Page 34 and 35: 26 Definitions math-test-anxious st
Page 38 and 39: 30 Research Question 1. Does the us
Page 40 and 41: 32 CHAPTER 3 Results This research
Page 42 and 43: 34 Table 2 Hypothesis 1B: 2 (Anxiet
Page 44 and 45: 36 Hypothesis 2A The</stron
Page 46 and 47: 38 Table 3 Hypothesis 2B: Pre-Exam
Page 48 and 49: 40 group between lower anxiety and
Page 50 and 51: 42 Figure 2 Hypothesis 2B: Interact
Page 52 and 53: 44 CHAPTER 4 Discussion The
Page 54 and 55: 46 low anxiety students or the high
Page 56 and 57: 48 References Alexander, L., & Cobb
Page 58 and 59: 50 D'Ailly, H., & Bergering, A. (19
Page 60 and 61: 52 Mowsesian, R., & Heyer, M. (1973
Page 62 and 63: 54 Wolf, R., & Weiner, F. (1972). <
Page 64 and 65: 56 APPENDIX A Last 4 digits <strong

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