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

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achievement scores between the students with higher test anxiety in the
control and experimental groups as measure by the first course exam.
<strong>The</strong> research format was a 2 x 2 design with one between-subjects independent
variable termed Anxiety Treatment Groups (experimental versus control) and one withinsubjects
independent variable termed Anxiety Measurement Occasion (pre-exam versus
post-exam). <strong>The</strong> dependent variable that addresses Hypothesis 1A and Hypothesis 1B
was response to the 25-item Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale. <strong>The</strong> scoring range for
this scale was 25 to 125. Hypothesis 1A was tested by an independent samples t-test.
Hypothesis 1B was tested by a t-test for related measures. Additionally a two-way mixed
analysis <strong>of</strong> variance (one between-subjects independent variable and one within-subjects
independent variable) was used to determine whether or not a significant interaction
occurred. In this potential interaction, the experimental group may decrease in MARS
test anxiety from pre to post, but the control group may remain relatively constant in
MARS anxiety.
<strong>The</strong> dependent variable that addressed Hypothesis 2A and Hypothesis 2B was the
first College Algebra exam for the semester. <strong>The</strong> scores for the exam could range from
0-100. Hypothesis 2A and Hypothesis 2B were tested by an independent samples t-test.
Additionally a two-way between-subjects analysis <strong>of</strong> variance was used to determine
whether or not a significant interaction occurred. In this potential interaction, the
achievement scores for students with higher test anxiety may differ between the control
and experimental groups, but the achievement scores for the students with lower test
anxiety may not differ between the two treatment groups.