NOTE: there are

Consistently well purposely quite a few

organised aspects of this
investigation that need
improvements. Each
box helps you to
understand what
should be included in
your investigation.
EXAMPLE
STAGE 2 PSYCHOLOGY GROUP
INVESTIGATION
Arousal and Relaxation

Clear and consistently

organised
Insert Name
SACE ID: Same question as
heading on your graph

Does music preference alter the effect music has on arousal level?
Hypothesis should
have:

IV AND DV

Direction

Groups

Investigation

It is hypothesised that the heart rate of participants with music preference B will
increase after listening to music segment 1 and decrease after listening to music
segment 2.

Page Number, SACE

number and DRAFT are
in the footer
1
New Page

Proposal
Does music preference alter the effect music has on arousal level?
A study will be conducted to gather data on whether or not music has an effect on
arousal level. It is hypothesised that the heart rate of participants with music
preference B will increase after listening to music segment 1 and decrease after
listening to music segment 2. This study will be done in a quantitative observational
method as the pre-existing variables are their music preference. Participants will
record their heart rate before and after listening to certain types of music, which then
allows for any increases or decreases to be recorded. A sample will be taken from
the population of year 12 students; the participants of the investigation will be
students from the Stage 2 Psychology class. The variable that will be observed in
this study is the two music segments being played, arousal and relaxation. The heart
rate is the value which is being affected by the variable and will be measured by the
participants themselves. Through this objective quantitative data it will be possible to
see how group B is affected by each music segment. Results will be presented in a
column graph by showing the change in arousal level by comparing the mean heart
rate, measured in beats per minute (BPM), before and after listening to the two
music segments. The results, if in favour of the hypothesis will show a decrease in
group B’s heart rate when listening to music segment 2 and increase after listening
to music segment 1.

B proposal- student has

not included how they
will present data

2
 Introduction- Written in
New page PAST TENSE

Arousal is defined as the state of being physically and mentally alert, signs of which
include increased heart rate and blood pressure. (Psychology Glossary 1998-2015)
Relaxation is a state in which an individual has reduced intensity of tension or vigour.
(Psychology Dictionary 2015) In the state of relaxation, heart rate can be observed
as being lower than when aroused. State of arousal is able to be altered via stimulus.
An investigation was conducted to answer the question: Does music preference alter
the effect music has on arousal level? This research was conducted using the
quantitative observational design method. Music preference B participants chose
preference B in the questionnaire which contained genres that is under relaxation
music.  Group B participants will have an increase in heart rate when they listen to
music that is not within their music preference as they have not become desensitized
to that type of stimulus.  The participants were drawn from a Stage 2 Psychology
class. The independent variable in this study is the two music segments being
played, arousal and relaxation. The dependent variable is the heart rate as this is the
value which is being affected by the independent variable and will be measured by
the participants themselves. It was hypothesised that the heart rate of group B
participants will increase after listening to music segment 1 and decrease after
listening to music segment 2.The results, contrary to the hypothesis, showed an
increase in the heart rate of those in group B when listening to music segment two.

B- does not include

method/data type
collected or the results

3
New page

Results

Heart Rate vs Music Segment 1 and 2

100
90
89.5 87.5
80 85.5 86
70
Heart Rate (BPM)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Music Segment 1 Music Segment 2

Before Heart Rate After Heart Rate

Figure 1: Heart rates of group B participants during music segments 1 & 2

Clearly presented data.

Titled graph

Colour coded

Brief explanation
provided to show
understanding.

4
 B response-

Analysis of results What was the

paragraph difference ? is it
significant?

make sure your

Discussion hypothesis is stated
correctly and in ITALICS
It was hypothesised that the participants in the music preference B group would not
have an increase in heart rate when listening to music segment 2 as the individuals
would have become desensitized to the music they hear regularly, thus providing
little stimulus. However the research conducted found the hypothesis to be incorrect,
Sample paragraph
as the participants of group B decreased while listening to music segment 1 (From
89.5 BPM to 85.5 BPM) and decreased while listening to music segment 2 (From 86
BPM to 87.5). These results could be due to people preferring music which they find
to be most stimulating, thus finding music outside of their preference to be
unstimulating. What is the difference?
Good suggestion as to
what the data in this
It is also
important to notesuggested.
investigation that the
research consisted of a very small sample of
participants in the music preference B group, and as such a larger sample is needed
for this research to be considered accurate. For more accurate results a larger
mixture of age groups would also be needed, as the results were gathered from a
No Strengths outlined?
stage 2 psychology class, and as such the results were only inclusive of people
Therefore the report
between the ages of 16 to 19. The sample of participants included a variety ofstructure has not been
different ethnicities, as well as a mixture of males and females, thus representing
followed and analysis of psyc
that portion of society well. content is not clear.

The results were also influenced by multiple extraneous variables which would have
affected the level of stimulus the participants received, thus potentially altering the
Not clear as student
Make sure you
does not explain why
heart rate results making them unreliable. Such interruptions included running state that these
EVs cause a weakness.
And student jumpsoutside of the room in which the research was being conducted, as well as an are
from info. interruption by a non-participant. In order to perform the experiment more accurately weaknesses/stre
ngths. Clear and
in the future it would be best to have the participant’s listen to the music via coherent.
earphones, as this would prevent any audible interruptions from being made. The
other way in which unreliable results may have been obtained through this study
would be through visual distractions. To combat this form of extraneous variable it
Psychological
would be possible to have the participants wear a face mask of sorts in order to terms are being
Why?
block vision for the duration of the music segments. The reliability of the results areused.
also potentially flawed as the participants were asked to find their heart beats per
minute via placing a finger or two on either their wrist or their throat. This leaves a
margin of error in the participant’s ability to count one pulse as opposed to two, the
pulse of the wrist/neck as well as any pulsing of the fingers, as well as the possibility
for participants to have lost count. In order for the results to be reliable it would be
C response- No
essential for the heart rates to be recorded via machinery. strengths

Ethics unclear

5 Terms used such as ‘non

issue’ are not report
worthy.

Each ethical issue (3)

The ethics of this experiment were well thought out, with the only potential ethical
issue having been complete informed consent, as participants were not told the
name of the songs before the research was conducted, leaving the possibility for
some participants to have had strong feelings of hatred or bad experiences
Improvements have
relating
to one of the music segments played. This was essentially a non-issue as inthe
been included the right to
withdraw was given to all participants in the form of a consent notice which
weakness allThis
section.
can be done OR you
participants taking part in the research had signed. All other areas of ethical researchcan
have a separate
practices were adhered to. improvements section.

In conclusion, the results gathered show that music preference appears to have
some connection to the level of arousal an individual experiences when listening to
different genres of music. However with the results having been gathered from such
a small sample size further research must be conducted for these results to be
confirmed.

6
Bibliography:
Psychology Glossary. 1998-2015. Arousal Definition. [ONLINE] Available
at:http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Arousal. [Accessed 22 April 15]
Psychology Dictionary. 2015. What is RELAXATION?. [ONLINE] Available
at:http://psychologydictionary.org/relaxation/. [Accessed 22 April 15].