Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My 9th grade daughter is doing a project about the effects of listening to music while working/doing homework, and needs to add a professional opinion/comments for her science project. She will do her own research and submit a paper for review when complete.

Hi Deca14,

What kind of professional do you need to hear from? I think if you give us a little more insight into what kind of professional you need, the more likely we will be bale to help you.

Best,
Hannah

Behavior Therapist, neurologist or phych

Hi Deca14,

I've sent out a search for a professional on the expert forum with a link to this thread. Hopefully we have someone that can help you.

Best,
Hannah

Hi eca14,

Thanks for your patience in waiting for a behavioral expert to respond to your request. My expertise is primarily in chemistry and biology, and I think that we do not have the right expert to respond at the moment. However, I willl pass along some information based on my experience in helping kids with projects on this topic and also based on science fair projects that I have judged through the years.

Doing a project to test the effect of doing work is a very challenging. The problem is that there is very little scientific literature published on the topic that can be used as a basis for designing a good experiment. For most topics, a student can read articles about research that has been done in the past and then design a carefully controlled experiment that will answer the research question.

Another problem is that it is difficult to do a controlled experiment on this subject and get quantitative results. The best science experiments are done in duplicate or triplicate, and it's hard to get test subjects to cooperate for repeat testing. It’s also hard to get enough test subjects to validate results. And, as with all projects involving humans, it’s difficult to control all parameters other than the independent variable. Has your daughter thought about what she will measure in her project?

This is a common subject for science fair projects, so it will be challenging to make the project unique and convince the judges that it is based on a valid scientific principle.

I hope these comments are helpful. I would be happy to answer any other questions about designing an experiment on this topic if you need more help.

Donna Hardy

Hi deca14,

Thanks for posting your question!

Since you are asking for an opinion and not a scientific study, please see this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/1 ... 10842.html

Personally, I know a few surgeons who confirmed the benefits of listening to music in the operating room. Generally, it reduces anxiety and allows the team to relax a little bit during very long procedures.


Peter S.

HI,

Peter has posted some exceptionally helpful information on this topic. I see that there is a Music Therapy Association. Perhaps you could contact this organization and find a music therapist for an interview.

Donna

Thank you all for your input this should be enough info to get started