From a Time

question 51

Essay

From a Time.com article entitled "Why Men Shouldn't Listen to Rock Music While Playing Board Games," published on December 13, 2016.
Researchers Fancourt, Burton, and Williamon wanted to find out whether different types of music would impact participants' performance on a mock-surgery game, "Operation." Many real-life surgeons listen to music while operating, so the authors were interested in whether this may actually help performance, and whether that differed by sex of the participant.
The psychologists asked male and female participants to play the mock-surgery game, "Operation," in which they needed to remove three different organs from a "patient" using tweezers. The experimenters played either rock music, classical music, or operating-room sounds. They found that the type of music made a difference on the performance of male participants, who were slower to complete the task (in seconds) while listening to rock music compared with classical music. The performance of female participants did not differ based on the type of music they listened to.
What is the difference between a manipulated and a measured variable? Indicate which variables are manipulated and which variables are measured in this study.

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Definitions:

Reception

The act or process of receiving, such as how an audience receives and interprets a message.

Communication Process

The series of steps taken to convey messages effectively from sender to receiver.

Well-informed Sense

The state of having comprehensive knowledge or understanding about a particular subject or situation.

Informal Network

Unofficial channels of communication within an organization, not defined by the organizational structure.