CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Studying is a central part of academic life, vital for keeping one’s grades on top. Students

can choose from a huge variety of study areas and circumstances, from quiet study rooms to loud

coffee houses. Studying information equipment typically includes some kind of background

noise for many learners, such as television or music.

Students often review class material to guarantee they are knowledgeable about important

concepts and thoughts. Although the need to study is almost universal, a wide variety of

techniques span the precise study practices and methods used by learners.

Despite improvements in other forms of study aids, the recent performance drops of

senior high school students in Universidad de Sta. Isabel based on their academic grades cite the

need for better approaches to studying and productivity. There also exists an important research

gap to fill, as studies concerning a more applied approach to academic performance under the

influence of music are still lacking, especially those catering to senior high school students. The

goal of this research paper is to therefore measure the effects of classical music on a senior high

school student’s academic performance.

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Hypothesis

The alternative hypothesis is that whether negative or positive, classical music in the

background will affect a student’s academic performance. The null hypothesis on the other hand

is that classical music will have little to no effect on a person’s academic performance.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to know the effects of students studying and taking a quiz while listening

to classical music. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following:

1. What is the respondents’ academic performance;

A. while not playing classical music, and;

B. while playing classical music?

2. What are the possible musical factors affecting the performance of the students?

3. What are the advantages of playing classical music during academic activities?

4. What are the disadvantages of playing classical music during academic activities?

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will be undertaken to find out the behaviors and effects of a

student’s performance in their examination before and after they study while background music

plays. Benefiting the study are the various sectors as follows:

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 Students. This will benefit students primarily because this study will develop their

knowledge on what kinds of studying strategies they may use to improve their academic

performance.

Teachers. The researcher’s outcome will assist teachers as they encourage students to

think about concepts that will provide adequate guidance. This can also improve their skills as

facilitators of knowledge as they develop new approaches to their pedagogic practice.

Future Researchers. The findings of the study will serve as a reference material and a

guide for future researchers who wish to conduct the same experimental study under different

conditions.

Scope and Delimitation

This study was conducted on Grade 12 students from Universidad de Santa Isabel. Due to

time constraints, only one set of survey was administered to a total of 24 respondents in the

survey from six different strands. Since classical music is also a central part of the school

curriculum in USI, classical music was used as the standard.

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 Chapter II

Review of Related Studies and Literature

This chapter presents literature and study connected to the present study. This study shall include

fundamental studies and literature on music as it relates to psychology.

Related Studies

A research study conducted by the University of Windsor, Canada to verify the impact of

listening to music has recorded its beneficial impact on work productivity. This study was

carried out on 56 software designers from different software businesses in Canada and its

narrative reactions revealed the importance of listening to music for beneficial change of mood

and improved understanding of design while working. The authors also found that without

music, workplace productivity and other positive effects were the lowest, while time-on-task was

the shortest when music was removed.

Music's influence on cognitive performance was also associated with types of

personality. A study by Furnham and Bradley (1997) illustrated pop music as a distractor on

introverts and extraverts' cognitive performance. They anticipated that in the presence of music,

extraverts would surpass introverts.

Studies incorporating noise as diversion have shown the same unclear outcomes as

studies involving background music concerning their impact on cognitive processing. Other

studies also show that the method does not work for everyone. According to Saga (2014), “new

research out of the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff says that listening to music can

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damage your performance on certain study tasks". The article states that some, if not most

students simply cannot perform well while listening to music, since they have difficulty

multitasking.

Several of these study practices have been defined in past studies (Marton & Säljö, 1984;

Hay, 2007). The ultimate achievement of any method over another, however, may not be dictated

completely by the student's content to be studied and private study practices. In terms of external

stimuli current in the surrounding setting, study environments may vary significantly.

Related Literature

Music influences an individual’s focus, making concentration either an easy or difficult

task. The effects can be subjective however, given that every individual has different

preferences. Studies about this topic generally contradict one another, with some concluding that

music of any genre negatively affects an individual’s ability to focus and concentrate, while

other papers state that music provides our brain and thought processes with positive effects and

stimuli (Seek&Read, 2019).

Theoretical Framework

The effects of classical music manifest in a person’s work ethic mainly based on their

personality and environment. By introducing background music, which in this case is classical in

nature, an individual’s work ethic and therefore their time-on-task and other work-related

elements are affected (see Appendix A for visual representation).

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Conceptual Framework

By taking into consideration the underlying contexts and variables of the research,

including work ethic and the qualities of the music being played, the researchers conducted their

survey questionnaire distribution and observations which will result in a deeper understanding of

the effects of classical music on a students’ performance (see Appendix B for visual

representation).

Definition of Terms

Important key terms should be defined for the purpose of this research paper. These

include;

Background Music. Musical compositions intended as an unobtrusive accompaniment to

an activity; within the context of this research paper, such music will fall under the genre of

Romantic-era classical music and would be introduced as the controlled variable during the

experiment.

Work Ethic. This is the attitude of an individual towards work or labor, influenced by

both an individual’s personality and working environment, which in turn affects the individual’s

performance. Within the context of this research paper, this is the dependent variable the

researchers would have observed throughout the supposed experiment period.

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 Chapter III

Research Design and Methodology

This part of the research will provide an outline of the process of data gathering; the type

of research methodology: the respondents and subjects of the research, and the results from the

experimentation the researchers will conduct.

Research Design

This research, entitled “The Impact of Classical Music on the Academic Performance of

Grade 12 Senior High School Students of Universidad de Sta. Isabel,” used the descriptive

research design. This study aims to know the effects of classical music in the background based

on an assessment the performance, attitude, and work ethic of the respondent.

Research Methodology

The research methodology involves one set of survey questionnaires made with Google

Forms, administered by the researchers of R11 of the Grade 12 Senior High School of the

Universidad de Sta. Isabel. The survey questionnaire shall serve as the data analysis tool to know

what sort of impact an external stimulus like music, would have on a person’s productivity or

performance.

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Subjects and Respondents

The study’s subjects/respondents consisted of 5 Grade 12 classes from the Humanities

and Social Sciences (HumSS), Accountancy and Business Management (ABM), Science,

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), General Academic (GA), Technical and

Vocational Livelihood (TVL) and/or Arts & Design (AD) strands, with a total of 24 respondents

from all the Grade 12 sections of USI’s Senior High School department.

Ethical Considerations

Asking for consent is the first priority of the researchers; considering that nothing should

be done through force, and since the researchers’ value was consent; respondents who wish not

to participate has the right to withdraw from the survey that was given.

The anonymity of the respondents was protected at all costs and the researchers made

sure that no harm was done while the survey was on-going. The researchers avoided any

misleading information. Respondents were, in turn, asked to cooperate and answer honestly.

Research Instruments

A survey questionnaire with five (5) questions was used to perform in this study one of

the researchers prepare five questions, one of which was yes or no, and four of which were

multiple choice. These items are presented in graphic form in Chapter Four.

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Data Gathering Procedure

The process used to gather data and to measure information on interested variables is

qualitative. The researchers used a survey questionnaire to find out the behaviours of a students’

performance after exposure to background music.

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 Chapter IV

Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data

The purpose of this chapter is to show and discuss the data pertaining to the survey

conducted on some Grade 12 students of Universidad de Sta. Isabel in Naga City. The survey

that has been asked to answer contains five (5) questions, alongside the profile.

Profile of the Respondents

Age Number of Respondents Percentage Equivalent

17 11 45.83%

18 12 50.00%

19 1 4.17%

Table 4.1 – Age profile

Gender Number of Respondents Percentage Equivalent

Male 3 12.50%

Female 19 79.17%

“Non-binary” 1 4.17%

Table 4.2 – Gender profile

The respondents’ ages ranged from 17 to 19 years of age, where half of the respondents

were 18 years old. Most of the respondents were female, while three were male and one

identified as “non-binary.” The researchers used convenience sampling to collect respondents,

wherein the researchers chose one (1) to four (4) people to answer the given survey. Twenty-four

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(24) students from different Senior High School tracks were surveyed, from September 28, 2019

to October 3, 2019 using a Google Forms Survey Questionnaire.

Presentation and Interpretation of Data

Figure 4.1 - Recurrence of people who listen to music while studying

29.2% of people surveyed do not listen to background music when studying while 70.8%

do. This means that a majority of people approve using background music as a way to help the

students to focus on their work. Therefore, most people listen to background music at work.

Figure 2 – Amount of time spent listening to music

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 41.7 percent of individuals almost always choose to listen to music while their mind is

active and busy at work. Meanwhile, 33.3% of individuals choose to listen very often, while

8.3% of respondents only listened ocassionally and 16.6% of respondents almost never listen to

music while busy.

Figure 3 – Degree of focus while listening to music

58.3 percent of people say that music does not affect their focus positively or negatively,

while 20.8% of respondents say that it does improve their focus. However, a total of 20.8% of

respondents said they had difficulty in keeping focus whenever there is background music. The

researchers therefore conlcude that most people have no issues

Figure 4 - Volume of the music (dynamics) while at work

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 37.5% chose medium or midrange when listening to their music, while another 37.5%

listened at a soft volume. Meanwhile, 25% of them chose to listen at a loud or very loud volume

when at work.

Figure 5 – Improvement in Student Performance.

When asked about the possible performance improvement during quizzes while listening

to music, 41.7% of responses were unsure, saying that music might be of great help to their

ability to answer during a quiz. 29.2% have said that it was a great help to listen while

conducting quizzes while another 29.2% have stated that it may impair their performance.

Findings:

1. What is the respondents’ academic performance;

A. while not playing classical music, and;

B. while playing classical music?

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2. What are the possible musical factors affecting the performance of the students?

Volume is a major factor that affects their performance. The willingness to work with

music in the background correlates with the responses saying that they listen at a soft to

moderate volume.

3. What are the advantages of playing classical music during academic activities?

Some students were able to focus better on their subjects based on their response and

some were confident that it would improve their performance during quizzes. This means that

among some students.

4. What are the disadvantages of playing classical music during academic activities?

During the survey, a minority gave negative responses when asked what kind of effect

music had on them while at work. Some aren’t able to focus very well and said that it would not

improve their performance during quizzes, or that it may perhaps even interfere in their academic

activities when it isn’t relevant.

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 Chapter V

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

This chapter indicates the students’ viewpoints about the importance of Assessing the

Senior High School Student’s Study and Quiz Performance While Playing Background Music.

This also indicates the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the researchers to help the

school on improving the academic performance during quizzes or examinations also for the

administration to know the lack of the school.

Conclusions

This indicates that the population out of 24 respondents has more students listening to

music while doing their tasks while a few respondents don’t listen to music. However, some

students are undecided if their performance would be improved or impaired by music. The

overall results are very spread out and no longer have an issue with my

Recommendations

Future researchers may want to actually conduct research on the effects of music in a

controlled classroom setting in order to observe the tangible effects and scores. There is also the

possibility for other elements to be considered aside from volume in music.

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APPENDICES

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 APPENDIX A

Theoretical Framework

Introversion

Personality Classical Music

(in background)
Extroversion

Work Ethic Working Environment

and Conditions
(pos

Time-on-Task Productivity Other Work-Related

Effects

The Impact of Classical

Music on the Academic

Performance of Grade 12

Senior High School

Students of Universidad de

Sta. Isabel

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 APPENDIX B

Conceptual Framework

Input Process Output

 How often one Clearer

listens to music understanding of the
 Ability to focus Data gathering and effects of classical
while listening to observation through music on academic
music research instrument performance
 Amount of (survey questionnaire)
exposure to
music while at
work
 Softness or
loudness of
music
 Performance of
student during
quizzes
 Student’s
personality and
work ethic

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 APPENDIX C

Survey Questionnaire

Welcome! Thanks for taking the time to answer our survey! Rest assured that all responses shall

remain confidential.

Name (optional): __________________________ Age: ___ Gender: ___

1. Do you listen to music while at work?

o Yes

o No

2. How often do you listen to music while working?

o Always

o Often

o Sometimes

o Seldom

o Never

3. How well can you focus while listening to music?

o I can focus very well

o I perform just fine

o I can barely focus

o I can’t focus at all

4. How loud/soft is the music you listen to while at work?

o Very soft

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 o Soft

o Moderate/Midrange

o Loud

o Very Loud

5. Would playing background music improve your performance as a student during

quizzes?

o Yes

o No

o Maybe

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