Logbook entry 7

I forgot to add in the survey questions, so here they are!

• Which age range do you belong to?
• Do you possess any music background?
• Average usage of computer per week
• Do you often listen to music while studying/working?
• Which music did you find most distracting? Why?
• Which music did you enjoy the most?

Generally, participants were within the 14-47 age range, most did not posses musical background. Average usage of computer per week was at least 6-10 hours. People found the last piece of music (20th century) most distracting, and enjoyed the classical period music the most.

Logbook entry 6

Made a bar graph out of the results.

Results fluctuate a lot. There doesn't seem to be an obvious pattern, though generally WPM is higher for baroque and classical pieces.

However from these graphs you can see that there is a correlation between WPM and percentage error of a participant. As WPM increases, percentage error decreases.

Logbook entry 5

Asked my classmates to participate in the experiment. It takes about 10 minutes for each person to complete all 5 tests, and so it takes up a lot of time. I think I should have found a way to conduct the experiment all at once, like in a computer lab.

Survey is up. The link is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-bffPxzL0HoMSgXDAghhUTHl2azakBQnIqCGFEsB9X0/viewform

Logbook entry 4

Testing of experiment:
First tests done. Here are the results so far.

The subject was not very experienced at typing, thus all the results were below average. But it doesn't matter as we are comparing differences in results in the different styles and periods instead of across the subjects.

I tried it myself and decided that earphones are better than speakers in terms of effect, and it blocks out background noise as well.

Logbook entry 3

The typing test I've chosen to base my experiment on is 10fastfingers on http://10fastfingers.com/typing-test/english. Here's how it looks like:

Reasons for choosing this site: none of the others actually calculated the:

• WPM
• No. of keystrokes (both correct and wrong)
• No. of correct words and wrong words
• Position among other users in the last 24 hours

at the same time. And the interface was clean, simple, and generally hassle-free.

Logbook Entry 2

I found some reports and sites related about music and its effect on the human body systems.

How music affects us and promotes health at http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml

This site listed the different effects of music on our body systems - physical and physiological. Typing requires concentration and attention.

• Therapy for pain
• Reducing blood pressure
• Relaxation of the heart
• Speeding post-stroke recovery
• Chronic headaches and migraine remedy
• Intelligence and learning
• Memory performance
• Concentration and attention
• Athletic performance
• Body movement and coordination
• Fighting fatigue
• Improving productivity
• Inducing sleep
• Reducing stress/depression
• Aiding relaxation

The effects of background music on text entry performance by Gul

http://www.academia.edu/290570/The_Effects_of_Background_Music_Type_on_Text_Entry_Performance

This experiment focuses more on music tempo (faster vs slower) but not other characteristics though.

Logbook entry 1

Some websites I found that explains the different classical music types. They'll help in my experiment.

Baroque: http://library.thinkquest.org/27927/Baroque_Characteristics.htm

Classical: http://library.thinkquest.org/27927/Classical_characteristics.htm

Romantic: http://www.mostlywind.co.uk/romantic.html

20th century: http://www.tarleton.edu/Faculty/boucher/Fundamentals20thCentury.htm

I created a table out of the information I gathered: