With this table there is also a great significance in the difference between the most occurring number of correct calculations with the recording present and the most occurring number of correct calculation without the recording present. The mode of differences 7 and combined with the mean of differences (6. 5) also combined with our previous table on the median difference (7) shows us that participants scored again around 6 or 7 more correct calculation without the recording. This significance and supports hypothesis greatly and we will not go on to conclude our experiment.
Conclusion: With the final results carefully analysed and considered, we have come to the conclusion that when a participant is faced with calculating a number of sums with also a recording of random numbers playing in their ear, the number of correct calculations is far less than what the number of correct calculations would be if the recording of random numbers was removed. This in turn supports our hypothesis and shows us that the presence of distracting noise in the background channels can and will distract a participant from the channel that they are currently attentive to.
Relation to Background material: In relation to the background material we previously studied in this investigation, our results have shown that Cherry and Broadbent’s theories surrounding attention seem to be incorrect or incomplete. Triesman’s studies however appear to be more applicable to our results – as we have seen that the distracting noise in the background does seem to interfere with the channel that the participant is tying to concentrate on.
Also Moray’s studies have some significance with our results as Moray suggested that participants might hear their own name when attempting to concentrate on a particular channel and this may be significant as in our experiment we made use of random numbers being called out and due to the fact that the participant is trying to concentrate on numbers, this may increase that level of distraction from the task more than, say, letters may have. Limitations: We found that there were many limitations in our experiment when we carried it out.
They are listed below: Improvements that could be made: In hindsight of the limitations of our coursework there are a number of improvements that could be made to our experiment. They are listed below: We could use a more representative sample of participants in our experiments in order to achieve a wider range of results and therefore get a better idea of what effects the distracting noise have on participants trying to complete the task.
We could use further testing with other tasks to do e. g.: tasks involving word skills, puzzles, etc in order to achieve further analysis on attention. We could also use better facilities in our experiment and improve on the method of testing in order to possibly achieve better results. Further Research: The factors surrounding attention and distraction in this experiment show us that although a person may be attempting to listen to one channel, there can be a distracting effect on that by other channels that are added, in this case the presence of the random numbers.
Although we came to the conclusion in with the completion of this experiment that other channels can have an effect on the channel that is selected, there is not enough evidence that this is conclusive for all of the population or that the elements such as the use of numbers in our experiment may be a standalone factor in attention and distraction, meaning that if we used letters for example, the participant may not be distracted at all. This could be investigated with further research by us and a new experiment could be drawn up and tested to see what the results may be when other elements may be added.