Assignment: Pulling It All Together
Does background music significantly impact the productivity of patient registration employees?
A group of patient access registrants works in an open office environment in a hospital. A human resources (HR) manager wants to compare the productivity of this group under three conditions: with a constant background sound of music, with an unpredictable background sound of music, and with no background sound of music.
There are twenty-four registrants, and they are randomly divided into three groups. All registrants study a set of written patient registration material for 30 minutes. During this time, those in Group 1 are subject to background music at a constant volume, those in Group 2 are subject to background music with varying volumes, and those in Group 3 are not subject to any sound at all. After studying, all employees take a 10-point multiple-choice test over the material. Their scores are as follows:
| Group 1-Constant Sound |
Group 2-Random Sound |
Group 3-No Sound |
| 7 |
5 |
2 |
| 4 |
5 |
4 |
| 6 |
3 |
7 |
| 8 |
4 |
1 |
| 6 |
4 |
2 |
| 6 |
7 |
1 |
| 2 |
2 |
5 |
| 9 |
2 |
5 |
You are to analyze the collected questionnaire data using Microsoft Excel and draw conclusions to report back to the human resources (HR) manager in the form of a research report.
Following is a step-by-step assignment breakdown:
1. Develop a problem statement that incorporates the scholarly literature to support your rationale.
2. Develop a research question based on the problem statement.
3. Formulate a null and an alternative hypothesis set based on the research question.
4. Identify the independent and dependent variables and describe how they are being operationally defined in your research project. Identify the type of data being used.
5. Describe your sample using descriptive statistics.
6. Select and describe an acceptable α level for deciding whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis.
7. Select the most appropriate statistical test to test your hypothesis and explain why it is the most appropriate tool.
8. Using Microsoft Excel, conduct your statistical analysis.
9. Discuss possible limitations of the study.
10. Recommend future research directions.
11. Write a conclusion. In your conclusion, make sure you address the importance of adhering to ethical standards in developing research studies, interpreting the results, and considering who should have access to the data and knowledge gained from the research.