Does Music Help or Hinder Studying

Does Music Help or Hinder Studying?
Abstract:
In the following paper, my goal was to research the positive and negative effects of college students listening to music while studying. In order to do this I interviewed four different Quincy University students to receive evidence to support my hypothesis that college students that listen to music while studying, will not be as stressed and they will be able to work more effectively. Even though I found three out of the four interviewee’s did not like to listen to music while studying or doing homework because it caused a distraction. I did find one who found listening to music while studying helpful. These results allowed me to conclude that my hypothesis was wrong, listening to music while studying does not help college students work more efficiently or make them less stressed.
Getting Started: The average college student spends several hours a day just listening to music. Whether it is during a main activity such as walking to class, driving in the car, or even using it just to fill the background, college students are always listening to music. Which is why it is not surprising that music has such an impact on how college students act, think, and feel. Several studies have been conducted to come up with different theories about music, though some results are questionable, the consensus view is that music can have both positive and negative effects on not only college students but anyone who listens to music while working or studying. I hypothesize that college students that listen to music while studying, will not be as stressed and they will be able to work more effectively.

Strategies and targets In order to receive information about college students listening to music while they study or do homework, I decided to interview four different subjects. Two males and two females so there would be an equivalent amount of data from both genders. I also chose to interview two subjects of each gender to get a guy’s and girl’s perspective that way it was not gender biased. All of my interviewee’s are students that currently attend Quincy University and live on campus in the student housing facilities. The four subjects I chose to interview were people that I am good friends with so that it would seem less awkward. All of these interviews took place at night in each of the interviewee’s dorm rooms. I chose to conduct the interviews in their dorms so they would feel comfortable and also so that I could get the feel of what they have to deal with while trying to do their studying or homework in their dorms. Since I am a commuter student and do not get the experience of living on campus, I felt it would only be right if I understood how many distractions there were in the dorms for my interviewee’s, that I do not experience at home. I felt that conducting these interviews in their dorms was the right decision because it made them feel comfortable and I really got to feel what they deal with. Each of my interviewee’s consisted of a senior male and female Quincy University student, along with a freshman male and female Quincy University student. I chose to only interview two freshman and two seniors because I knew that the freshman would just be figuring out what they needed to do to help them study and get homework done. While on the other hand the seniors would already know and be doing what they needed to do to help them study and get homework done. All four of my interviewee’s asked that they remain partially anonymous, so I will be going by their first names only Kelsey, Collin, Haley, and Mark. For all four interviews I began with small talk for about five to ten minutes, so that we were comfortable and weren’t just making awkward conversation. I then told them before I was going to begin the interview. For the main topic of my interviews I asked many different general questions about their tastes in music such as, “What is your favorite genre to listen to?”, “How often do you listen to music on a daily basis?”, “Do you listen to certain kinds of music based on the mood you are in?” Then I asked a few questions that really applied to my hypothesis and were the questions I focused on most for example, “Do you listen to music while studying or doing homework?”, and “What do you listen to while studying or doing homework?” All of these questions really ended up relating to my hypothesis really well.
The Truth Comes Out For my first interview I talked with the freshman female Kelsey (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014).
Shelby: “What is your favorite genre of music?”
Kelsey: “I really do not have a favorite, I like to listen to a little bit of everything, but it really depends on my mood or what I’m doing.”
Shelby: “What kind of music do you listen to when you are stressed?”
Kelsey: “I will mostly listen to some sort of classical music, because I feel it is very calming.”
Shelby: “Do you ever listen to music while doing homework or studying?”
Kelsey: “All the time! With all the other students being loud and obnoxious I need to escape all that noise. I just feel it is easier to focus and makes me want to get my work done.”
Shelby: “What do you listen to while you are doing homework or studying?”
Kelsey: “I normally listen to some sort of classical music like I do when I’m stressed. Normally homework and studying makes me stressed.” After the interview was done I thanked Kelsey for helping me out and went to meet my next interviewee. For my second interview I talked with the freshman male Collin (C. Downey, interview, November 11, 2014).
Shelby: “What is your favorite genre of music?”
Collin: “I love to listen to pop and rap, that is about it for me though.”
Shelby: “Do you ever listen to music while doing homework or studying?”
Collin: “No I feel like it keeps me from fully concentrating. Plus I normally work on my homework and study in the library where I know there are not any distractions.” After the interview I thanked Collin for the helpful information and called it a night for interviews. For my third interview I talked with senior female Haley (H. Hermann, interview, November 12, 2014).
Shelby: “What is your favorite genre of music?”
Haley: “I’m pretty open to listening to just about anything. The only thing I don’t listen to on a regular basis is rap, I only listen to that when I work out.
Shelby: “Do you listen to music while doing homework or studying?”
Haley: “Not really, occasionally I will listen to it if it is super loud in the dorms and I am trying to study or do work. But I normally do okay with all the extra noise.
Shelby: “If you do listen to music while you study or do homework, what do you listen to?”
Haley: “If I do, which is rare, I listen to classical pop. It makes me happy because they are songs I know really well, they just have a Mozart affect to them.” I again thanked Haley for taking time to talk with me and headed to my fourth and final interview I talked with senior male Mark (M. Schmidt, interview, November 12, 2014).
Shelby: “What is your favorite genre of music?”
Mark: “I absolutely love listening to country, in fact I don’t ever listen to anything else.”
Shelby: “Do you ever listen to music while studying or working on homework?”
Mark: “Never, it is just a huge distraction for me. I have to be in total silence and be by myself to focus on my studying and homework.” I also thanked Mark for taking the time to talk with me, and giving me some great information, after I went home to start compiling my notes.
What’s Right and What’s Wrong? Based on the information received from all four interviewee’s, it is clear that listening to music while studying and doing homework is not something all college students find helpful. It seems that it really just depends on the person and how well they can handle focusing on one assignment while also listening to music. Three of the four interviewee’s said that they did not like to listen to music while studying or doing homework because of the stress and distraction it causes them to have. One interviewee said that she (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014) enjoyed listening to music while studying and doing homework because it helped to block the noise caused by other students in the dorm. However, I found that all four subjects do like listen to music on a daily basis, they just have different preferences in genre and when or why they listen to that particular type.
Thoughts
In conclusion, I believe that my hypothesis that college students that listen to music while studying, will not be as stressed and they will be able to work more effectively, was in fact incorrect, based off the information I discovered after interviewing four Quincy University students. Two out of the four interviewee’s said they do not like to listen to music while they study or do homework, because of the distraction and stress it brings them. I feel that interviewee’s Collin (C. Downey, interview, November 11, 2014) and Mark (M. Schmidt, interview, November 12, 2014) allow themselves to become distracted by the song that’s playing in their headphones, rather than getting their mind off the extra noise around them which is why they put the headphones in, in the first place. Interviewee Kelsey (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014) has found a way to take music and use it as more than just entertainment. Instead she (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014) uses it to block out the access noise to just be able to focus on the homework or studying. Interviewee Haley (H. Hermann, interview, November 12, 2014) was on the fence when about listening to music while studying and doing homework and only listens to it when it is super loud in the dorms. I do however feel that it really just depends on the person and comes down to how well they are able to multitask or not be distracted by the music and just focus. When looking at Kelsey (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014) compared to the others there is a huge difference. Interviewee’s Collin (C. Downey, interview, November 11, 2014), Haley (H. Hermann, interview, November 12, 2014), and Mark (M. Schmidt, interview, November 12, 2014) had somewhat similar responses to the question “Do you ever listen to music while doing homework or studying?” all three agreed that it just kept them from studying. Maybe they are not able to multitask. Maybe they can only have an assignment and not have anything else going on in there head, whereas interviewee Kelsey (K. Clow, interview, November 11, 2014) can do both listen to music and work on an assignment. After looking at all of my research I was able to see that not everyone feels like listening to music will help them be more relaxed and get work done more efficiently. Majority of my interviewee’s just felt like it was just another distraction that in turn made them even more stressed than they were before. No matter what studies prove that listening to music has negative affects while studying, it will always be something college students do.