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Ariel Tao- Week 4

In week 4, my job in the lab has been mainly three tasks. My first task was the old task of analyzing data by using analysis of variance on SPSS. Last week, I was learning the skills of operating SPSS, a computer software that does ANOVA and completes other statistical tests for researchers. This week, I performed ANOVA tests on the kindergarten and first grade data. Coming to the lab, I was hoping to find that ensemble music education does improve children’s cognitive abilities. However, what my analysis told me that ensemble music education does not significantly affect the treatment group’s cognitive abilities, and that the treatment group’s scores are not statistically different from those of the control group. Since I only looked at the baseline data and the first year data, I’ll be adding the second year data into my analysis next week and hopefully will find some desired outcomes. Another task that I worked on was transcription of the interviews. During interviews, research assistants asked the participants to imagine if orchestra class is removed from their schedule, and to state if they support the choice or not. Then they are to think of reasons to persuade others to support their choice. The goal for transcribing is to find common themes in the children’s response, and analyze them in a qualitative way. My third task was fun. My doctoral student Jill is going to a conference at Colorado to present the El Sistema study and the other studies that she had worked on. So she practiced her talks with us on Tuesday and today. I enjoyed her talks and also gave feedback to her.



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