RESULTS
Participants
The sample was made up of 21 participants. All participants completed all parts in the Big 5 to openness to experience scores in two different music situations. Data from the scores during preferred music and scores during non – preferred music were put together and used in this investigation (see appendix A and B). The data from the two groups were added and the mean scores were calculated (see appendix C). The mean age for this investigation was 17.
Testing the hypothesis
Table 1 shows the mean of the Big 5 to openness to experience score to two music situations. The mean scores increased from 20.86 to 24.05 in comparison with the mean scores during preferred music to non – preferred music. This shows that the music in two different situations which are the preferred music and the non – preferred music does have an effect on the Big 5 openness to experiences scores. Therefore the hypothesis is rejected as the Big 5 to openness to experience score in two music situations differs.
Table 1 : Mean number of Big 5 to openness to experience score in two music situations.
The next step in the analysis was to determine if the music in two different situations do not have an effect on the Big 5 openness to experiences scores. The hypothesis was proven negative as there was an effect on the Big 5 openness to experiences scores in two music situations. The differences can be seen below in Figure 1.
Figure 1 : The differences in the Big 5 mean scores.
The results did not support the hypothesis because the result showed that there was an effect on the Big 5 openness to experiences scores in two music situations when the scores were hypothesized to have no effect on the Big 5 openness to experiences scores in two music situations.
DISCUSSION
The mean scores of Big 5 to openness to experience score in two music situations are not the same and differ. This indicates that the openness to experiences varies in different music situation. The Big 5 scores in two different music differs which are in the non- preferred music and the preferred music which are 24.20 and 20.86 respectively which explains that openness to experiences changes in different situation, in this case openness to experiences differs with two music situation.
The best way to show the relationship was to breakdown the variable data into groups. Participants were required to sit for the Big 5 test in two different situation which were preferred music which was obtained by the STOMP scores and in another music situation was the non – preferred music. Figure 1 shows the mean differences on the Big 5 scores in the two different situations. The results did not show that a change in a variable causes a change in another variable. The variance in both variables can be caused by a single underlying factor that has not been identified.
Strength and weakness of the research program
The research program on ‘personality’ introduced view to measure a person’s personality by objective and subjective ways. This program is good because it uses objective quantitative measures. These can predict the subjective quantitative results. This type of research can be more reliable and valid. A problem with this research program is that participants may have simply changed their answers in the Big 5 test in two different situations which may cause the first test with the preferred music to be different from the second test with the non – preferred music.
Other weakness are :
- The sample is a bit too small to be taken as a good cross – section of patterns of behaviour in society.
- The sample is too young as the average age is 17 and this doesn’t represent society.
Conclusion
Results show that the personality to openness to experiences differs in different music situation which are during the preferred music and non – preferred music. The hypothesis was rejected as the Big 5 openness to experiences scores in two music situations were not the same. The Big 5 results indicates that the openness to new experiences changes over the different music situation.
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REFERENCES
U. C. Berkeley (2000) , Big 5 personality test. [Accesed on: June 25, 2007]
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
