Running head: EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES

The Effect of Classroom Color on Test Anxiety and Test Scores: A Research Proposal for 4-year Public Universities in Georgia Carrie Cristancho Georgia Southern University

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES

The Effect of Classroom Color on Test Anxiety and Test Scores: A Research Proposal for 4-year Public Universities in Georgia Test anxiety is a common problem in education today. Many students attend classes, take detailed notes, study for hours, and still feel anxious before a test. Reasons for feeling anxiety before exams may vary from a history of poor testing to failure to prepare for an exam (Test anxiety, 2012). Test anxiety can include physical symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath as well as psychological symptoms like feelings of anger and helplessness (Test anxiety, 2012). Often, test anxiety causes students to perform poorly on exams (Liebert & Morris, 1967). While some causes for test anxiety rely on a students preparation, some causes rely on the teacher. Often students feel test anxiety if they do not feel motivated enough by a teacher or if they feel the test itself is flawed or poorly written (Salend, 2012). Many of these conflicts can be resolved and have been studied immensely, but a less obvious conflict is one that can potentially make a significant difference in decreasing test anxiety. Research has shown that an unfavorable testing environment can be a cause for test anxiety, but very little research has been done to determine what the word unfavorable means (Salend, 2012). Research shows that color effects emotion and memory, so it may possible that the color of a room can increase test anxiety, causing students to perform poorly (Kuhbandner & Pekrun, 2013). Beginning research on this topic with an investigation on the overall environment and color of a classroom room is a stepping stone to ensuring universities are doing everything they can to make sure students do their best. Purpose

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES As previously mentioned, research on the topic of how room environment effects anxiety

and performance is limited. Because of this, universities do not have the resources or information to utilize all the steps to student success that are available. The purpose of this study is to investigate how classroom wall color effects test anxiety and test scores in college students. Research Question and Hypothesis This study will address the following research questions: 1) What effect does room color have on test anxiety? 2) Can test anxiety significantly impact test scores? 3) Does room color have an effect on test scores? The following are the primary hypothesis of this research: 1) Room color will have a direct effect on test anxiety. 2) Test anxiety will have a direct negative impact on test scores. 3) Room color will have a direct effect on test scores.

Significance The proposed study will be significant to the field of education because of how the results may change student success. If the proposed hypotheses are accepted, students can benefit with a simple coat of paint in a classroom. Universities would be able to take these results and apply them directly to a campus, which may increase student success. If the proposed hypotheses are rejected, this research may serve as a stepping-stone for research about the specific causes of test anxiety in a university classroom.

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Definition of Terms Test anxiety: The term test anxiety refers to a type of performance anxiety that occurs in students prior to and during an examination. Symptoms of this anxiety can include sweating, shortness of breath, panic attacks, depression, and difficulty concentrating (Test anxiety, 2012). Research has shown that test anxiety can be broken down into two sub-emotions: worry and emotionality (Liebert & Morris, 1967). Worry: The term worry in relation to test anxiety is defined as a cognitive expression of concern about ones own performance (Liebert & Morris, 1967). Emotionality: The term emotionality in relation to test anxiety is defined as an autonomic reaction that occurs when under stress stemming from taking an exam (Liebert & Morris, 1967). Emotionality is an automatic response. Performance: A term that describes whether or not a student succeeds or fails on an exam. 4-Year Institution: A public, 4-year college that offers bachelors degrees and higher. Classroom Environment: In this research, classroom environment refers to the color of the classroom walls. Item Order: How questions appear on an exam. For this proposal, item order is organized by difficulty. Annotated Bibliography The articles in this annotated bibliography were found when searching GALILEO using the search terms test anxiety, test anxiety and performance, classroom environment performance,

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES emotionality and test scores, effect of color, color effects emotion, effect of color on emotion, and cognitive and emotional components of anxiety. Chen, H. (2012). The moderating effects of item order arranged by difficulty on the relationship between test anxiety and test performance. Creative Education, 3(3), 328-333. Doi: 10.4236/cc.2012.33052 The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not item order impacted test anxiety and performance. The researcher gives information on test anxiety and how perceived difficulty of an exam relates to test anxiety. The researcher notes that, while perceived difficulty can effect anxiety, there is not any substantial research on how item order effects anxiety. This

research involves two different investigations. The first investigation involved 72 students from a Chinese university. These students were asked to fill out a Test Anxiety Inventory and were subsequently grouped together by anxiety level. There were three levels: high anxiety, moderate anxiety, and low anxiety. Each participant was then asked to take a test. Each group received a test with questions in two different orders: hard to easy and easy to hard. The second investigation involved 78 Chinese college students. The method of this investigation was the same as the first investigation; however, the tests were given on a computer that chose the level of difficulty. Results of this study showed that test anxiety did have an effect on performance when the item order of the examination was taken into consideration. This study is very useful to the proposed research because it shows that test anxiety can cause poor performance. It also shows that there are other factors to take into account when assessing how anxiety affects performance.

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Fordham, D. R., & Hayes, D. C. (2009). Worth repeating: Paper color may have an effect on student performance. Issues in Accounting Education, 24(2), 187. The purpose of this study was to investigate how colored paper effects student performance. The researcher begins by addressing what inspired the study. A professor was in a hurry and made one version of a quiz for his class. He printed them on different colors of paper in order to keep students from cheating, hoping they would think there were multiple versions. When he reviewed the quizzes, he found that the top 6 scores were on yellow paper and the top 9 scores were on yellow or green paper. The researcher uses this story as a stepping stone to his own research. Participants included undergraduate students in an accounting course at a university. This research was conducted over a ten-year period. Quizzes were given to students on yellow, green, blue, pink, and white paper. Results showed that students did significantly better when taking a quiz printed on white paper or yellow paper rather than on blue or pink paper. This research is important because it gives some evidence that color does have an effect on test scores directly. This can be expanded in the proposed research by testing whether these results are limited to paper color or if they can be found when the room color is different as well. Kieffer, K. M., & Reese, R. J. (2009). Measurement of test and study worry and emotionality in college students: A psychometric evaluation of the test and study attitudes inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69(2), 303-321. This article analyzed the Test and Study Attitudes Inventory (TSAI), a commonly used resource when researching testing anxiety. This inventory measure study worry, study emotionality, test worry, and test emotionality. The researchers first explain the history of test anxiety and the Test Anxiety Inventory, the first inventory used to assess test anxiety. They then

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES explain how this inventory was adapted to suit different models of research. Researchers wanted

to assess the accuracy of TSAI. 1,537 students were given the TSAI over the course of two years. Researchers ran validity tests through a program called MULTINOR and found that the TSAI was valid and consistent. This research is important to the proposed research because it verifies the test measures used. This article also provides good information about test anxiety and specific factors that often result in increased test anxiety. Kuhbandner, C., & Pekrun, R. (2013). Joint effects of emotion and color on memory. Emotion, doi:10.1037/a0031821 This purpose of this article was to examine how emotion and color affects memory. Part of this study focused on how emotions impact memory, while the other part focused on how color impacts memory. Researchers asked forty-eight undergraduate students to study 30 words on a list. The list was made up of words colored black, blue, red, or green. Additionally, some of the colored words were emotion-evoking words. Participants were give 1.5 seconds to view each word, then were given 45 seconds to recall as many words as they could. Researchers found that emotion-evoking words were remembered more than neutral words. The study also found that colored words were recalled more than words that were black. This research is important to the proposed study because it shows that colors have an impact on recall and memory. If the color of a word can help a student recall and answer, it may be possible that the color of a room can impact the recall rate of test material. Liebert, R.M., & Morris, L.R. (1967). Cognitive and emotional components of test anxiety: A distinction and some initial data. Psychological reports, 20, 975-978. Retrieved from
http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pr0.1967.20.3.975

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES This research is an early investigation of how worry and emotionality impact test anxiety. Researchers define the terms worry and emotionality and proceeded to explain how these emotions impact test anxiety. Researchers hypothesized that students who expect success will have low levels of worry while individuals who expect failure will have high levels of worry. Researchers expected emotionality to be highest when an individual does not know what to expect. 54 university students were given two pre-examination questionnaires immediately before an exam. The first questionnaire asked students to rate their success expectancy on a scale of 0 to 1.0. The second questionnaire consisted of ten questions, five items testing worry and the other five testing emotionality. While results did not show any relationship between emotionality scores and success expectancy, results did show that low success expectancy resulted in high worry scores and vice versa. This research is important because it explains the aspects of test anxiety very well. It defines and breaks down the components of test anxiety and explains how different things impact them. Ogundokun, M. O. (2011). Learning style, school environment and test anxiety as correlates of learning outcomes among secondary school students. IFE Psychologia, 19(2), 321-336. In this study, researchers examined how learning style, school environment, and test anxiety influence learning outcomes. Researchers first explain what each aspect of their research entails. For the study, three hundred high school students were given three questionnaires. One questionnaire measured students learning styles, one measured school environment, and one measured test anxiety. Students were then given achievement tests in the subjects of Language and Math. Results showed that learning outcomes, school environment, and test anxiety all effected test scores. This is important to the proposed research because this study found that classroom environment, specifically, had a very significant impact on scores. Classroom

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES environment was shown to have a positive correlation on learning outcomes. If this is the case, classroom color may have an impact on test anxiety and test scores as well. Valdez, P., & Mehrabian, A. (1994). Effects of color on emotions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123(4), 394-409. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.123.4.394 This research studied how color effects emotions. Researchers begin by explaining that color stimuli is characterized by hue, brightness, and saturation. Previous research has shown that the color red is more arousing that the color green, however, very little research studies how

the brightness and saturation effect emotions. Researchers used two-hundred and fifty students to test how hue, brightness, and saturation effects emotions. Researchers used 76 color samples from 10 hue groups. In groups of two, subjects were presented with different color samples. They were then asked to rate the colors and explain how the colors made them feel. Results showed that arousal was impacted by color with blue, blue-green, green, purple-blue, and purple being the most pleasant colors. This research is important to the proposed research because it shows that color can effect emotion. If colors effect emotions and a room is an unpleasant color, the color of the room could impact test anxiety. Method Research Design This research will be a quantitative, experimental, within-group study. Participants will be asked to attend three different sessions over the course of one school semester. Each session, they will be asked to take a pre-examination questionnaire before they are given a quiz with basic algebra questions to solve. Each session, the room will be different in order to make sure the room walls are different colors. One session will be held in a light colored room, one session

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES will be held in a dark colored room, and one session will be held in a neutrally colored room. The independent variable is the classroom environment, and the dependent variables are the anxiety scores and the quiz scores. Participants will be informed of the general outline of the study in an informed consent (see Appendix A for reference). Participants will not be made aware of the independent variable, however, as conscious knowledge of the room color may impact the results of this study. Participants

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The participants will be acquired by convenient sampling. The sample will be made up of undergraduate students from a public 4-year institution in Georgia. Participants will be asked to volunteer to be a part of the study, possibly for course credit. The size of the sample is dependent on the amount of volunteers acquired, but if the amount of volunteers is low, this study may be continued for a second semester in order to gather more data. Data Collection Data for this study will be collected at three different sessions. At the first session, participants will be assigned a number. This number will be put on both the pre-examination questionnaire and the algebra quiz for each of the three sessions. This procedure is necessary to ensure that pre-examination data is matched with the correct quiz score while keeping the participant anonymous. When participants enter the room, they will be given five to ten minutes to converse with other participants. This time gives the participants a chance to study the room environment, whether consciously or unconsciously. Participants will then be given the preexamination questionnaire. This questionnaire will be a revised version of Morris, Davis, and Hutchings (1981) Likert-scale questionnaire assessing worry and emotionality (see Appendix C

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES for reference). This questionnaire will be changed to have equal positive and negative phrases. The questionnaire contains ten questions regarding the negative effects of test anxiety. As this

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may skew the data, I will change some questions to say the opposite of the original questionnaire (for example, changing the question I am nervous to I am confident) and reverse score these questions. Questions on the questionnaire will change at each session and will be chosen from a list from Morris, Davis, and Hutchings (1981) research (see appendix B for reference). After all participants have completed the questionnaire, they will be given a quiz that contains basic mathematics questions (see appendix D for reference). Each session will have a quiz that contains different questions. When participants have completed their quizzes, they will be free to leave until the next session. Analysis The pre-examination questionnaires and quizzes will be matched up by participant. The questionnaire will be scored by adding up the numbers indicated by the participant. Reverse scoring will be taken into account. The lower the score of the questionnaire, the lower the test anxiety for that individual. The mathematics quiz will be scored based on the amount of correct answers. The higher the score of the quiz, the better the performance of the participant. After all quizzes and questionnaires from each session have been scored, I will use an ANOVA test to analyze the effect of each condition on the dependent variables. The ANOVA will compare the test anxiety score to the room color, the test anxiety score to the quiz score, and the room color to the quiz score. Ethical Consideration

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Ethically, there are no major dilemmas that may arise from this research. One potential issue that may arise is anxiety may be induced during the testing. While the researcher cannot

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minimize this directly, the informed consent form will include information about the counseling services offered on campus. Participants will also be informed that they may discontinue the study at any time if they wish. There is the possibility that participants will not be able to attend all three sessions. If this happens, the data of that participant will not be included in the results.

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES References Chen, H. (2012). The moderating effects of item order arranged by difficulty on the relationship between test anxiety and test performance. Creative Education, 3(3), 328-333. Doi: 10.4236/cc.2012.33052 Evaluating expressions (a). (2013). Retrieved from http://www.math-

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drills.com/algebra/algebra_evaluating_algebraic_expressions_two_variables_two_steps_ 001.html Fordham, D. R., & Hayes, D. C. (2009). Worth repeating: Paper color may have an effect on student performance. Issues in Accounting Education, 24(2), 187. Kieffer, K. M., & Reese, R. J. (2009). Measurement of test and study worry and emotionality in college students: A psychometric evaluation of the test and study attitudes inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69(2), 303-321. Kuhbandner, C., & Pekrun, R. (2013). Joint effects of emotion and color on memory. Emotion, doi:10.1037/a0031821 Liebert, R.M., & Morris, L.R. (1967). Cognitive and emotional components of test anxiety: A distinction and some initial data. Psychological reports, 20, 975-978. Retrieved from
http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pr0.1967.20.3.975

Morris, L. W., Davis, M. A., & Hutchings, C. H. (1981). Cognitive and emotional components of anxiety: Literature review and a revised worryemotionality scale. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73(4), 541-555. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.73.4.541

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Ogundokun, M. O. (2011). Learning style, school environment and test anxiety as correlates of learning outcomes among secondary school students. IFE Psychologia, 19(2), 321-336. Salend, S. J. (2012). Teaching students not to sweat the test. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(6), 20-25. Test anxiety. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/testanxiety Valdez, P., & Mehrabian, A. (1994). Effects of color on emotions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123(4), 394-409. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.123.4.394

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EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Appendices Appendix A Informed Consent Dear Participant,

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This study is an investigation on how test scores may be impacted by emotion. This study will consist of three sessions. At each session, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and a short quiz. Each session will require 20-30 minutes of your time, three times over the course of this semester. The only risk associated with this research is that a student may experience and increased feeling of anxiety. No aspect of this study is meant to be anxiety inducing. As a participant, you have the right to dismiss yourself from the study at any time. Anonymity of the participant is guaranteed, as there will be no identifier connecting questionnaires or quiz scores to a participants name. Participants may be compensated with extra credit in a course requiring research participation. If needed, the Georgia Southern University counseling center is available Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. They can be contacted at (912) 478-5541. If you have any further questions abut the research study or if you would like to withdraw from this study, please contact the researcher via the information provided. Thank you,

Carrie Cristancho cl01105@georgiasouthern.edu (912) 555-5555

Printed Participant Name:______________________________________ Date: _____________ Participant Signature: _________________________________________ Date: _____________

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Appendix B Potential Worry and Emotionality Items Evaluated 1. I feel my heart heating fast. (Emotionality) 2. I feel regretful. (Worry) 3. I am so tense that my stomach is upset. (Emotionality) 4. I am afraid that I should have studied more for this test. (Worry) 5. I have an uneasy, upset feeling. (Emotionality) 6. 1 feel that others will he disappointed in me. (Worry) 7. I am nervous. (Emotionality) 8. 1 feel I may not do as well on this test as I could. (Worry) 9. I feel panicky. (Emotionality) 10. I do not feel very confident about my performance on this test. (Worry) 10a. I feel very confident about my performance on this test. 11. I am worried. 12. I am concerned about the consequences of doing poorly. 13. I feel content. 14. I am worrying a great deal about this test. 15. I am presently worrying over possible misfortunes. 16. I feel comfortable. 17. I feel joyful. 18. I feel secure. 19. I feel over-excited and rattled. 20. I am tense. 21. I feel rested. 22. I feel upset. 23. I feel calm. 24. I feel at ease.

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EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES 25. I am relaxed. 26. I feel self-confident. 27. I lack self-confidence. 28. I do not feel self-confident. 29. I feel anxious. 30. I feel high-strung. 31. I find myself thinking of how much brighter the other students are than I am. 32. I am jittery. 33. I feel pleasant. 34. I feel content and satisfied. 35. I know I will do well. 36. My mouth is dry. 37. 1 am afraid that other students are better prepared than I am. 38. I feel that I may let myself and others down by my performance. 39. 1 have a headache. 40. My hands are perspiring. 41. I am concerned about the possibility of making a bad grade. 42. I am concerned about others in the class seeing the results of this test. 43. 1 am afraid that I will be unable to remember answers which I really know.\ 44. I am afraid this test may cover material which I failed to concentrate on in my studying. 45. I feel ashamed and guilty. 46. I am concerned that I may not finish as quickly as others. 47. I am concerned that the teacher may think I am a poor student.

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(Morris, Davis, & Hutchings, 1981)

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Appendix C Pre-Examination Questionnaire Directions: To the left of each of the following statements, indicate your feelings, attitudes, or thoughts as they are right now in relation to this course examination. Use the following numerical scale: 1. The statement does not describe my present condition. 2. The condition is barely noticeable. 3. The condition is moderate. 4. The condition is strong. 5. The condition is very strong; the statement describes my present condition very well.

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______I feel my heart beating fast. (Emotionality) ______I feel regretful. (Worry) ______I am so tense that my stomach is upset. (Emotionality) ______I am afraid that I should have studied more for this test. (Worry) ______I have an uneasy, upset feeling. (Emotionality) ______I feel that others will be disappointed in me. (Worry) ______I am nervous. (Emotionality) ______I feel I may not do as well on this test as I could. (Worry) ______I feel panicky. (Emotionality) ______I do not feel very confident about my performance on this test. (Worry)

(Morris, Davis, & Hutchings, 1981)

EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM COLOR ON TEST ANXIETY AND SCORES Appendix D Math Quiz #1

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(Evaluating expressions (a), 2013)