A music teacher had noticed that some students went to pieces during exams. He wanted to test whether this performance anxiety was different for people playing different instruments. He took groups of guitarists, drummers and pianists (variable = 'Instru') and measured their anxiety (variable = 'Anxiety') during the exam. He also noted the type of exam they were performing (in the UK, musical instrument exams are known as 'grades' and range from 1 to 8). He wanted to see whether the type of instrument played affected performance anxiety when controlling for the grade of the exam. The first part of the SPSS output is below. What does this part of the output tell us?
A) The type of instrument played did not have a significant effect on anxiety.
B) The grade of exam taken did not have a significant effect on anxiety.
C) The variances of anxiety scores were roughly the same in the different groups of musicians.
D) The variances of anxiety scores were different in the different groups of musicians.

Question

A music teacher had noticed that some students went to pieces during exams. He wanted to test whether this performance anxiety was different for people playing different instruments. He took groups of guitarists, drummers and pianists (variable = 'Instru') and measured their anxiety (variable = 'Anxiety') during the exam. He also noted the type of exam they were performing (in the UK, musical instrument exams are known as 'grades' and range from 1 to 8). He wanted to see whether the type of instrument played affected performance anxiety when controlling for the grade of the exam. The first part of the SPSS output is below. What does this part of the output tell us? 
A) The type of instrument played did not have a significant effect on anxiety. 
B) The grade of exam taken did not have a significant effect on anxiety. 
C) The variances of anxiety scores were roughly the same in the different groups of musicians. 
D) The variances of anxiety scores were different in the different groups of musicians.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The output shows the Levene's test for equality of variances. The significance value for the variable 'Instru' is greater than 0.05, indicating that there is no significant difference in the variances of anxiety scores between the groups of guitarists, drummers, and pianists. This suggests that the assumption of equal variances is met, which is important for some statistical tests. The output does not provide information on the effects of the type of instrument or grade of exam on anxiety.

A Music Teacher Had Noticed That Some Students Went to Pieces