Previous research suggests that deliberate practice, defined as performing structured activities specifically created to improve results in a certain domain, helps to improve performance (Macnamara, Hambrick, & Oswald, 2014). However, in the educational setting, the research has not shown conclusive effects. Macnamara, Hambrick, & Oswald, (2014) found that deliberate practice explained only 4% of the variance of performance in education compared to 26% of performance in games, 21% in music, and 15% in sports. A group of doctoral students decided to investigate the effects of deliberate practice and academic performance.

They designed a study to examine the effect of study effort on academic performance. They recruited 39 students from the College of Social Sciences and Humanities who were asked to participate in a training course about the neuroscience of learning. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions: a control group (without practical exercises during the class) (n = 13), a group who were assigned 5 practical exercises of 1 hour each (n = 13), and a group who were assigned 10 practical exercises of 1 hour each (n = 13). At the end of the course, all participants completed an exam (Final_Score; score range from 0 to 100).

Is there a significant difference in test scores between the three groups? If there is a difference, which groups differ?

State the hypothesis (not just in symbols; state the hypothesis in a sentence)

H₀:

H₁: