Running Head: IMPACT OF COLORED PAPERED TESTS 1

Academic Performance on Colored Papered Tests versus White Papered Tests

Wright State University

Megan Hildreth

Dr. Sarah Jackson

IMPACT OF COLORED PAPERED TESTS 2

Abstract

This study was done to further the research on how different color tests affects student’s test

scores. Within this study, the 40 participants were in a research methods course at Wright State

University. The average age of the participants was 23.28. In order to investigate the affects of

having different color tests, we used ACT like English and math questions on blue and white

printed paper. We found that there was a significant difference in using blue and white paper in

tests scores. This finding not only supports past research but could further help teachers

worldwide with future testing techniques.

Keywords: different color tests, test scores, testing techniques

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Academic Performance on Colored Papered Tests versus White Papered Tests

Throughout academic establishments, professors may choose to use different colored

papers to show different versions of tests. It is important to consider whether this could be

beneficial for students or hindering their academic performance on the test. Finding a successful

way to improve students' scores without creating unequal opportunities for all students should be

considered when administered a test. We are interested in how much of an impact of using

colored paper tests could impact students' academic performance by using standardized tests.

Literature Review

There has been some evidence that using white paper has significantly impacted

academic test scores. Skinner (2004) conducted a research study on introductory psychology

students using white, blue, green, yellow and red paper. Skinner found that white paper improved

test scores more than the other colored paper that he used. Another study that also suggested

white colored paper was better to use was done by Fordham and Hayes (2009). They conducted

their study on over 4,000 finance students at a university using a ten-point quiz throughout ten

years. Within their research, they also used white, blue, green, yellow and pink paper. Although

both studies showed that white paper was best, there is some research that supports using other

colors for tests.

Another study done by Sinclair et al. (1998) showed that using blue colored paper helped

on more than red colored tests -even for more difficult questions. This study was done on

introductory psychology students on their midterm exam. Students taking the blue papered exam

did a whole letter grade better than the students who had the red papered exam. Sinclair et al.

(1998) did suggest that red could have signaled that the test was easier while the blue made the

test more serious. Furthermore, another test conducted by Brooker and Franklin (2015) showed
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that red impaired on their cognitive ability to perform on a standardized test. The study was

conducted on elementary students using grey, light blue, blue, green, yellow, light red, red,

purple, yellow and orange screens. Overall, red has shown to hinder cognitive ability on

performing well on an exam. However, certain colors have been shown to improve tests scores

with certain subjects.

Kwangcheol and Yeongbea (2015) conducted a study on new college students from the

college of engineering and humanities. There were two questions for English and three questions

for math. The test used a multitude of colors including white, blue, yellow and orange. Blue

showed significant improvement for the math related questions while yellow/orange showed

significant improvement for English. This may suggest that certain colors may work best for

different subjects of tests. There is also research suggesting that vivid colors help with the

improvement of tests. A study was done at a university using pale and vivid forms of blue, red

and yellow paper in front of the desks. The participants were assigned reading along with

comprehension questions. Their study concluded that using more vivid versions of the colors

improved the test scores (AL-Ayash et al. 2015).

After reviewing past research, having different colored tests seems to impact scores. We

decided to use past ACT questions on white, blue and red paper. This test will be conducted

between subjects and all will all be given the same questions. Everyone will be asked to

complete the test to the best of their ability. The experiment will have three levels of independent

variables: white, blue and red paper. How well the participants do on the standardized test will be

the dependent variable. Using past research, we hypothesize that there will be a difference in

scores based off the color given.

Methods
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Participants

The participants (N = 40) within this study went to a midwestern college and were

enrolled in a mid-level psychology course. The students that participated were awarded partial

course credit. Within the 40 participants, 10 were male (25 percent), 27 were female (67.5

percent), and 3 were other (7.5 percent). The age (M = 23.28, SD = 6.12) ranged from 18 to 43

years. Lastly, the ethnic background within the participants included: 20 White/Caucasian (50

percent), 9 Black/African American (22.50 percent), 3 Asian (4 percent), 2 Middle Eastern (4

percent), 4 Hispanic (10 percent), 2 other (4 percent).

Materials

Required Tools. In the beginning of each round of tests, the participants were given a

black colored TI-30X IIS calculator along with a number two pencil. Each participant was given

the same instructions, once at the beginning for the overall test and instructions for each section

of the test (math and English).

Test. Every participant was either given a blue or white color paper with ACT like

questions. The color paper was provided by the course instructor. Each test consisted of five

English comprehension questions along with five various level math questions. In total, there

were ten questions that were scored on. All questions were multiple choice and were organized

the same throughout every blue and white test. There was a total of two sets of groups with each

containing 18 participants in each set. The white test was given first and then the blue test was

given.

Data Collection. Every test had a cover page that would involve the same three

questions: age, gender, ethnicity. Each participant had to fill in their age and circle their gender

and ethnicity that they identified with. In the top left corner, each subject was preassigned a
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subject ID by numerical order in which they were passed out. Every test was scored based on the

number of correct answers. Once all data was retrieved, the data was filled out onto a paper copy

of the data collection sheet (See Figure 1).

Procedure

This study was conducted during class time. There were two rounds of participants from

the students enrolled in the class. Within each of the two groups, there were 18 participants each.

Every participant was asked to draw out of a hat with labels that included ones and twos to help

with randomization of what participant will be in each group. Each of the 18 participants were

spread out throughout the classroom to avoid any unruly eyes. Every participant was asked to

remain seated throughout the entire 20-minute allotted time to complete the exam. Group one

was asked to remain in the classroom first while group two was asked to wait in the hallway.

Each group had the same instructions. Group one consisted of the white color paper tests

while group two was the blue color paper tests. There was a total of four experimenters for this

study. Experimenter one stood in the front of the class and discussed the purpose of the study,

which was to investigate how well they could perform on white color paper. Experimenter one

also had to give the test instructions and then had to supervise after instructions were given.

Experiment two stood in the back of the classroom to observe the students during the entire

procedure. Experimenter three passed out all the tests to each participant before experimenter

one gave instructions. While passing the tests out, experimenter three would also ask that the

participants not look at the exam until given permission. Experimenter four sat in front of the

classroom and kept a timer on the desk to keep track of the exam time. Experimenter four would

also warn each group when there was five minutes remaining for the exam and tell them when

the time had ended. After the 20 minutes elapsed, all tests would be collected and scored and
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then group two would be asked to enter the room and group one would go out in the hallway.

The process between the experimenters would then be repeated, but the blue test would be

handed out. Experimenter one would also explain that our intent was to see how well they would

perform on blue paper. After all tests were completed, both groups were asked to return to the

classroom. Experimenter two then thanked everyone for their participation and debriefed

everyone on what the experiment was intended to investigate- to test whether people perform

better on white or blue colored tests.

Results

Using a two-tailed independent t-test, the results shows that there was a significant

difference in scores between using white papered (M = 67.50, SD = 17.73) and blue papered tests

(M = 54.00, SD = 11.88), t(38) = 2.83, p < .05. (See Figure 2). Therefore, we can conclude that

we have evidence to support our hypothesis that using white or blue color paper tests results in

different scores.

Discussion

The research within this study did support our hypothesis that having different color

paper can impact test scores. Our findings do support what has happened in past research. For

example, Skinner (2004) found that having different color paper significantly influences test

scores. He specifically found that white paper performs better than other color paper. Our study

also showed a difference in scores between blue and white paper. Kwangcheol and Yeongbea

(2015) conducted an experiment using only white and blue paper as well. We had similar

experiments regarding only using math and reading questions in the test. Kwancheol and

Yeongbea also found a significant difference between using white and blue paper amongst test
IMPACT OF COLORED PAPERED TESTS 8

scores. It is also interesting to note that the average scores for participants who took the white

color paper tests were one whole letter grade higher than those who took the blue tests.

Implications

Due to past research and the findings within this study, it would be wise to make all

exams the same color. This could eliminate any potential extraneous variables when testing a

person’s ability on material. Having the same color paper can also give students a fair chance

when taking a test. Knowing this information could potentially improve overall scores.

Furthermore, the results that occurred could potentially give researchers a step forward in color

biases for school uses. Considering the results are like other findings, researchers could further

replicate the study for it to become a theory.

Limitations

In experiments, there will always be limitations within the study that could have been

improved upon. For example, within this experiment we did not test if any subjects are color

blind. If they are color blind, it could hinder the results by them not seeing the average color that

everyone else sees. We also used blue paper, which is a pretty popular color that people are color

blind to. Another issue within the study was the sample size (N = 40). Having such a small

sample size can make it difficult to generalize the results within the general population. Our

sample size also had a huge difference in male to female ratio. With having a smaller sample

size, you can not account for all gender or race specifications within a general population. Lastly,

we could have used an intelligence quotient test in order to split the population where not all

higher intelligent people are on one color versus the other. Due to not testing this, we can not

concur that this did not occur.

Future Research
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For future research, researchers should eliminate the possibility of the participant being

color blind. Researchers could conduct a preliminary survey or test to make sure all participants

would not be color blind. This could also be another study to see if being color blind could alter

the results on having different color tests. Secondly, researchers should vastly increase the

sample size. Having a larger sample size would make the experiment more reproducible and to

possibly be able to extrapolate data to everyday classrooms. This would also lead to the sample

population being more representational of the general population through gender or race.

Furthermore, to eliminate one color having more participants with a higher intelligence quotient,

researchers could conduct another preliminary test to separate participants based on their

intelligence. Having participants equally spread between the colors would allow the results to be

more reliable. The researcher could also do a within subject’s design to eliminate this issue as

well. Lastly, future researchers should test to see what color paper specifically is best to use even

between academic subjects. Having this information could possibly help students while taking a

test.

Conclusion

Using an independent t-test, our research has aligned with past research that having

different color tests influences test scores. This study did show that participants who took the

white color tests did 13 percent better than those who took the blue tests. It is possible that the

participants who took the white color tests had a better understanding of the testing material than

those who took the blue test. However, the white color tests did have a higher variance than the

blue color tests.

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References

AL-Ayash, A., Kane, R. T., Smith, D., & Green-Armytage, P. (2015). The influence of color on

student emotion, heart rate, and performance in learning environments. Color research &

Application, 41(2), 196–205.

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Brooker, A., & Franklin, A. (2016). The effect of colour on children’s cognitive performance.

British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(2), 241–255.

Fordham, D. R., & Hayes, D. C. (2009). Worth repeating: Paper color may have an effect on

student performance. Issues in Accounting Education, 24(2), 187–194. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/10.2308/iace.2009.24.2.187

How color affects learning: The findings of these three color studies could change how you

approach classroom activities. (2018). T H E Journal, 45(3), 5. Retrieved from

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bth&AN=129986921&site=eds-live

KwangCheol, R., & YeongBea, Y. (2015). Study of learning performance improvement

based on color changes of test sheets. International Journal of Multimedia and

Ubiquitous Engineering, 10(9), 9-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijmue.2015.10.9.02

Sinclair, R. C., Soldat, A. s., & Mark, M. M. (1998). Affective cues and processing

strategy: Color-coded examination forms influence performance. Teaching of

Psychology, 25(2), 130.

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Skinner, N. F. (2004). Differential test performance from differently colored paper: White paper

works best. Teaching of Psychology, 31(2), 111–113. Retrieved from https://search-

ebscohost-com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=pbh&AN=13075679&site=ehost-live&scope=site
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Figure 1. Picture of a data sheet that one of the experimenters would fill out.
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Figure 2. Mean score of tests between white and blue tests. The error bars demonstrate standard

deviation.