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INTRODUCTION

Literature Review: Therapy Dogs

There are many different types of dogs that are used to help people, all of which have

different requirements and abilities [1]. Howie names three main types of them: therapy, service,

and emotional support. The difference between these dogs range from small to great. Therapy

and emotional support dogs are similar in the sense that they don't do actual tasks like alerting to

blood pressure changes or change in heart rate but are different in the fact that emotional support

dogs are meant for one person while therapy dogs are meant for many people [1]. There have

always been different facts that allow different types of dogs on campus [1]. Mostly service dogs

have been allowed on campus for the personal benefit of a student while emotional support dogs

are rarely allowed. Therapy dogs are normally only present when a staff member or another

person other than a student provides them. Another source provides information about the

background of therapy dogs and their qualifications. The key details of this article is that there

are tons of benefits to having a lot of therapy dogs in the world [2]. This article also discusses

how to register and get a dog therapy certified. The article shows the lead up that therapy dogs

have to go through before a visit and talks about how valuable they actually are. Another article

discusses the major qualifications between a therapy and service dog and how the therapy dogs

are beneficial in a school setting [3]. The fact that therapy dogs are used for so many different

situations can add to the need for them in schools.

There are many different articles and sources that demonstrate the need for therapy dogs

on campus. A major point of the therapy dog conversation is how they will be a positive

benefactor in the education and mental health of students [3]. The article also uses the tables to
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discuss the different types of interventions or the different ways an animal can help people. The

point of this article is to discuss the importance of therapy dogs in schools also known as

animal-assisted education, AAE. The major need for therapy dogs on school campuses is

provided by the importance and impact that one interaction with a single person or a group of

people a dog can have on those people they interacted with [4]. Bowman discusses the different

perspectives different people have on having a therapy dog on campus. By these different

perspectives, she highlights the effects that dogs have on humans and especially on college kids.

According to Bowman there should be a support group for college students while they are at

college. She states that the benefits of having a dog on campus can greatly help a person. When

college students go to college they have to leave their pets behind and therefore a dog on certain

occasions can make all the difference for a student. An example from the article such as dogs

allow for humans to feel a percent of compassion and helps the human feel less stress associated

with loneliness. An addition to the need for therapy dogs in school is what factors do they play

that will help the student overall. There are seven major factors that are looked at to decide what

they contribute to the students to benefit them [5]. Anderson addresses how dogs should be

incorporated into the school system to allow for better learning for the students. By discussing

seven different factors of why a dog should be incorporated into the school environment, it

allows for a thorough comparison of how one can put a therapy dog into an academic setting [5].

An example of one method is by demonstrating through a program that therapy dogs are

beneficial to the overall wellness of the students [5].

The benefits of the therapy dogs is the most talked about part of the therapy dog in

schools conversation. The therapy dogs will benefit the students that they are there to support

and the environment [6]. Brundau discusses the benefits for dogs by being around people. By
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discussing the ways that a human can help a dog along with how a dog can help a human.

Brundau highlights the importance of having a positive relationship for both the dog and the

human. These benefits should allow for a better one on one relationship between the dog and the

person [6].

Literature Review: Testing Stress

​ Testing, especially standardized tests, have received an uptake in the amount of difficulty

with them [7]. Kaufman discusses the newer testing protocol that has been implemented for

kindergarten through twelfth graders in the U.S.. By discussing the harsh testing given to

students nowadays and how the knowledge needed for the test has increased exponentially [7].

By using teachers who are already well immersed in the topics of testing and the knowledge that

the students should already know at that point in time it allows for a better understanding of the

testing that is occurring [7]. This, according to Kaufman, is very important to see due to the fact

that if the testing that is occurring is too advanced and the students taking the test are struggling

then there needs to be a change in what is being given as standardized testing. Furthermore,

Kaufman stresses the importance of giving tests that the students are able to do with certainty

and have been taught the material by their teachers. While there is increased testing everywhere

around the U.S. a source discusses the increased testing protocol in North Carolina specifically

[8]. Brown discusses the stress that is added to students with a new testing program in North

Carolina. By comparing the new testing program to the old testing program it allows for there to

be information provided about how this new testing system is detrimental to the academics and

mental health of the students [8]. This new testing system, according to Brown, over works the

students and ultimately results in an increased feeling of stress.

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Gap in the Literature

​ There is a lack of understanding when it comes to therapy dogs and how they are able to

help students. Although there is a ton of information provided about therapy dogs in school there

is a lack of information to help the understanding when it comes to testing. For example, there

has been research that proves that therapy dogs help the overall academic abilities of students

and how with the therapy dogs there is an increase in the performance of the students, yet there

has been no research that addresses if a therapy dog will improve a singular grade. This problem

affects the ability to understand fully how a therapy dog is able to help students. A possible

reason for this situation is that there has been no thinking about singular grades and only overall

grades. The major lack occurs in the conversation of one test. When thinking about major

standardized tests such as the ACT or SAT there is a ton of stress that occurs with taking the test.

There has been no research into seeing if having a therapy dog present when a student is taking a

test will improve the grade produced. Therefore the question being researched is: When taking a

test, does the presence of a therapy dog in the testing area increase the accuracy of the test for

high school students?

METHOD

​ When analyzing the effect therapy dogs have on test scores, there are many parts of the

experiment that must be taken into consideration before the experiment can be conducted. Within

the experiment there will be many students involved along with a therapy dog. The students will

be used to taking a test on the topics they are learning in school. The therapy dog will be there as

a support for the students during one of the tests. The information being measured is test score

after the tests which are based off of the test, student, and the therapy dog being present during

the test.
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To analyze the effect a therapy dog has on test scores, I used an experimental method. To

do this I will collect data from a diverse group of students, (the amount will be added later), and

give them all the same two versions of the test. One version will be taken with a therapy dog

present in the room and the other will be taken without a therapy dog present. The tests will be

given in a classroom that contains just the student and the therapy dog when it is required. The

student will have a 15 minute time period to complete a 6 question test. The test will have 2

science, 2 math, 2 social studies and 2 english that should be known how to perform by the

student. The questions, although they will be known, will not be easy to correctly judge if the

therapy dog is benefiting the results of the test. The test will be graded on whether or not the

answer is correct and there will be no half points awarded for correct work. Both tests will be

performed in the same conditions.

The test will be given at school after the school day has ended. Only one student will be

given the test during the allotted time slot for the classroom. The student will be given both tests

and will have 15 minutes to take the tests. The two tests will contain the same type of questions,

just different variables. For example, if I were to ask the student what is 2 times 8 on one of the

tests then on the other one there will be the same type of question but different numbers. So in

this situation the numbers on the second test could be 3 times 4. To prevent the order of the tests

affecting whether or not a therapy dog affects the test score, the order of which test, one with and

without the therapy dog, will be given first will change. The student, as stated above, will have

15 minutes to complete the test which will be on paper. After the first test is completed the

second one will be given directly after. Once the tests are completed the student is no longer

needed and the rest is just the analyses of it.

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The tests will be graded out of 8 which is how many questions there are. The data that

will be analyzed will be the end percentage of each test for each student. I will then compare the

test without the therapy dog to the one with the therapy dog and see if there is an increase in

correct answers when the therapy dog is present. I will then take the collective group of students

and see if there is an overall increase with the therapy dog being present. The use of this data in

the end will be used to see if a therapy dog will impact the overall grade of a test for multiple

different students.

Hypothesis

​ The hypothesis is that when there is a therapy dog in the room with a student while they

are taking a test the accuracy of the test that they are taking will be increased. This is based on

the previous literature on therapy dogs benefits and testing in today's environment.

Results
In the end, only a total of 6 students were tested. All the results of the 6 students were

included in the results of the testing. Each student while testing was in an inclosed room and no

devices were present or used during the testing by the students. There were multiple students

testing at the same time but the amount of students ranged between testing days. On the first

testing day there was one student partaking, while on the second day there were three students,

and finally on the third and final day there were two students. There were two different tests that

the students took. While conducting the research three students were given the test #1 with the

therapy dog present while the other three students were given test #2 when the therapy dog was

present and vice versa which is shown in Figure 1. The table shows which of the students
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partaking in the study were given which test for when they took the test with the therapy dog

present and without the therapy dog present.

Figure 1.

Students Test taken with the therapy Test taken without the therapy
dog dog

Student #1 #2 #1

Student #2 #2 #1

Student #3 #1 #2

Student #4 #1 #2

Student #5 #2 #1

Student #6 #1 #2

Every day of testing, the test without the therapy dog was given first. Once the test

without the therapy dog was given the test with the therapy dog present was given. The therapy

dog was then allowed to interact with the students. This included the therapy dog roaming

around the room and the students being able to interact with the therapy dog in any way they see

fit. To maintain a fair environment for the changing amount of students participating each day

there was a change in the amount of therapy dogs used which was between one and two therapy

dogs. For the first testing day of only one student, one therapy dog was used and for the other

two days two therapy dogs were used to allow for the students to interact with a therapy dog

more while taking the test. The tests taken by each student were then graded against an answer

key and obtained a score along with a percentage, which can be seen in Figure 2. The table

shows the scores achieved by each student partaking in the test and the percentage grade of the
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score achieved. The table also shows the average of the test scores taken with the therapy dog

present and the test scores of the test taken without the therapy dog present.

Figure 2.

Test score of the test taken Test score of the test taken
Students with the therapy dog(s) without therapy dog(s)
present present

Student #1 4/6 = 66.7% 5/6 = 83.3%

Student #2 4/6 = 66.7% 1/6 = 16.7%

Student #3 3/6 = 50% 1/6 = 16.7%

Student #4 5/6 = 83.3% 3/6 = 50%

Student #5 5/6 = 83.3% 4/6 = 66.7%

Student #6 4/6 = 66.7% 4/6 = 66.7%

Average 4.17/6 = 69.5% 3/6 = 50%

​ A majority of students had an increase in accuracy in the test scores when they were

taken with the therapy dog(s) present v.s. without the therapy dog(s) present which is in

correlation with my hypothesis. Although student number one had a decrease in test score when

the therapy dog(s) was present. Also student number six had no difference in test score when

there was the therapy dog(s) present against when there wasn’t the therapy dog(s) present. The

students as an average had an increase of 19.5% when they took the test with the therapy dog(s)

v.s. Without the therapy dog(s) present. To test the tests to make sure there wasn't a difference in

difficulty which would scure the results and invalidate the results a statistical analysis was

applied. The average no matter which scenario it was taken with was found for both test number
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one and test number two. The standard error of the mean (SEM) was found for both tests based

on their accuracy to see if there was a statistically difference between the two tests which will

show if there was a difference in difficulty between the two tests, which is shown in Figure 3.

The graph shows the accuracy of the test which is shown by the length of the graph and 2SEM

were added (black error lines) that shows correlation that can occur is 90% accuracy. The results

of the analysis was that there was an overlap between the 2SEM which statistically proves that

there is no difference between the difficulty of the two tests and therefore doesn’t invalidate the

results.

Figure 3.
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After it was proven that there was no difference in accuracy between the tests. Then the

average accuracy of the tests, with and without the therapy dog(s) present, were taken and put

through the same statistical analysis as test number one and test number two went through to

check for correlation, shown in figure 4. The graph shows the accuracy of the test with both the

therapy dog present and not present along with 2SEM to show the correlation that can occur with

90% accuracy. There was a strong overlap between the 2SEM lines which shows that there was

no difference of test scores achieved by the students in the two different scenarios for the test.

This shows that the accuracy of the test didn’t statistically change with the tests when the therapy

dog(s) were present v.s. When the therapy dog(s) were not present.

Figure 4.
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The statistical analysis shows that there is too much of an overlap between the 2SEMs for

the two tests to prove the hypothesis that therapy dogs being present in the classroom while

taking a test increases the accuracy of the test for high school students. There are many factors

that could play into the hypothesis being proven incorrectly. As shown in figure 2 there were

only six questions in the test due to the short time window to take the test which could have a

major impact on how much error is needed for the test. The low amount of questions in the tests

play a major role in the proving of the hypothesis. With the low amount of questions, getting one

wrong plays a major factor in the score. Let's say you were taking a test with 45 questions if you

were to get one wrong the accuracy of the test only decreases by 3.3% while if you were to get

one wrong on a test that is only 6 questions the accuracy of the test decreases by 16.7% which

when calculating SEM the bigger the gap between each test accuracy plays a bigger impact to

how large the number is to show the error bars. This means that the larger the difference between

the percentages of the tests from the students the larger the amount of the graph the error bars

take up which adds to the amount of correlation between the two tests. If the test was given with

a higher amount of questions there would be a higher chance that the two tests would show a

different result.

Another way that the data could have been affected is the fact that there was no stress.

Ignoring the fact that the number of questions could have a play in the fact that there is no

statistical difference between the two scenarios. There is also the possibility that the environment

had a play in the results of the experiment. Since the tests were taken in a situation that didn't

cause any stress to the students there is no stress associated with the test like there is when taking

real tests. Since there is no stress associated with the tests given to the students the therapy dogs

aren't as helpful as they could have been. Therapy dogs are used to help reduce stress and stress
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is a major occurrence during stuff like test but since this test didn’t matter as much as other tests

for school or for important standardized tests such as ACT or SAT. Since this test wasn’t worth

any importance to the students there was no stress associated with it. Since there is no stress the

therapy dog(s) are not as effective in the reducing of stress and therefore increasing the accuracy

of the test. This and the lack of questions can have significant effects on the results received from

the experiment.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Howie, A. R., Fine, A. H., Rojas, L. A., & Perry, B. D. (2019). Why the Dog? In P. Tedeschi

& M. A. Jenkins (Eds.), Transforming Trauma: Resilience and Healing Through Our

Connections With Animals (pp. 299–326). Purdue University Press.

[Link]

[2] Fuoss, A. (2012). Therapy Dog Visits. GPSolo, 29(1), 48–49.

[Link]

[3] GUTH, L. J. (2021). THERAPY DOGS AND FACILITY DOGS: Supporting Well-Being. In

M. R. JALONGO & M. R. Jalongo (Eds.), The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for

Dogs in the Lives of College Students (pp. 157–184). Purdue University Press.

[Link]

[4]BOWMAN, M.-A. S. (2021). TRANSITIONING TO COLLEGE LIFE: Research Evidence

of Dogs’ Effects on Humans. In M. R. JALONGO & M. R. Jalongo (Eds.), The

Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for Dogs in the Lives of College Students (pp.

31–56). Purdue University Press. [Link]

[5] Katherine Terras Anderson, & Myrna R. Olson. (2010). “Dog” Gone Crazy Schools: Models

for Incorporating Dogs into the School Setting. Children, Youth and Environments, 20(1),

318–328. [Link]

[6] BRUNEAU, L., & JOHNSON, A. (2021). BRINGING POSTSECONDARY STUDENTS

TOGETHER WITH DOGS: Dog Welfare, Health, Safety, and Liability Considerations.

In M. R. Jalongo (Ed.), The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for Dogs in the Lives of
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College Students (pp. 57–96). Purdue University Press.

[Link]

[7] Kaufman, J., Hamilton, L., Stecher, B., Naftel, S., Robbins, M., Garber, C., Ogletree, C.,

Faxon-Mills, S., & Opfer, D. (2015). What Are Teachersʹ and School Leadersʹ Major

Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?: Findings from the American Teacher and

American School Leader Panels. In What Are Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Major

Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?: Findings from the American Teacher and

American School Leader Panels (pp. 1–8). RAND Corporation.

[Link]

[8] Brown, D., Galassi, J. P., & Akos, P. (2004). School Counselors’ Perceptions of the Impact of

High-Stakes Testing. Professional School Counseling, 8(1), 31–39.

[Link]