Topic One Resources
Independent and Dependent Variables
Directions: Given the following hypothesis, pick out the independent variable, and the dependent variable.
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Independent Variable: This is the variable that the experimenter controls.
Dependent Variable: This is what results from the experimenter varying or changing the independent variable.
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Example: X amount of sleeping pills helps the otherwise healthy person with insomnia to sleep better.
- Independent: the medicine/sleeping pills
- Dependent: # of people that slept better with/without sleeping pills
- Individuals will respond more to a person in uniform than to a person not in uniform.
- Violent behavior observed in early childhood will cause individuals to become violent as adults.
- Tylenol will improve lower back pain in individuals more than a placebo.
- Men who lift weights are less likely to suffer sports related injuries than those who do not.
- Females that take a multivitamin are less likely to have children with birth defects than females that do not take a multivitamin.