Extraneous variables are defined as any variable other than the independent and dependent variable. Control variables are variables that are kept the same in each trial. Lastly, the moderator variables are variables that increase or decrease the relationship between the independent and dependent variable. An independent variable is a variable believed to affect the dependent variable. This is the variable that you, the researcher, will manipulate to see if it makes the dependent variable change. In our example of hungry people throwing a ball, our independent variable is how long it’s been since they’ve eaten.

Spread the loveUsually, people are under the wrong impression that geography does not offer many job opportunities, and there are no jobs for a geographer. Spread the loveThis program assesses 15-year-old students schooling in countries that form part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Usually, different samples of the same plant will be exposed to different levels of sunlight over a particular period. The levels of pigmentation, the amount of sunlight exposure, and the duration of the study will be recorded.

Uses of Dependent and Independent Variables

The experiment measures test scores of students who ate breakfast versus those who did not. Theoretically, the test results depend on breakfast, so the test results are the dependent variable. Note that test scores are the dependent variable, even if it turns out there is no relationship between scores and breakfast.

An example is a quadratic formula used in solving quadratic equations. Similarly, an individual’s salary may become a dependent variable, which depends on the years of experience. Your experiment’s variables are not eating and throwing a ball. I’m kind of hungry right now, so let’s say your experiment will examine four people’s ability to throw a ball when they haven’t eaten for a https://business-accounting.net/ specific period of time – 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours. This is also important so that the study can be replicated in the future using the same variables but applied in a different way. In this guide, we walk you through exactly how to use ProWritingAid in your classroom and give you tools and templates for creating a rigorous, effective independent writing practice with your students.

What Is a Dependent Variable?

In the design of experiments, independent variables are those whose values are controlled or selected by the experimenter to determine its relationship to an observed phenomenon . In such an experiment, an attempt is made to find evidence that the values of the independent variable determine the values of the dependent variable .

It is an important input in defining the result of an experiment. A dependent variable is dynamic and therefore showcases the change, effect, impact, or influence of the change made in the independent variable. The independent variable can alternately be called the explanatory, predicator, right-hand-side, or X variable. Similarly to dependent variables, these reflect the uses of independent variables, as they are intended to explain or predict changes in the dependent variables.

Independent and Dependent Variables Examples

All federally funded research in the United States is subject to review by an Institutional Review Board . No, there is a difference in independent vs. dependent variables. There are different types of independent vs. dependent variables in research. Check out the following types of independent vs. Independent and Dependent Variables: Which Is Which? dependent variables. Stability is often a good sign of a higher quality dependent variable. If the experiment is repeated with the same participants, conditions, and experimental manipulations, the effects on the dependent variable should be very close to what they were the first time around.

• Independent and dependent variables are commonly taught in high school science classes.
• The independent variable can alternately be called the explanatory, predicator, right-hand-side, or X variable.
• The variables in those categories are called “categorical variables”.
• If one were to measure the influence of different quantities of fertilizer on plant growth, the independent variable would be the amount of fertilizer used .
• Independent variables are the variables that determine how dependent variables vary, i.e. they predict dependent variables.

When studying the effect of sunlight on plant pigmentation, biologists take sunlight as the independent variable and plant pigmentation as the dependent variable. For example, when investigating the cause of the increased failure rate in students, they study things like the number of hours spent reading per day by a student. The independent variable is the number of hours spent reading by a student and the dependent variable is the student’s grade. An example of a dependent variable is a student’s class of degree, which depends on the student’s CGPA and the school’s grade or rating scale. Factors like age, marital status, salary, etc. that influences an individual’s cost of living are examples of an independent variable. Independent variables are variables whose variations do not depend on another variable.

What is an Independent Variable?

Hence, here the height of the boy is shown on the y-axis, whereas x-axis indicates the age. The independent variable is known as the experiment controller in an experiment, whereas, the dependent variable is also known as experiment measure.

For example, there is a consensus that a person’s behaviour depends on the kind of environment he or she is being brought up in. That is why a larger percentage of the people that deal in hard drugs are from the slums. These points can be joined together using a straight line, curve or rectangular bars depending on the data visualization techniques chosen by the researcher. For example, when investigating the effect of sunlight on pigmentation, researchers control the exposure of sunlight on each sample of the experiment. The student’s grade is what determines whether the student passed or not.

Dependent Variable vs Independent Variable

The control variable, which in this case is a placebo that contains the same inactive ingredients as the drugs, makes it possible to tell whether either drug affects blood pressure. Dependent variables are what researchers measure for in research studies.

For instance, what if people in one group are doing amazingly well while the other groups are doing about the same. This could be caused by a confounding variable, defined as an interference caused by another variable.