Revised on Because the scientists have an unlimited budget (and because this is a hypothetical example, all of the participants have the same meals delivered to their homes (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), every day for one year. The independent variable is the teaching method, and the dependent variable is performance on the critical thinking test. The dependent variable would be the amount of liquid absorbed by the paper towel. He has trained kindergarten teachers in 8 countries and helped businessmen and women open baby centers and kindergartens in 3 countries. Your independent variable is the temperature of the room. the mud) the outcome variable. How do we define young, old, or memory? This article begins by defining the term variable and the terms independent variable and dependent variable, providing examples of each. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! ), 22(3), 255260. The patients are randomly assigned to one of three groups: one group receives no chemotherapy, one group receives a low dose of chemotherapy, and one group receives a high dose of chemotherapy. 8600 Rockville Pike Look at other experiments for examples and identify different types of independent variables. Sometimes varying the independent variables will result in changes in the dependent variables. (2010). ___________________________________________________________. For example, we might change the type of information (e.g., organized or random) given to participants to see what effect this might have on the amount of information remembered. External Validity in Research, Forming a Good Hypothesis for Scientific Research, Scientific Method Steps in Psychology Research, Psychology Research Jargon You Should Know, The Definition of Random Assignment According to Psychology, How the Experimental Method Works in Psychology, How Social Psychologists Conduct Their Research, Experimental Group in Psychology Experiments, Types of Variables in Psychology Research, How to Write an APA Method Section of a Research Paper, Wait List Control Groups in Psychology Experiments, Daily Tips for a Healthy Mind to Your Inbox, Types of variables, descriptive statistics, and sample size. February 3, 2022 The teachers then compare the scores of each of the three groups of students. Variables that are held constant throughout the experiment. It's what changes as a result of the changes to the independent variable. One room is painted mostly white with red trim and seats; one room is painted mostly white with blue trim and seats; and one room is painted mostly white with off-white trim and seats. Chemotherapy and Cancer A hospital is investigating the effectiveness of a new type of chemotherapy on cancer. A large food company is considering entering the health and nutrition sector. Here the independent variable is the dose and the dependent variable is the frequency/intensity of symptoms . They are sometimes recorded as numbers, but the numbers represent categories rather than actual amounts of things. Rebecca Bevans. Other types of variables have interchangeable terms. Your independent variable is a subject variable, namely the gender identity of the participants. There may be other extraneous variables that are not pertinent to explaining a given dependent variable, but may have some impact on the dependent variable. Published on Categorical variables represent groupings of some kind. The independent variable is the brand of paper towel. from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/independent-and-dependent-variables/, Independent vs. Confounding variables lead to bias, or a factor that may cause an estimate to differ from the true population value. The key word here is similar.. The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology. Taylor, J. M., & Rowe, B. J. It's the outcome you're interested in measuring, and it 'depends' on your independent variable. They randomly assign half of the participants to take the recommended dosage of their supplement every day for three months after each workout. Pot size and soil type might affect plant survival as much or more than salt additions. 1 Solve word questions too The experiment is an incredibly valuable way to answer scientific questions regarding the cause and effect of certain variables. finishing places in a race), classifications (e.g. For example, if we want to explore whether high concentrations of vehicle exhaust impact incidence of asthma in children, vehicle exhaust is the independent variable while asthma is the dependent variable. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. ThoughtCo. If the independent variable affects the dependent variable, then it should be possible to observe changes in the dependent variable based on the presence or absence of the independent variable. A dependent variable is what changes as a result of the independent variable manipulation in experiments. An independent variable is the variable you manipulate or vary in an experimental study to explore its effects. It represents the cause or reason for an outcome. The type of visualization you use depends on the variable types in your research questions: To inspect your data, you place your independent variable of treatment level on the x-axis and the dependent variable of blood pressure on the y-axis. The research would look something like this: laboratory rats would be raised in three different rooms that varied in the degree of car exhaust circulating in the room: no exhaust, little exhaust, or a lot of exhaust. For example, gender identity, ethnicity, race, income, and education are all important subject variables that social researchers treat as independent variables. Once you have defined your independent and dependent variables and determined whether they are categorical or quantitative, you will be able to choose the correct statistical test. Dependent Variables | Definition & Examples. Each athlete will run on a treadmill for one hour while their heart rate is tracked. and transmitted securely. Independent variable causes an effect on the dependent variable. A confounding variable, or confounder, affects the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Your dependent variable is math test scores. You want to know which brand of fertilizer is best for your plants. by If they can back up that claim with hard scientific data, that would be great for sales. Its what youre interested in measuring, and it depends on your independent variable. For example, in an experiment about the effect of nutrients on crop growth: The independent variable is the amount of nutrients added to the crop field. There is a standard method for graphing the independent and dependent variable. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 20(4), 161170. J Health Care Chaplain. You need to know which types of variables you are working with in order to choose appropriate statistical tests and interpret the results of your study. Does this variable come before the other variable in time? Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. Some people take vitamins every day. A group of teachers is interested in which teaching method will work best for developing critical thinking skills. Independent variable causes an effect on the dependent variable. It further explains that even though intervening, mediating, and moderating variables explicitly alter the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables, they help to explain the causal relationship between them. A correlation reflects the strength and/or direction of the relationship between two (or more) variables. One is called the dependent variable, and the other is the independent variable. After collecting data, you check for statistically significant differences between the groups. Each participant sits in front of a computer screen and responds to questions on a survey. Experiments are usually designed to find out what effect one variable has on another in our example, the effect of salt addition on plant growth. Their muscle mass is measured, and only those with a lower level are selected for the study, leaving a total of 80 study participants. 2023 Dotdash Media, Inc. All rights reserved. So, first, they go to a nearby school in a middle-class neighborhood. Two other kinds of variables that might influence the outcome include: Extraneous variables can also include demand characteristics (which are clues about how the participants should respond) and experimenter effects (which is when the researchers accidentally provide clues about how a participant will respond). Although there are many types of bias, two common types are selection bias and information bias. BSc (Hons), Psychology, MSc, Psychology of Education. During the first three months of the academic year, they randomly select some 5th-grade classrooms to listen to Mozart during their lessons and exams. It then proceeds to describe and discuss synonyms for the terms independent variable and dependent variable, including treatment, intervention, predictor, and risk factor, and synonyms for dependent variable, such as response variables and outcomes. You can usually identify the type of variable by asking two questions: Data is a specific measurement of a variable it is the value you record in your data sheet. Ferguson, C. J. December 2, 2022. A researcher wants to determine if the color of an office has any effect on worker productivity. Simply Scholar Ltd. 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU, 2023 Simply Scholar, Ltd. All rights reserved, Variables are given a special name that only applies to. The independent variable (IV) in psychology is the characteristic of an experiment that is manipulated or changed by researchers, not by other variables in the experiment. These variables are created when you analyze data, not when you measure it. You want to find out how blood sugar levels are affected by drinking diet soda and regular soda, so you conduct an experiment. The dependent variable (height) depends on the independent variable (age). The mass of algae is the dependent variable. But there are many other ways of describing variables that help with interpreting your results. SPICE (Setting, Perspective, Intervention/phenomenon of Interest, Comparison, Evaluation) Appropriate for : evaluating the outcomes of a service, project, or intervention So for y=x+3, when you input x=2, the output is y = 5. One of the most popular forms of regression analysis is linear regression, which allows you to establish a linear relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. Bhandari, P. A change in the independent variable directly causes a change in the dependent . This article begins by defining the term variable and the terms independent variable and dependent variable, providing examples of each. All of the athletes are given the exact same amount of liquid to consume 30-minutes before and during their run. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Example: Independent variable levels You are studying the impact of a new medication on the blood pressure of patients with hypertension. Both the independent variable and dependent variable are examined in an experiment using the scientific method, so it's important to know what they are and how to use them. Other research methodologies can reveal factors that are related to the dependent variable or associated with the dependent variable, but only when the independent variable is controlled by the researcher can causality be determined. In a study to determine whether how long a student sleeps affects test scores, the independent variable is the length of time spent sleeping while the dependent variable is the test score. His work has involved designing teacher certification for Trinity College in London and in-service training for state governments in the United States. Lack of sleep significantly affects learning in 10-year-old boys. In your research design, its important to identify potential confounding variables and plan how you will reduce their impact. An official website of the United States government. The conditions of each room are all exactly the same, except that half of the rooms have lavender released into the rooms and half do not. 2008;14(1):3-19. doi: 10.1080/08854720802053796. https://www.thoughtco.com/independent-and-dependent-variable-examples-606828 (accessed March 4, 2023). Dependent variable Definition and Examples. To gather information about plant responses over time, you can fill out the same data sheet every few days until the end of the experiment. Some examples of variables that you may need to control include: Temperature Time of day Lighting Stress Noise or distractions Which specific variables need to be controlled for will vary tremendously depending on the research project at hand, so there's no generic list of control variables to consult. For example, age, sex, current smoking, LDL cholesterol level, and blood pressure are independent variables because their values (e.g., greater age, positive for current smoking, and higher LDL cholesterol level) influence the risk of myocardial infarction. In a representative example: Several crash cars were outfitted with an airbag, and an equal number were not. The brand of fertilizer is the independent variable. An example of a dependent variable is depression symptoms, which depends on the independent variable (type of therapy). This enables another psychologist to replicate your research and is essential in establishing reliability (achieving consistency in the results). Age is the independent variable. Of course, they would prefer that consumers enter and exit quickly to increase sales volume and profit. Choosing a health behaviour theory or model for related research projects: a narrative review. J Exp Soc Psychol. Design approaches to experimental mediation. ____________________________________________________________, I.V. It would also be possible to examine the physical effects of car exhaust on the brain by conducting an autopsy. The company wants to claim that when an athlete drinks Gatorade, their performance will improve. 2019;10(1):82-86. doi:10.4103/idoj.IDOJ_468_18. Performance & security by Cloudflare. 88.99.24.175 Kaliyadan F, Kulkarni V. Types of variables, descriptive statistics, and sample size. A sports medicine researcher has been hired by Gatorade to test the effects of its sports drink on athletic performance. For example, in Darley . clearly understand what a pharmacy technician can do under their own authority as a regulated health care professional, a properly designed customer satisfaction or customer In statistics, dependent variables are also called: Response variables (they respond to a change in another variable) They fill each mold with one of the different concrete mixtures. In this example, the color of the office is the independent variable. In the early days of airbags, automobile companies conducted a great deal of testing. Distinguishing between independent and dependent variables can be tricky when designing a complex study or reading an academic research paper. Selection bias occurs when the procedures used to select subjects and others factors that influence participation in the study produce a result that is different from what would have been obtained if all members of the target population were included in the study. In this study, despite the ethical issues (remember this is just a hypothetical example), the independent variable is chemotherapy, and the dependent variable is tumor size. The dependent variable is the response that is measured. Other variations of an experiment might include having multiple levels of the independent variable. Click to reveal He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Indian Dermatol Online J. Is medical marijuana effective for pain reduction in people with chronic pain? It is called independent because its value does not depend on and is not affected by the state of any other variable in the experiment. The independent variable is the supplement, and the dependent variable is muscle mass. For example, if you're studying whether a change in temperature affects productivity, the independent variable would be the room temperature, and the dependent . This helps you to have confidence that your dependent variable results come solely from the independent variable manipulation. Retrieved March 2, 2023, What is an example of an independent and a dependent variable? The independent variable is the condition that you change in an experiment. In research, variables are any characteristics that can take on different values, such as height, age, temperature, or test scores. , Independent and Dependent Variables Examples, Free Printable Periodic Tables (PDF and PNG), Periodic Table with Charges - 118 Elements, Periodic Table For Kids With 118 Elements. (2022, December 02).
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