Examples
Sharon wants to measure the effect of different amounts of sunlight on how tall plants grow. What is her independent variable?
amounts of sunlight
Sully conducts a study to determine whether the amount of sleep a student gets affects test scores. What is the independent variable?
the amount of sleep
Javier wants to know whether or not the amount of time spent playing soccer is related to a person's happiness. What is the dependent variable?
happiness
Richi wants to know whether the type of music played for babies when they are going to sleep affects the amount of time it takes them to fall asleep. What is the dependent variable?
the amount of time it takes babies to fall asleep
Alexandra is always cold in the classroom. She decides that she wants to test the effects of the classroom temperature on the alertness of the students. What is her independent variable?
classroom temperature
Mike wants to measure the effect of different amounts of sunlight on how tall plants grow. What is his dependent variable?
how tall the plants grow
Kevin wants to determine if jokes make the students participate more in class. What is the dependent variable?
classroom participation (how much the students are participating)
Deanna wants to know whether stretching before working out decreases the amount of injuries among basketball players. What is the dependent variable?
risk of injury (could be measured in the amount of injuries)
Guido and Edison want to learn whether listening to fast-paced music helps runners perform better during a marathon. In an experiment, one group of runners listens to fast-paced music while another group listens to slow-paced music. What is the independent variable?
the pace of the music
Erica wants to know whether your appetite is affected by caffeine. What is the 1) independent variable and 2) dependent variable?
1) amount of caffeine consumed
2) how hungry you are
Freddie wants to test a new medicine that supposedly prevents sneezing in people allergic to grass. 1) What is his dependent variable? 2) what is the independent variable?
1) how much they sneeze
2) the medicine
Fania thinks that reading is very important. She wants to test the effects of time spent reading on math scores in her 11th grade class. What is the controlled variable?
The grade/age of the students (11th grade)
Daly is a professional ballet dancer. She wants to investigate the effects of the height of dancers on how high they can jump. What is the 1) independent variable and 2) dependent variable?
1) the height of the dancers
2) how high they can jump
Jazzam (Javier) his a musician and wants to see whether the tempo of his track affects how many people dance. 1) What is the independent variable? 2) What is the dependent variable?
1) tempo of the music tracks (how fast, how slow?)
2) the amount of people dancing
Jonathan wants to compare brands of paper towels, to see which holds the most liquid. He uses water as his liquid. What is the 1) dependent variable and 2) control variable?
1) the amount of liquid absorbed by the paper towel
2) the liquid type
Mabél think that a certain part of your brain is important in memory. To test this, she will remove this part of the brain from rats and see if they remember how to get through the maze. What is the independent variable in her experiment?
the part the rat brain
Lulu wants to test whether the amount of physical activity at recess affects 5th graders' levels of concentration in class. What is the dependent variable?
level of concentration in class
Carlitos is a big fan on the Barcelona soccer team. He goes to every game. Carlitos wants to know whether the players score more goals depending on how loudly the fans cheer. What is the 1) independent variable and the 2)dependent variable?
1) how loudly the fans cheer
2) how many goals the soccer players score
Marco Jose, Luis, and Ezequil wish to know whether worker productivity is increased when different genres of music are played in the workplace. What is the 1) independent variable and the 2) dependent variable?
1) music genre
2) worker productivity.
Tanya wants to know which location in her apartment is best for growing roses. She has three roses. She puts one on the balcony, one by the kitchen window, and one on the mantel in the living room. Each plant has the same size pot and the same soil, and Tanya gives each plant the same amount of water. What are the control variables?
plant type (roses)
pot size
soil type
amount of water
Nina also thinks that a certain part of your brain is important in memory. To test this, she will use a specific breed of rat. She will remove this part of the brain from rats and see if they remember how to get through the maze. What is the 1) dependent variable and 2) control variable in her experiment?
1) remembering how to get through the maze
2) the breed of rat
Lulu wants to test whether the amount of physical activity at recess affects 5th graders' levels of concentration. What is the 1) independent variable 2) control variable?
1) amount of physical activity
2) the grade level of the students (5th grade)
Maria is a fan of the Dallas basketball team. She goes to every single one of their games and wants to know whether or not the the day of the week affects how well the players play. What is the 1) independent variable, 2) dependent variable, and 3) control variable?
1. day of the week
2. how well they play
3. the team
Gustavo works with Shawn Mendez's marketing team. He is investigating ticket sales in New York. He just created a new advertisement for an upcoming concert. Gustavo wants to test whether or not concert ticket sales increase after changing the advertisement. What is the 1) independent variable 2) dependent variable 3)control variable?
1) the advertisement
2) ticket sales
3) location (New York)
Gianfranco is a psychologist who wants to learn more about how stress influences memory. He conducts an experiment where one group of people are put in a stressful situation and then are asked to rate their stress level. Then, participants are given a memory test. The higher they score, the better their memory. What is the 1) independent variable, 2) dependent variable?
1) stress level
2) score on memory test