Independent Variable
The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money
The $5 given to the children
Lauren wants to know which location in her apartment is best for growing African violets. She has three African violets. 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 Lauren gives each plant the same amount of water.
The growth of the plant or height
Two plants were watered, one with coffee and one with water to see how it affected the height of the plant
The water plant
They decide to design an experiment to test the effectiveness of wool, cotton and nylon as insulators. They fill identical bottles with 200 ml of water at 100 C and place inside each sock. They take the temperature of the water after 20 minutes.
The type of insulator
A study was done to find if different tire treads affect the braking distance of a car
The braking distance of the car
Two different grades were compared in their understanding of complex plots in novels
One of the two grades compared
A social psychologist thinks that people are more likely to conform to a large crowd than to a single person. To test this hypothesis, the social psychologist had either one person or five persons stand on a busy walking path on campus and look up. The psychologist stood nearby and counted the number of people passing by who also looked up.
The number of people in the group
Nick wanted to see how high an ice cube would float in different temperatures of water
Whether or not the ice cube floated
Two groups of students were given sacs of flour to take care of. One was given a monetary incentive to keep the sac of flour intact and one was not.
The group not given money
Four groups of students were given a test after two of the groups had exercised before the test, and two had not. The scores were then compared
A student wanted to test how the mass of a paper airplane affected the distance it would fly. Paper clips were added before each test flight. As each paper clip was added, the plane was tested to determine how far it would fly.
Seven groups of people were compared in their sociability. Each group had a different average weight, with every person being 5 foot 5 inches
One group chosen as the control group! (trick!!!!)
The surface temperature of a nearby lake was taken every 20 mins to see if there was a fluctuation during the day
Time
An experiment was performed to determine how the amount of coffee grounds could affect the taste of coffee. The same kind of coffee, the same percolator, the same amount and type of water, the same perking time, and the same electrical sources were used.
The taste of the coffee
One plant was watered with hot sauce and the other with coffee to see which caused for better plant growth
Either one, but must explain why!