What are dependent, independent, and extraneous (confounding) variables?

The dependent varible is defined as the thing which is being measured in an experiment, whilst the independent variable is the thing that is being manipulated or changed. Extraneous variables are undesirable variables that influence the relationship between the variables that the experimenter is observing.  For example: An experimenter was studying the effects of gender on response times, with the theory that females would be slower than males. The experimenter studied 20 participants in a public computer room throughout the day. The dependent variable is the response times, the indepdent variable is the gender of participants, and extraneous variables could be time of day or how noisy the computer room is.

MC

Related Psychology GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Outline and evaluate findings from Asch's conformity study (4 marks).


Describe and Evaluate two ways of treating offenders.


Explain two differences between procedural and episodic memory


What are some KEY evaluation points for psychological studies?