Question

A researcher examines whether being in a room with blue walls, green walls, red walls, or beige walls influences aggressive behavior in a group of adolescents. The adolescents are given simulated, electronic games where they are required to administer shocks. The researcher will then rank the results of the room where the most shocks occurred (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th).

Note: focus on the scale of measurement rather than the experimental conditions

A. What is the independent variable?
B. What type or category of independent variable is used?
C. What is the dependent variable?
D. How many levels are there for the independent variable?
E. What is the scale of measurement for the dependent variable?

Answer 1

A. The independent variable is the color of the walls in the room where the adolescents are playing the simulated, electronic games.

B. The independent variable is a categorical variable, specifically a nominal variable, as there is no inherent order or ranking to the different colors of the walls.

C. The dependent variable is the number of shocks administered by the adolescents while playing the simulated, electronic games.

D. There are four levels for the independent variable, corresponding to the four different colors of walls in the room: blue, green, red, and beige.

E. The scale of measurement for the dependent variable is a ratio scale, as the number of shocks administered is a quantitative variable that has a true zero point (i.e. the absence of shocks). This means that meaningful ratios can be formed between different values of the dependent variable (e.g. if one group administers twice as many shocks as another group, we can say that they administered 2:1 shocks).