Question

Priya is conducting an experiment to see if people are more anxious when they're in a crowd of people or if they're alone. She divides her participants into two groups. With one group she has all of her participants take an anxiety questionnaire together in one small room. With the other group of participants she has them take the anxiety questionnaire by themselves, one at a time, in the same room. She then looks at the anxiety scores of every participant to see if they are influenced by her two different conditions. In this experiment, what is the independent variable

Answer 1

The independent variable in Priya's experiment is the social context in which the anxiety questionnaire is taken, whether it's in a crowd or alone.

Step-by-step explanation:

In Priya's experiment, the independent variable is the condition under which participants take the anxiety questionnaire: either in a crowd of people or alone. The independent variable is what the experimenter manipulates or controls to investigate its impact on the dependent variable, which in this case, would be the anxiety scores of the participants. A well-designed experimental study ensures that this is the only significant difference between the two groups.

Answer 2

In this experiment, the independent variable is the participant either being alone or in a room with others.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a study like the one described in the question, the dependent variable is what is being measured by the study. In this case, the dependent variable is people's level of anxiety.

The independent variable is something that is changed or controlled in order to affect the dependent variable. In this case, Priya is controlling the environment. Some participants are interviewed alone while others are interviewed in small groups. She wishes to see how the environment will affect their level of anxiety. Therefore, the independent variable is being alone / being in a group.