Question

Weinstein, McDermott, and Roediger (2010) con- ducted an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of different study strategies. One part of the study asked students to prepare for a test by reading a passage. In one condition, students generated and answered questions after reading the passage. In a se tion, students simply read the passage a second time. All students were then given a test on the passage material and the researchers recorded the number of correct answers.

a. Identify the dependent variable for this study.
b. Is the dependent variable discrete or continuous?
c. What scale of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio) is used to measure the dependent variable?

Answer 1

a) The number of correct answers

b) Discrete

c) Ratio

Explanation:

We are given the following in the question:

Experiment:

Evaluate the effectiveness of different study strategies. All students were then given a test on the passage material and the researchers recorded the number of correct answers.

a) The dependent Variable

The number of correct answers given is the dependent variable because it depends on the number of times the passage is read.

b) Nature of dependent variable.

• It is a discrete variable.

• Since, the number of questions will always be expressed in whole numbers and cannot be expressed as decimals.
• They are always counted and not measured.

c) Scale of measurement

• Ratio is used to measure the dependent variable because true zero for the number of correct questions answered exist.

• If the measure is zero that means truly no questions were answered correctly.