Question

A researcher desires to study the relationship between stress and an employee's ability to perform at work. However, he finds that there is no direct relationship between the two. He also notices that presence of a supervisor in the environment is establishing a relationship between stress and employee's ability to perform. In this context, supervisor's presence is acting as a _____ variable.

Answer 1

confounding

Step-by-step explanation:

A confounding variable is a variable that alters the effect between a dependent and an independent variable, therefore the results of the research will be altered.

In this case, the researcher is studying the effects of stress at work, and apparently nothing that he/she did to increase or decrease stress changed the results of the test. But what the researcher didn't consider is that the employees were already stressed by the supervisor, so he/she only measured the employees' responses under stress. The research is flawed because there was no stress free situation.

Answer 2

Answer:confounding

Explanation:A confounding variable is an outside influence that changes the effect of a dependent and independent variable. This extraneous influence is used to influence the outcome of an experimental design.

Confounding variables can ruin an experiment and produce useless results.

Confounding variable is one of those statistical terms that confuses a lot of people. Not because it represents a confusing concept, but because of how it’s used. (Well, it’s a bit of a confusing concept, but that’s not the worst part).