ACT Preparation / Unit 20 ACT 1909 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Identifying the Variables in a Study
The idea
The variables in a study are identified in three steps. First, find what the researchers deliberately set or changed: that is the independent variable, and its values are the treatments. Second, find what they recorded as the outcome: that is the dependent variable. Third, list what stayed the same across every trial: those are the controlled variables.
In practice
Worked example: in an invented study, students dropped the same rubber ball from heights of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 meters onto the same floor, and measured how high it bounced, three times at each height. The independent variable is the drop height, with four treatments. The dependent variable is the bounce height. The controlled variables are the ball, the floor, and the method of measuring.
Where people slip
The number of repeated drops is not a variable; it is how the measurement was made more reliable.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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