discussion

Identifying Independent and Dependent Variables – Titles Original provided by Dr. Gilroy, MTSU. Modified somewhat by Dr. Kendrick, MTSU Below are the titles of a number of studies. You can often identify the independent (IV) and dependent (DV) variables from these titles. For example, the terms, “the effect of…” or, “the influence of..” typically point to the IV whereas the terms following “on”, point to the DV. So, a general statement would be something like, “The effects of the IV on the DV”, but it’s not always so clear cut. Also, IV’s require more than one level, so identify two or more possible levels of each IV. DV’s require a measurement or score, so for each DV identify a possible method of measurement. Identify the independent and dependent variables in each of the studies. 1. Aggression toward minorities as a function of racial attitudes.

2. The effect of reinforcement on learning.

3. Stimulus attractiveness and memory in high and low sensation seekers.

4. The effect of independence training on creativity.

5. The effect of hunger on learning

6. Frustration leads to aggression

7. School performance as a function of intelligence

8. The relationship between self-esteem and school success among elementary school children

9. The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group

10. The perceived size of coins in normal and hypnotically induced economic states

11. The effect of complexity and novelty in visual figures on orienting responses

12. Pupil response of hetero- and homosexual males to pictures of men and women

13. The influence of associative value upon the difficulty of nonsense syllable lists

14. Delay of feedback on the acquisition and retention of verbal materials in the classroom

15. Effects of motivating instructions and reports of failure on verbal learning

16. Effects of intensity of audio stimulation on directional eye movements in the human neonate

17. The relation of childhood training in independence to achievement motivation

Answers:

1. IV attitude (survey/questionairre that creates three categories: negative, positive, neutral) DV aggression (facial expression when shown pictures of different races) 2. IV reinforcement (one group receives positive reinforcement during coaching and a second group does not) DV learning (number of golf balls hit into cup, more = better learning) 3. IV High and low sensation seekers (as determined by scores on a survey) DV Attractiveness of stimuli and memory for stimuli (as determined by self-report ratings and a recognition memory test) 4. IV Independence Training (one group gets the training and a second group does not) DV Creativity (measured by a standard creativity test) 5. IV Hunger (one group does not eat for 12 hours, a second group eats whenever they want) DV Learning (number of attempts to correctly negogiate a maze) 6. IV Frustration (One group is told to go to room 103 on the second floor but it does not exist, other group told to go to room 303 on third floor which does exist – both groups to find forms and bring them back) DV Aggression (number of “bad words” uttered when asked to hand over forms) 7. IV Intelligence (students asked to sit on left if very smart, on right if not so smart, and in the middle if average – thus creating three groups based on self-reported level of intelligent) DV School performance (self-reported GPA) 8. IV Self-esteem (Score on survey of self-esteem) DV School success (GPA) 9. IV Severity of initiation (three groups, one getting congratulatory initiation, one having to jump in cold lake water, and one having to jump in cold lake water and staying for five minutes) DV Liking the group (self-report survey with questions regarding the importance of membership in the group)

10. IV Normal or hypnotic state (self-explanatory…two groups, one hypnotized and one not) DV Perception of coin size (self reported estimates in inches and tenths of inches) 11. Note there are two IV’s in this one. IV Complexity (three stimuli differing in complexity – simple figure, complex figure, very complex figure) IV Novelty (three stimuli differing in novelty – common figure, unusual figure, very unusual figure) DV Number of orienting responses (count the number of times people look at stimuli) 12. Two IV’s in this one too. IV Sexual Orientation of person (homosexual and heterosexual males) IV Sex of picture (male and female pictures) DV size of pupil (as measured by pupilometer) 13. IV associative value (three levels: high, medium, low) DV difficulty of memorizing (number of times repeated to reach 100% correct memorization of list) 14. This one has two DV’s IV Delay of Feedback (three groups: no delay, short delay, long delay) DV acquisition of verbal materials (number of times repeated to reach 80% or better) DV retention of verbal materials (memory test after 30 days) 15. Two IV’s here IV Type of instructions (motivating and nonmotivating) IV Reports of failure (one group is told they failed on previous tests of verbal learning, a second group told nothing, a third group told they did really well) DV Verbal learning (scores on a verbal learning test) 16. IV Intensity of audio stimulation (intense, less intense, and mild) DV directional eye movements (measured by eye movement detector) 17. IV Child training (one group trained in independence, another group not trained) DV Acheivement motivation (as measured by self-report questionairre)