Experimental Design

What is an independent variable?

The variable that we are changing in the experiment. Can be thought of as the "cause" in a cause and effect scenario.

What is a dependent variable?

What we are trying to measure in the experiment.

What is a hypothesis?

A guess/prediction for what you believe will happen in an experiment based on prior research. It cannot be proven, but evidence can be found in support of it

What is a secondary variable?

Any factor besides the independent variable that could effect the dependent variable

What is a confounding variable?

A variable that affects other variables in a way that can distort the true relationship between the independent and dependent variable

What is a control group?

A group that is the same as the experimental group in every way other than the variable we are testing

What is the rule of one variable?

When designing an experiment we want to do so in a way that only ONE variable is varying