Dr.Sander wants to conduct an experiment to examine whether memory is better for events that are witnessed versus events one is directly involved in (i.e.,the victim).He sets up a staged event where participants arrive in groups of three to his study (one is a confederate),are asked to take out their wallets to show their photo ID,followed by the confederate who steals one participant's wallet and runs off down the hall.Both participants (the witness and the victim)are questioned by campus security separately about what happened,and asked to identify the suspect out of a photo lineup. In this example,the independent variable is:
A)What the confederate stole from the participant
B)Whether the memory is reported by a victim or a witness
C)How the participants were interviewed about the "crime"
D)Whether there were differences in correct or false identifications
E)How much information the participants reported

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The independent variable, which is the variable being manipulated or changed in the experiment, is whether the memory is reported by a victim or a witness. This is what the experimenter wants to investigate and compare. The other options are either not being manipulated or are a dependent variable that is being measured as an outcome of the experiment.

DrSander Wants to Conduct an Experiment to Examine Whether Memory