Dr. Bloomin wants to investigate the impact of talking to plants on their growth. He decides to talk to a group of 40 tulips each day for six weeks. A second group is not talked to at all. After six weeks he discovers that the tulips he talked to are five centimetres taller than the tulips not talked to. In this example, the independent variable is:
A) the group of tulips spoken to
B) whether the tulips are spoken to
C) the height of the tulips
D) the group of tulips not spoken to

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the factor that is being manipulated or changed in the experiment. In this case, the independent variable is whether the tulips are spoken to or not. The group of tulips spoken to and the group of tulips not spoken to are just different treatments of the independent variable. The height of the tulips is the dependent variable, which is the outcome that is being measured to see the effect of the independent variable.

Dr Bloomin Wants to Investigate the Impact of Talking to Plants