A researcher wants to assess the effects of varying amounts of alcohol on ratings of perception of friendliness. Three groups of people are given either 1, 2, or 3 beers to drink. Three more groups of people are given either 1, 2, or 3 non-alcoholic beers to drink. Then, all participants are shown a series of pictures of people's faces and are asked to rank the perceived friendliness of each face on a scale from 1 to 10. Each face was presented for 5 seconds. In this experiment, the dependent variable is:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this experiment is the ratings of perceived friendliness, as this is what is being measured and compared across the different groups. The independent variables are the amount of alcohol in the beer and whether or not the beer is alcoholic. The length of time each face is presented is a controlled variable to ensure consistency across participants, but it is not the focus of the study. The number of groups is also not the dependent variable, as it is simply a feature of the study design.

A Researcher Wants to Assess the Effects of Varying Amounts