Dependent and Independent variables

[kenpony21]

I'm having trouble distinguishing where these are in a problem... some examples im trying to figure out -

To see if a court system is racially biased a researcher examines the length of prison sentences for white and black offenders...

i think the ind variable is - court system bias.. and the dv is black and white prison sentences?

and another example

The see how roles determined behavior, a professor randomly assigned college students are named to be either prison guards or prisoners and recorded the aggresive and supplicating behavior by both groups,,,

IV - Prison roles dv - behavior by groups??

anybody have a better way to figure out what stands out.. im just having real trouble...

 

[Deleted member 4993]

I'm having trouble distinguishing where these are in a problem... some examples im trying to figure out -

To see if a court system is racially biased a researcher examines the length of prison <-- this is your dependant variable (y)sentences for white and black offenders <-- this is your independant variable (x)...

i think the ind variable is - court system bias.. and the dv is black and white prison sentences?

and another example

The see how roles determined behavior, a professor randomly assigned college students are named to be either prison guards or prisoners and recorded the aggresive and supplicating behavior by both groups,,,

IV - Prison roles (guards or prisoners) dv - behavior by groups?? <<< Correct

anybody have a better way to figure out what stands out.. im just having real trouble...

 

[mmm4444bot]

When considering bias in the judiciary (i.e., looking for correlation between ethnicity and prison sentences), we could consider the following two relationships, in order to determine which variable is dependent versus independent.

A person's skin color depends upon the length of their prison sentence.

OR

The length of a person's prison sentence depends upon the color of their skin.

The first statement is ridiculous, so skin color is clearly the independent variable, and sentence length is the dependent error.

In the second study, think about the following statements.

Aggressive people end up as guards, and meek people end up as prisoners.

OR

People chosen as guards end up aggressive, and people chosen as prisoners end up meek.

The exercise states that the guard and prisoner assignments are randomly-made, so the first statement above is ridiculous.

The resulting behavior depends upon the assignment; not the other way around.

I agree with your choice. Role is the independent variable, and resulting behavior is the dependent variable.