what is another word for variable in science

Extraneous variables might include the volunteers’ physical condition, motivation to succeed, and overall energy levels on the day of the marathon.

Researchers want to determine if listening to fast-paced music improves performance during a marathon.

One extraneous variable that might influence the results would be whether students have previous knowledge of the math covered on the exam.

In an investigation, researchers want to explore whether a new teaching method can improve student scores on math exams.

In order to control for these extraneous variables, the research should ensure that all students are tested at the same time of day in rooms of the same temperature. However, extraneous variables such as the temperature of the room and the time of day the student is tested might have an influence on the independent variable as well. The amount of study time the students have is the independent variable (since it is what the experimenter manipulates) and the amount of test anxiety the students experience is the dependent variable (since it is what the researchers are measuring). Imagine that a researcher has devised an experiment to investigate whether giving study extra study time can help reduce test anxiety. In this article, learn more about what extraneous variables are and how they affect experiments.

Researchers accomplish this by holding the extraneous variables constant across all conditions of the experiment. The variables can present challenges and introduce errors, so it is important for experiments to control these extraneous factors. An extraneous variable is anything in a psychology experiment other than the independent and dependent variables.

What is another word for variable in science