Name: _________________________________________

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
(I.V.)

DEPENDENT VARIABLE
(D.V.)

When viewing
experiments as
investigations of a
possible cause / effect
relationship

CAUSE

EFFECT

Writing a HYPOTHESIS

If _____________________________
(cause / I.V.)

then __________________________.
(effect / D.V.)

When describing or
titling an experiment

The Effect of ____________________

(cause / I.V.)

on ____________________________.
(effect / D.V.)

Its what you will do / change / manipulate in the

experiment

Its the thing you will measure / record in the

experiment,
to see what effect the I.V. had on it

What each variable in

an experiment is to
you, as a researcher

Remember: I change the I.V.

Other things theyre

sometimes called

The TREATMENT

The OUTCOME

Where each is found in

a data table

The independent variable data is always

presented FIRST in a data table. (FIRST column
or FIRST row).

Dependent variable data is always presented next

to (after) the independent variable data (usually
starting with the SECOND column, or the
SECOND row).

Where each set of data

goes when graphing

Independent variable data get graphed on the

X-axis

Dependent variable data get graphed on the Yaxis

In every experiment there are 3 types of variables:

1) An INDEPENDENT variable
2) A DEPENDENT variable
3) CONSTANTS (a.k.a. CONTROL variables): CONSTANTS refer to any variable that could affect the results (the D.V.) of the
experiment. Since you can only test the effects of one variable at a time, all other variables that might have an effect
must be kept the same for the EXPERIMENTAL GROUP and the CONTROL GROUP.

EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: The group in the experiment that gets The TREATMENT. For example, in the Miracle Grow
experiment, the EXPERIMENTAL GROUP was the plants that were grown with Miracle Grow.
CONTROL GROUP: The group in the experiment that doesnt get The TREATMENT. For example, in the Miracle Grow
experiment, the CONTROL GROUP was the plants that were grown with just plain water without Miracle Grow.
Why does every experiment need a CONTROL GROUP? _Every experiment needs a control group to compare
results of the experimental group to - to see if the treatment actually had any effect.

Two ways you can improve the validity of any experiment:

1) Repeat the experiment
2) Increase the sample size (meaning the number of test subjects in the experimental and control groups)