Sharon wanted to determine if the juvenile boot camp program her county had initiated had a noticeable impact on recidivism. She
compared similar juveniles who had taken part in the boot camp and those who received a more traditional sentence. Twelve months after their release, she compared their re-arrest rates. In this experiment, the boot camp was the: a. the independent variable b. the posttest c. the control group d. the dependent variable e. the pretest
In this experiment, the boot camp is the factor Sharon considers can influence recidivism (the main variable studied or dependent variable). In this context, the boot camp is the independent variable because this is the factor that is considered a "special treatment" in the experiment because only some were in the boot camp program. Also, in experiments the independent variable influences another variable and this is independent because it is not affected by other variables. This occurs with the boot camps because boot camps influence recidivism but not the opposite.
