Shortly after adopting his cat, Sassy, Thomas realizes that his poor cat isn’t eating very much. After ruling out any illnesses,
he determines that Sassy is a huge diva and is simply very picky about the type of food she eats. He decides to run a month-long experiment, separated into four weeks. During the first week, he feeds Sassy normal dry food. During the second week, he feeds her wet canned food. In the third week, he gives her raw salmon. Finally, throughout the fourth week, Thomas feeds Sassy a home-cooked meal of liver and gravy. At the end of the experiment, Thomas compares how much of each type of food Sassy ate. The independent and dependent variables also the control group and the experimental group. finally 3 constants
During an experiment, data from an experimental group are compared with the data of a control group. These two groups are identical in all aspects except for the independent variable that the researcher changes in the experimental group to observe how they affect the individuals. This variable keeps constant in the control group.
The experimental group is the one that receives the experimental procedure, with changes in the independent variable. There can be several experimental groups. In the exposed example, the experimental groups are the different types of food.
In the control group, the variable measured keeps constant, not influencing the results. This isolates the effect of the independent variable on the experiment and helps to find alternative explanations to the different results. The control group corresponds to the normal dry food.
Manipulated variable: Refers to all the variables in an experiment that provoke a response in another variable. They are also known as independent variables. The researcher can change these variables to see what changes it implies in an object, process, trait, or anything that depends on them. In the exposed example, the researcher manipulates the type of food he gives to the cat.
Responding variable: Refers to the dependant variable, which response depends on any change in the independent variable. A change in the dependent variable might be proportional or inversely proportional to the change in the manipulated variable. In the exposed example, the dependent variable is the response of the cat to the change of food.
constants Feeding time with each type of food (one week per food)
