Professor Devine and her colleagues are interested in assessing whether active versus passive play causes a preference for sweet
or salty foods in toddlers. They assign groups of children to either an active play, passive play, or no play group and record their food choices when presented with a variety of sweet and salty foods. In this study, ________ is the independent variable and ________ is the control group.
In a study, the independent variable is the variable that isn't changed by the other variables during the experimental procedure. On the other hand, the dependent variable is the variable being tested/measured during the experiment (in this case, children's food choice), and therefore this variable is 'dependent' on the independent variable. Finally, the control group is the group where the independent variable is not manipulated, i.e., the group where participants do not receive the experimental treatment. A control group enables the establishment of causal-effects relationships by isolating the effects of the independent variable.
