You want to study the effects of caffeine on test scores. You assign subjects in one condition to drink three cups of coffee before the test. Subjects in the second condition drank three cups of water. In this experiment, what is the independent variable and what is the dependent variable, respectively?Amount of caffeine consumed, Test scores
Test scores, Amount of caffeine consumed
Number of subjects in each condition, Test scores
Test scores, Number of subjects in each condition
The independent variable is the variable that you as a researcher are manipulating. In this example, you are manipulating the amount of caffeine consumed. The dependent variable is the variable that you are measuring (test scores).
