Asked by Lilley

What is the independent and dependent variable in this scenario:

A Physiological Psychologist is interested in investigating the effects of a new anti-anxiety drug on maze running behaviour in rats. A pool of rats is divided into two groups. One group of rats receives a dose of the new drug (Drug Group),while another group of rats receives a placebo (Placebo Group). After the drug or placebo is administered, a rat is placed at the start of the maze. A stopwatch records the time needed for a rat to run through the maze. From the data collected, the Physiologist discovers that rats that receive the drug (as compared to those that were administered the placebo) take longer
to run through the maze.
Answered by Lilley
Also, what is the data collection method in this scenario?
Answered by PsyDAG
An <B>independent variable</B> is the potential stimulus or cause, usually directly manipulated by the experimenter, so it could also be called a manipulative variable.

A <B>dependent variable</B> is the response or measure of results.

It sounds like a classical experiment.
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