Question

Directions: You are a medical researcher who has just "discovered" a new treatment for AIDS. Now you need to design an experiment to test its effectiveness. Using the follwoing questions as guidelines, plan your experiment.

1) What groups will you have in your study? How will you assign subjects to the group(s)? What problems do you anticipate?
2) What is your independent variable(s)? What is your dependent variable(s)?
3) How will you assign your subjects to the experiemental and control groups?
4) What extraneous variables will you need to consider?
5) What ethical issues will you need to consider?

Answer 1

the independent variable is the one you're manipulating. the dependent is the variable that you are measuring.

Extraneous varaibles would include the fact that not every person with AIDS experiences the same symptoms and they will have varying helper T counts, viral loads, etc. Ethically, you need to consider the participant's confidentiality.

hope that helps a little bit.