Professor X is studying the effect of exposure to sexual content on sexual thoughts.She assigns students to one of two conditions.In the first condition,participants are exposed to explicit sexual content and then given a word-completion task,which involves filling in the letter missing from each word.Based on the letter added,the word could be of a sexual nature or not.For instance,b_d could be completed as "bed," indicating sexual thought,or as "bad," which has no sexual connotation.In the second condition,participants are not exposed to explicit sexual content but are assigned the same word-completion task.What is the independent variable?
A) sexual thought
B) the word-completion task
C) exposure to explicit sexual content
D) random assignment

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is deliberately manipulated by the researcher. In this case, exposure to explicit sexual content is deliberately manipulated by the researcher, making it the independent variable. The word-completion task is a dependent variable that is measured based on the manipulation of the independent variable. Sexual thought is not necessarily an independent variable as it is a result of the manipulation of the independent variable. Random assignment is a research design method and not an independent variable.

Professor X Is Studying the Effect of Exposure to Sexual