The administration of Midwest State University wants to know if the arrangement of chairs affects student participation in classrooms. What would be a good operational definition of the dependent variable in an experiment designed to measure this relationship?
A) class size: under 50 or over 50
B) number of students enrolled in each class
C) chair arrangement: theater style or circular
D) frequency with which students ask questions

Question

The administration of Midwest State University wants to know if the arrangement of chairs affects student participation in classrooms. What would be a good operational definition of the dependent variable in an experiment designed to measure this relationship?
A) class size: under 50 or over 50
B) number of students enrolled in each class
C) chair arrangement: theater style or circular 
D) frequency with which students ask questions

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this experiment is the level of student participation, which can be operationalized as the frequency with which students ask questions. Class size and number of students enrolled in each class are independent variables that may influence participation, but they are not the dependent variable. Chair arrangement is also an independent variable that can be manipulated, but the dependent variable is the effect that the arrangement has on student participation.

The Administration of Midwest State University Wants to Know If