In a study comparing teaching methods for autistic children, the independent variable is ______ and the dependent variable is ______.

In a study comparing teaching methods for autistic children, the independent variable is ______ and the dependent variable is ______.

• A. Teaching methods; the social skills that are learned
• B. The social skills; the teaching methods
• C. Age; Outcome score
• D. Intervention duration; Attendance

Answer: (A)

In this kind of study, you separate what the researchers actively change from what you measure to see the effect. The factor being manipulated is the teaching method, the way instruction is delivered to the children. The outcome you measure to see if that manipulation had an effect is the social skills that are learned. So, teaching methods is the independent variable and the social skills learned are the dependent variable. Age is simply a characteristic of participants, not something intentionally varied to test its effect here. The term “outcome score” could refer to a measurement of a result, but the specific outcome in this context is the social skills learned. Intervention duration would be another potential manipulation, but it isn’t described as what’s varied in this scenario. Attendance is not the outcome being used to assess the impact of teaching methods on social skills.

In this kind of study, you separate what the researchers actively change from what you measure to see the effect. The factor being manipulated is the teaching method, the way instruction is delivered to the children. The outcome you measure to see if that manipulation had an effect is the social skills that are learned. So, teaching methods is the independent variable and the social skills learned are the dependent variable.

Age is simply a characteristic of participants, not something intentionally varied to test its effect here. The term “outcome score” could refer to a measurement of a result, but the specific outcome in this context is the social skills learned. Intervention duration would be another potential manipulation, but it isn’t described as what’s varied in this scenario. Attendance is not the outcome being used to assess the impact of teaching methods on social skills.