This one is stumping me

I am not exactly sure if this is the best way to answer these types of questions, but it has always worked for me. I just reword the statment in this format ".....depends on...."

So, for your example I would say that the researcher is trying to determine if "student's grades depend on the amount of time they spend in labs" making Course Grades the dependent variable and time spent in labs the independent variable.

Try applying that ".....depends on...." statment to other examples and see if it is helpful!

Thanks to both of you for your replies! That is an excellent approach to figure these types of questions and I will use that in future instances.

Pertaining to the quality of question statement, I laughed pretty hard. I am a 47 yr old "non-traditional" student. In my first three semesters, I was ignorant enough to challenge a few of my instructors on that very basis. All it achieved was for my future instructors to "look out" for my questions. That is, they knew I was going to a wise @ss and try to nit pick them on things like semantics and real world application as opposed to textbook standards. I learned to listen, learn, and progress. But when the tape does come off my mouth in about a year, I will have a lot to say.

Thanks again!

What excellent replies! I love this forum for how much I learn about questions I didn't know I had.

Wulfie, I had to laugh when I read your post--I could have written it myself. I need to try taping my mouth too--my tongue is sore from two years of the biting down on it. :argue: I hate, hate, hate badly worded or ambiguous questions. Talk about an excercise in self-control!

Independent variable would be the amount of time spent in the lab each week, because that is what you would vary for each of the participants (one person might spend 3 hours, one person might spend 6 hours, etc.). I am not sure what the dependent variable would be though. It wouldn't be grade received, because that is the result of the study (ex: person who spends 3 hours in lab gets a C, person who spends 6 hours gets a B). The dependent variable is really unstated. Unless the dependent variable would be "the lab" as opposed to "home" or "the library". That's a tough one!! Because if you think about it, if this were an actual study, there might be quite a few dependent variables like textbook used, labs performed - those things would need to be the same for all participants (dependent) in order for the study to be accurate. Does that make sense?