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The two broad types of variables in scientific experimentation are dependent and independent variables.

Independent variables are variables (ideally only one or very few) that the experimenter manipulates in the experiment. For example, if you were testing the effect of temperature on plant growth rates, you would likely have similar plants in similar conditions but in areas with different temperatures. The experimenter is changing the temperature between the groups of plants, so the temperature would be the independent variable.

The dependent variables are the effects the independent variable has on the experimental subjects. They are changes not being directly controlled or manipulated by the experimenter. In the above temperature vs. plant growth example, the rate of plant growth would be the dependent variable; it depends on the temperature.

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14y ago

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