Name: ______________________________ Total:____ ___/__14___
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Directions: Read the following experiments and fill in the blanks that follow. For 3 and 4 answers,
there is not a control group listed in the example.
1. A study was created to test the effects of jazz on people’s sleep
patterns. The hypothesis of the experiment was that if people listened to
jazz music as they fall asleep, they will sleep for longer periods of time.
For the experiment, 2 groups of people were created. One group was
placed in a quiet room where they went to sleep and they were timed on
how long they slept. The other group was placed in a room where jazz
music played softly as they began to sleep and played throughout the
night. As each group awoke, their sleep times were monitored.
Dependent Variable: ______________________ Control Group: ____________________________
Independent Variable: _____________________ Experimental Group: _______________________
2. A study was created to test the effects of fear in children. The hypothesis
of the experimenters was that if babies were exposed to fuzzy bunnies and at
the same time a loud cymbal was struck close behind them, then that child
would be afraid of all fuzzy things. Another group of children would be
exposed to bunnies without any loud noises. The study was carried out as
planned and as a result, hundreds of young children developed fear of all cute
furry bunny rabbits.
Dependent Variable: ______________________ Control Group: ____________________________
Independent Variable: _____________________ Experimental Group: _______________________
3. Shortly after Ms. Berndt’s cat, Revere, was born, Ms. Berndt realized
Revere wasn’t eating enough. She went to the pet store and bought many
different kinds of food and fed Revere different types every day. Each day she
noted the type of food and how much Revere ate out of his dish. Eventually
Revere ate a lot of the CreppyCat brand food and Ms. Berndt bought that for
him from then on. Revere is the best worst cat ever.
Dependent Variable: ______________________
Independent Variable: _____________________ Experimental Group: ________________________
4. At a daycare, the staff has had problems with the children behaving
badly every day. They begin to test to see how the children react if the staff
gives them large amounts of candy when they are good and no candy when
they are bad. The staff hopes that the incentive for the children will improve
their behavior.
Dependent Variable: _______________________
Independent Variable: ______________________ Experimental Group: ________________________
