Dr. Julian conducts an experiment to test the hypothesis that when more witnesses to a crime are present, any one witness is less likely to help the victim

After providing a cover story, she randomly assigns participants to witness a staged crime either alone, in the presence of two other people, or in the presence of ten other people. Then, she assesses how many people make an effort to help. Identify the independent and dependent variables in this study.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: The independent variable is the one being manipulated or varied by the researcher, in this case, how many witnesses are present when encountering a staged crime. The dependent variable is the one that is measured as an outcome of the independent variable, and in this case is whether or not people made an effort to help the victim.