Question

As reported in College Teaching, in a 2006 article entitled “Humor in Pedagogy: How Ha-Ha Can Lead to Aha” (Vol. 54, Issue 1), R. L. Garner randomly assigned 117 undergraduates to “review lecture videos” on statistics research methods. The videos either did or did not have short bits of humor inserted. Students who viewed the humor-added version of the video gave significantly higher ratings in their opinion of the lesson, how well the lesson communicated information, and the quality of the instructor. Even more importantly, that same group of students also recalled and retained significantly more information on the topic.

Determine whether each variable is an explanatory variable or a response variable.

1. Explanatory variable

2. Response variable

Enter the number of the term that corresponds to each choice:

1. Students' opinion of lesson
2. Students' rating of the quality of instructor
3. Humor condition of the video (i.e., with or without short bits of humor)
4. Students' ratings of how well lesson communicated information

Is this an experiment? y/n

Answer 1

1)Student’s opinion of a lesson is a response variable because the opinion of the student is dependent on the version of video they have watched.

2) Student’s rating of the quality of instructor is also a response variable because this variable gives you the response from the students on the quality of the instructor in the video that the student saw.The result is dependent on the version of video given to the student.

3) Humour condition of the video is the explanatory variable because the version of video given to the student does not depend on any other variable and is independently given. It is a variable that can be manipulated by the researcher.

4) Yes, this is an experiment because in this case, R.L. Garner controls the experiment by giving two different types of versions to two different group of students and records their response. In this one group receives the video with some humour, while the other group receives the video without the humour and then their responses are recorded.

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