Question

identifying controls and variables
list the problem number and answer on notebook paper
smithers thinks that a special juice will increase the productivity of workers. he creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each group the same task (in this case, theyre supposed to staple a set of papers). group a is given the special juice to drink while they work. group b is not given the special juice. after an hour, smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. group a made 1,587 stacks, group b made 2,113 stacks.
identify the:

1. control group
2. independent variable
3. dependent variable
4. what should smithers conclusion be?
5. how could this experiment be improved?

homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. his friend barney tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime. homer decides to check this out by spraying half of the shower with coconut juice. he sprays the other half of the shower with water. after 3 days of \treatment\ there is no change in the appearance of the green slime on either side of the shower.

1. what was the initial observation - the \problem\?

identify the-

1. control group
2. independent variable
3. dependent variable
4. what should homers conclusion be?

Explanation:

1. In an experiment, the control group is the one that does not receive the treatment (special juice in this case). Group B is not given the special juice, so it is the control group.
2. The independent variable is what is changed or manipulated. Here, the special juice (whether a group gets it or not) is the independent variable.
3. The dependent variable is what is measured. The number of stacks of papers made is what is measured, so it is the dependent variable.
4. Group A (with special juice) made fewer stacks (1,587) than Group B (2,113). So the conclusion is that the special juice does not increase productivity (in fact, it seems to decrease it in this experiment).
5. One way to improve could be to repeat the experiment multiple times (to check for consistency), use a larger sample size (more workers), control for other variables (e.g., worker fatigue before the experiment, type of task more precisely), or have a placebo group (if possible, give a juice - like drink without the special ingredient to another group).
6. The initial observation (problem) is that the shower is covered in a strange green slime.
7. The control group is the half of the shower sprayed with water (as it does not receive the 'treatment' of coconut juice which is hypothesized to remove the slime).
8. The independent variable is the application of coconut juice (whether a part of the shower gets coconut juice or not).
9. The dependent variable is the presence/amount of green slime (as it is what is being affected by the treatment).
10. Since there was no change in the appearance of the green slime on either side (coconut - juice - sprayed and water - sprayed), the conclusion is that coconut juice does not remove the green slime from the shower.

Answer:

1. Group B
2. Special juice
3. Number of stacks of papers made
4. The special juice does not increase productivity (it may decrease it as Group A made fewer stacks).
5. Repeat the experiment multiple times, use a larger sample size, control for other variables (e.g., worker pre - experiment fatigue), or have a placebo group.
6. The shower is covered in a strange green slime.
7. The half of the shower sprayed with water.
8. Application of coconut juice.
9. Presence/amount of green slime.
10. Coconut juice does not remove the green slime from the shower.