Participant Variable

Situational Variable

Task Variable

Experimental Control

Experimenter's Sex as an Extraneous Variable

Standardizing the Procedure

Experimenter Expectancy Effect

Example of Extraneous Variables: Expressive Writing Experiment

Confounding Variable

Internal Validity

In the context of an experiment, what is an extraneous variable?

In a study examining whether caffeine improves focus, the amount of sleep a participant had the night before would be considered an extraneous variable if it varies between participants and could potentially influence the results.

In psychological research, factors other than the primary ones being studied can often influence the results. Match each research study with the specific factor that would act as an extraneous variable in that scenario.

A researcher conducts a study to see if 'Bright Lighting' (the factor being tested) improves 'Reading Speed' (the performance being measured). However, the group in the bright light reads an interesting novel, while the group in the dim light reads a technical manual. Arrange the following statements to represent the logical sequence of how this extraneous variable (Topic Interest) creates ambiguity in the study's results.

When a researcher evaluates the validity of a claim that one factor caused a change in another, they must determine if any additional factors fluctuated during the study. A factor that varies in the context of the study other than the ones being specifically investigated is known as a(n) ____ variable; its presence requires the researcher to judge the study's conclusions as inconclusive because the true cause of the results cannot be isolated.