Dr. Ramos is interested in studying how indoor temperature can influence people’s sleep quality during the summer. A sample of 100 households is selected in which the residents keep their houses at 76 degrees during the summer. The residents wear a monitoring device that measures their sleep cycles for several nights to get baseline readings. Then, 50 of the homes are randomly assigned to the warm temperature condition in which the residents agree to keep their houses at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. In the other 50 houses, the residents agree to keep their houses at 70 degrees. For several nights, Dr. Ramos collects the sleep data for the people living in the houses to see how the residents’ sleep patterns have changed. Assuming that the study allows people to use as many or as few blankets as they like, number of blankets would be a(n) ____ variable in the experiment.

Dr. Ramos is interested in studying how indoor temperature influences sleep quality during the summer. A sample of 100 households is selected; their residents keep their homes at 76 degrees. Residents wear devices that measure their sleep cycles for several nights to establish baseline readings. Then, 50 homes are randomly assigned to a condition where residents maintain their indoor temperature at 82 degrees Fahrenheit, while the other 50 maintain theirs at 70 degrees. Dr. Ramos collects sleep data over several nights to see how sleep patterns change. Assuming that the study allows people to use as many or as few blankets as they want, the number of blankets would be a confounding variable in the experiment.

Explanation :This is because it can potentially influence the outcome of the experiment (quality of sleep) and is not the independent variable being manipulated by the researcher (indoor temperature).

Understanding variables is crucial for interpreting scientific studies. There are three main types of variables in an experiment:

1. Independent Variable: This is the variable that the experimenter changes or manipulates on purpose to observe its effect on the dependent variable. In Dr. Ramos's study, the independent variable is the temperature inside the houses (82 degrees or 70 degrees).

2. Dependent Variable: This is the variable that is being measured or observed in the experiment. It's what the experimenter thinks will be affected during the experiment. In this case, the dependent variable is the sleep quality of the residents.

3. Confounding Variable: This is a variable that is not the focus of the study but may influence the outcome of the experiment if not controlled. Confounding variables can provide an alternative explanation for the observed effect. For instance, the number of blankets people use might affect their warmth and comfort, irrespective of the room temperature, thereby affecting their sleep quality.

Researchers try to control for confounding variables to ensure that the results of the experiment are due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other outside factor. If Dr. Ramos does not account for the number of blankets used by the participants, the effect of room temperature on sleep quality may be confounded by how many blankets each person decides to use.