Question

experiment: prince burgers and fries
prince burgers and fries restaurant has created a new sauce that allegedly will reduce the production of body gas associated with eating its gourmet burgers. the manager at the restaurant, sheila e., recruits 100 customers with a history of gas problems.
she has 50 of them (group a) eat gourmet burgers with the new sauce. the other 50 (group b) eat gourmet burgers with sauce that looks just like new sauce but is really just a mixture of mayonnaise and food coloring.
both groups were told that they were getting the sauce that would reduce gas production. two hours after eating the gourmet burgers, 30 customers in group a reported having fewer gas problems and 8 customers in group b reported having fewer gas problems.

a. which people are in the control group?
b. what is the independent variable?
c. what is the dependent variable?

Explanation:

Sub - Question A

In an experiment, the control group is the group that does not receive the experimental treatment (the new sauce in this case). Group B ate burgers with a fake sauce (not the new experimental sauce), so they are the control group.

The independent variable is the factor that is manipulated or changed in an experiment. Here, the type of sauce (new sauce vs. fake sauce) is what is being changed between the two groups.

The dependent variable is the factor that is measured or observed to see the effect of the independent variable. In this experiment, we are measuring the number of customers with fewer gas problems, which depends on the type of sauce they ate.

Answer:

Group B (the 50 customers who ate gourmet burgers with the mixture of mayonnaise and food coloring that looked like the new sauce)

Sub - Question B