Ricardo Develops a Research Study to Help Answer His Research

Multiple Choice

Ricardo develops a research study to help answer his research question: Do individuals in the northeast part of the United States have a different dialect than individuals in the southern part of the United States? He randomly assigns participants into groups from Louisiana and Mississippi as well as from Maine and New Hampshire. He is interested in studying their dialects. Half of the participants are randomly assigned to the personal interview condition and the other half is randomly assigned to the pre-recorded message condition. Participants in the pre-recorded message condition read and record a preselected passage three times. Ricardo then codes their dialects based on a coding system and has two other researchers code the dialects as well. Based on this information which of the following would be considered the independent variable (IV) ?

A) geographic origin
B) gender of participants
C) interview condition
D) coding of responses