Yolanda is performing an experiment because she wants to find out if listening to music while falling asleep helps people sleep longer. She divides her participants into two different groups. One group listens to music of their choice for 30 minutes before falling asleep, while the other group is asked to fall asleep without listening to music. Yolanda then keeps track of how long each person is asleep, from when they fall asleep to when they wake up. In this experiment, what is the independent variable?

In the study described, the independent variable is listening to music while falling asleep.

Explanation:

A dependent variable is what is being measured by the study. In this case, it is how long people sleep. The independent variable is the factor controlled or changed with the purpose of affecting the dependent variable. In Yolanda's study, it is the act of listening to music while falling asleep. Yolanda wants to see if listening to music will affect how long people sleep. To find out if it does, she divides participants into two groups - one that will and one that will not listen to music for 30 minutes before falling asleep.