define independent variable, dependent variable and control variable
Independent and dependent variables are related to one another. The Independent part is what you, the experimenter, changes or enacts in order to do your experiment. The dependent variable is what changes when the independent variable changes - the dependent variable depends on the outcome of the independent variable.
1 Independent Variables are changes that occur in an experiment that are directly caused by the experimenter (you.) 2  Dependent Variables are changes that occur due to independent variables.  A Controlled Variable is anything else that could influence the dependent variables.