Extraneous variable

Extraneous Variables are variables other than the independent variable which may bear ne effect on the behavior of the person being studied. Extraneous variables are often classified into three main types: Subject variables, which are the characteristics of the individuals being studied that might affect their actions. These variables include age, gender, health status, mood, background, etc. Experimental variables, in turn, are characteristics of the persons conducting the experiment which might influence how a person behaves. Gender, the presence of racial discrimination, language, or other factors may qualify as such variables. The last and the third type, the Situational variables, are features of the environment in which the study or research was conducted, which have a bearing on the outcome of the experiment. Included are the air temperature, amoutn of activity, lighting, and the time of day. There are two startegies of controlling extranoeus variables. Either a potentially influential variable is kept the same for all subjects in the research, or they balance the variables in a group.