Mr. Bossman, a supervisor at a manufacturing company, recently attended a professional conference and heard of a special energy drink that is reported to increase the productivity of factory workers. Mr. Bossman wanted to know if the claim was valid. He created two groups of 100 workers each and gave them the task of putting together a small control device his company manufactures. The workers were already familiar with the task, so it was not necessary to teach the task before beginning. Group #1 was given the energy drink before the task and Group #2 was not given the drink. Mr. Bossman then had his trusted assistant, Jane, count how many correctly assembled devices each group produced in the allotted time. Group #1 assembled 182 devices and Group #2 assembled 271 devices. a. Identify the following:
Independent variable: Dependent variable:

Name at least two standardized (constant) variables:

b. Which group would be the control group? Why is it necessary to have a control group?

c. What conclusion could Mr. Bossman reach based on the results of this experiment?

d. Give at least two ways this experiment could be improved.