A researcher is doing a study on high school athletes and moral development. During the study, the football team throws a party to celebrate a great victory. The school principal receives a call the next day that several football players were intoxicated, and a female student was sexually assaulted. This event should be identified as a:

Confounding variable

Explanation:

A researcher is doing a study on high school athletes and moral development. During the study, the football team throws a party to celebrate a great victory. The school principal receives a call the next day that several football players were intoxicated, and a female student was sexually assaulted. This event should be identified as a confounding variable.

Confounding variable is any other variable which influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, an outside influence that changes the effect of the variable. Therefore, in the above-cited example research study conducted on high school athletes and moral development,