Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am in 9th Grade, someone please help me . I have looked everywhere but I couldn't find an answers. My topic is I am counting stars with a software I created. And i need the control, in this experiment. What is my data, I need to have data in a table and make it into a bar graph because I am comparing two things. I am comparing for which is better, a human counting stars or a computer counting stars. My dependent variable is the number of stars that are found. But what is my independent variable and the data for this experiment?

I think this project is catagorized as an engineering experiment. Please help me! This project deadline is coming up.

Hi Sai08,

I'm sorry that it has taken so long for someone to reply to you! The independent variable is the thing you change; the dependent variable is the thing that responds to changes in the independent variable. You are right that your dependent variable is the number of stars counted. You are comparing a human counter vs. a computer counter, so your independent variable is how the stars are counted--human or computer. The data are information you gather to answer your question. Since you are comparing whether a human or computer counts stars "better" (how are you defining better?), then the data you collect will be the number of stars counted by each method.