Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello!
I have a science fair related question.
My science fair topic is about whether one can determine if a smile is genuine or fake.
I got this topic off of your website.
Question: what would be the independant and dependant variables?
Please get back to me asap.
Thanks!

Hi,


This is an interesting human behavior project, and I think this is the project you are referring to.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p043.shtml


This project involves a survey taken by a number of participants. The project guide suggests using 40 test subjects and asking them individually to classify the smile as genuine (Duchenne) or not (non-Duchenne). Your independent variable here is the photographs of the smiles; you could use the example given in the project or develop your own photographs. Your dependent variable is the response from your participants. Depending on your participants, you design your study to find out if gender, age, or other parameter affects the ability to recognize a smile.

Since you are planning to involve humans in your project, you need to check with your local science fair scientific review committee and get permission to do your project, and you will need signed consent forms from all of your participants. Here is the information from the Science Buddies website on this topic:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... _src.shtml


Good luck! Do let us know if you have any other questions.


Donna Hardy