two independent variables?

[Vicky Palami]

hey again guys, I have one quick question that I hope someone can answer. 

Do you think it´d be fine if I used two independent variables for my Bio IA? I´m scared that my experiment would be considered too easy so I thought that maybe using two independent variables would make it better. The problem is, there won´t be a relation between the two independent variables so I´m not sure if I´m gonna be having troubles when writing my report. 

[bynary]

I would avoid having two independent vars since you are limited in terms of pages. If you were to try and explain the theory behind the effect of each var then you will quickly run out of space.
If you focus on one variable, you can really go in depth and get more points. Note: as long as the experiment is within or beyond the course, the complexity doesn't matter.

Hope that helps

[Vicky Palami]

Thanks for replying. 

My experiment would consist on measuring the sweating rate of people after performing two different exercises. My idea was to use the different sports as the independent variable, but the problem is that I would only use 2 sports because given that I need to use the same people for each exercise, then it would be hard to find people that could do 5 different sports.

My other independent variable was supposed to be the gender of each person, because I read that men tend to have a bigger sweating rate than women so I'd evaluate if that hypothesis is true. 

What do you recommend? or do you think that my experiment is too easy given that I'd have to focus on one independent variable and both of them only include 2 options...

[kw0573]

I am not quite sure if this is a good topic for Biology, but in such cases when the variables are more qualitative, multiple independent variables may be ok, especially if you use one as a backup. I do find that the experiment cannot control for a wide range of factors, including metabolism and fitness of the participants. Also just a side note, I would avoid evaluating an IA "by how easy it is to perform it", because the rigor, not difficulty, of the procedure is evaluated. If you are prepared enough, it should always be "easy" to follow your own procedure.