The independent variable

The independent variable is the one the researcher controls. For example, resilience would be the independent variable in the above scenario. Some study participants would receive coping strategies from the experimenters, while others would be instructed to do nothing.

The dependent variable is the variable that the experimenter measures. For example, the burnout rate would be the dependent variable. Unintended variables that affect the dependent variable are referred to as confounding variables. It might be challenging to separate the implications of the independent variable from those of the confounding variable or their combined effects.

For instance, COVID is a pervasive stressor that affects almost all aspects of our social, psychological, and physical well-being.  Nurses may become ill as a result of COVID, and due to staff shortages, nurses can become fatigued, increasing the risk of burnout. In addition, nurses have witnessed traumatic deaths at work, and the damage could be accumulating due to a lack of debriefing services, which eventually results in burnout. How would you control this particular confounding variable in this scenario?