Main effect
When we want to see how something affects us, we do experiments to test it. Sometimes, we want to see if one thing causes an effect all by itself. This is called a main effect.
Let's say you love ice cream and want to know what flavors you like the most. You decide to do an experiment where you try two flavors of ice cream: chocolate and vanilla. First, you try chocolate, then you try vanilla. Afterwards, you tell your friend how much you liked each flavor. If you notice that you liked chocolate a lot more than vanilla, that means there is a main effect of chocolate flavor on your preferences.
Another example could be measuring how different amounts of fertilizer affect the growth of plants. You would have one group of plants with no fertilizer, one group with a little fertilizer, and one group with a lot of fertilizer. If you notice that the group with a lot of fertilizer has significantly bigger plants than the other groups, then there is a main effect of fertilizer on plant growth.
Overall, a main effect is when one thing by itself causes a noticeable change or difference.
Let's say you love ice cream and want to know what flavors you like the most. You decide to do an experiment where you try two flavors of ice cream: chocolate and vanilla. First, you try chocolate, then you try vanilla. Afterwards, you tell your friend how much you liked each flavor. If you notice that you liked chocolate a lot more than vanilla, that means there is a main effect of chocolate flavor on your preferences.
Another example could be measuring how different amounts of fertilizer affect the growth of plants. You would have one group of plants with no fertilizer, one group with a little fertilizer, and one group with a lot of fertilizer. If you notice that the group with a lot of fertilizer has significantly bigger plants than the other groups, then there is a main effect of fertilizer on plant growth.
Overall, a main effect is when one thing by itself causes a noticeable change or difference.