Question

A biology student wants to conduct a study of how the amount of food affects weight gain for mice. He sets up four cages with a mouse in each cage. What are the independent variable, dependent variable, and constants? For the independent variable, what would you put in the box below for each mouse?

Answer 1

The independent variable would be the variable in the research that is being manipulated by the researcher. In this case, it would be amount of food as it is what is being manipulated and changed in the research design. The dependent variable would be the variable that is being studied so, for this case, it would be the weight gain of the mice. The constants are the factors that might affect the dependent variable but is held constant or the same by the researcher throughout the experiment. These are the size of cage, amount of water, amount of sunlight, temperature and the exercise wheel.