Question

Following implementation of a new city law, a restaurant chain began displaying the nutrition labels for their menu items. the restaurant owner recorded sales of the 15 highest-calorie menu items on three occasions—once the month before the change in menu display, once the week of the change in menu display, and once the month after the change in menu display. the owner observed that the sale of the high-calorie menu items dropped, while overall sales remained steady. what is the independent variable in this study?

Answer 1

The independent variable here is the menu display. An independent variable is a variable that impacts on another variable, aka the dependent variable. In experiments, the independent variable is usually controlled or changed in order to see the effect(s) on the dependent variable. In this example, the menu display is controlled by being on show at three separate circumstances.