Question

You assign 20 male and 20 female mice to run in a running wheel (10 mice per sex) or remain sedentary ( 10 mice per sex). Within each of these groups, you split them further in half and assign each to a dietary supplement or placebo, thus giving you the following groups: (1) male/exercise/supplement, (2) male/exercise/placebo, (3) male/sedentary/supplement, (4) male/sedentary/placebo, (5)-(8) the female equivalent groups. You follow these mice over the course and record the following information: weight change (difference from pre-intervention to post-intervention) and food intake (average in grams/week). You also perform a preference test for sugar water at the end of the study, and record the number of times each mouse chooses to consume sugar water (vs. regular water) when given the choice. The sugar water choice test is presented 5 times to each mouse. "Weight change" is an example of a continuous dependent variable continuous independent variable categorical dependent variable categorical independent variable

Answer 1

Weight change' is a continuous dependent variable in an experimental study involving mice, as it represents an outcome that can take on any value within a certain range and is affected by manipulated independent variables.

Step-by-step explanation:

The term 'weight change' in the context of a scientific study involving mice is an example of a continuous dependent variable.

In this experimental setup, the independent variables are those being manipulated by the researcher, such as exercise and dietary supplement, while the dependent variables are the outcomes that are being measured, which in this case includes weight change and food intake.

A continuous variable is one that can take on any value within a certain range, which applies to weight change, as mice could gain or lose any amount of weight within the scope of the study.

In contrast, a categorical variable would refer to a variable that can be categorized into a limited number of groups or categories, such as the types of groups the mice are assigned to (e.g., exercise/supplement, exercise/placebo, etc.).