ShopEasy Inc.is a specialty e-tailer that operates 87 catalogue websites on the Internet.Larson Brown, Sales Director, feels that the style (colour scheme, graphics, fonts, etc.)of a website may affect its sales.He chooses three levels of design style (neon, old world and sophisticated)and randomly assigns six catalogue websites to each design style.In Larson's experiment "sales at a website" is ___.
A)a blocking variable
B)a concomitant variable
C)a treatment variable
D)the dependent variable
E)the independent variable

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Sales at a website is the dependent variable, as it is the variable that is being measured and is expected to change in response to the different levels of design style (the treatment variable). The design style itself is not dependent on sales and is therefore not the dependent variable. It is also not a blocking variable, as it is not being used to control for other variables in the experiment. It is not a concomitant variable, as it is not being measured as a potential covariate or predictor of sales. The independent variable in this experiment is the design style, as it is being manipulated by the researcher.