Fidan is studying a model of obesity. For her experiment, Fidan uses three groups of 31 rats each that are given either (1) 24-hour access to high calorie treat food in addition to their normal chow, (2) restricted 8-hour access to high calorie treat food and 24-hour access to their normal chow, or (3) 24-hour access to only their normal chow. Every day, Fidan weighs the animals and carefully takes note of the amount and type of food each animal has consumed. At the end of the experiment, Fidan performs surgery on all the animals and notices that the animals that put on the most weight showed noticeable differences in their hypothalamus compared to the rest of the rats.
-What was the dependent variable in Fidan's experiment

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The dependent variable in this experiment is the weight of the rats at the end of the experiment because it is the variable that is being measured and is expected to be affected by the independent variable (access to high-calorie treat food) and potentially other variables such as the type of food consumed and group membership.

Fidan Is Studying a Model of Obesity