Question

Suppose that a researcher is interested in knowing whether there is a difference in the age at first marriage between women and men. The researcher hypothesizes that women tend to marry earlier than men. Which variable would be the independent variable?

Answer 1

In this scenario, the independent variable would be the gender of the individuals being studied. The researcher is interested in comparing the age at first marriage between women and men. She hypothesizes that women tend to marry earlier than men. Gender is the independent variable because it is the characteristic being manipulated or selected to observe its effect on the dependent variable. This in this case is age at first marriage.