In 2010, there was an interesting lawsuit about bagels.A company claimed to have created a new way to recreate "Brooklyn style" bagels and then reported that another bagel producer stole its recipe.A researcher wonders if bagel sales might have been affected simply by the story making the national news, so she tracks total bagel sales in dollars for one year before and after the news story hits.What is the independent variable in this study?
A) the types of bagels sold
B) total sales
C) the news story
D) the lawsuit

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The independent variable in this study is the news story about the lawsuit involving the alleged theft of a bagel recipe. The researcher is interested in seeing whether the news story had an effect on total bagel sales, which is the dependent variable. The types of bagels sold and the lawsuit itself are not the focus of the study and therefore not the independent variable.

In 2010, There Was an Interesting Lawsuit About Bagels