Eli5 is the independent variable independent because it cannot change?
In: Biology
I’ve never liked these terms much. When I teach/write stats, I prefer to use the terms **response variable** and **explanatory variable** instead of “dependent” and “independent” respectively. Besides avoiding confusion because they don’t sound almost exactly the same, I think they get to the point better.
Let’s say you’re studying variation human height. You’re testing one or several explanatory variables (sex; diet; age) to see if they can help *explain* why some people are short and some people are tall. Height is your response variable, because it’s the effect to which you’re trying to find causes. If your results for sex are significant, this indicates that a person’s height varies *in response to* their sex.
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