The anticoagulant warfarin is often used as a pesticide against house mice, Mus musculus. Some populations of the house mouse have acquired a mutation in the vkorc1 gene from hybridizing with the Algerian mouse, M. spretus (Song et al. 2011). In the Algerian mice, this gene confers resistance to warfarin. In a hypothetical follow-up study, researchers collected a sample of house mice to determine whether presence of the vkorc1 mutation is associated with warfarin resistance in house mice as well. They fed warfarin to all the mice in a sample and compared survival between the individuals possessing the mutation. a. Identifiy the two variables measured in the study and indicate which is the explanatory and which is the response variable.
i. Explanatory:
ii. Response:
b. Identify the scales on which each of the two variables is quantified (nominal, ordinal, inteval, ratio).
c. What do you think was the intended target population for the study? Why?
d. Do you consider the follow up study to be a manipulative experiment or an observational experiment? Explain.
e. Do you think the researchers used a random sample? Explain.