Most babies admitted to the NICU are premature (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy), have low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds), or have a medical condition that requires special care.
Independent variable. An independent variable is used in statistics to predict or explain a dependent variable. For example, Age and Gender might be used as independent variables to predict the age of death or life expectancy (dependent variables). In experimental designs, the independent variables are manipulated by the researcher (e.g., different dosages of a drug).
The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured in an experiment. For example, in a study looking at how tutoring impacts test scores, the dependent variable would be the participants' test scores. In a psychology experiment, researchers are looking at how changes in the independent variable cause changes in the dependent variable. One way to help identify the dependent variable is to remember that it depends on the independent variable.