Question

dr. julia m. general 312,000.00
dr. angela b. general 483,100.00
dr. sami d. emergency 387,211.00
dr. james n. emergency 382,001.00
dr. aali t. emergency 604,700.00
dr. jane o. emergency 401,000.00
above data were gathered and the interest is to compare the salary difference between male and female physicians.
for this purpose, salary serves as the response variable, while gender serves as the exposure variable. it is quite likely that speciality is a possible confounding variable.

Explanation:

To determine the variable types:

• Response variable: The outcome we measure, here salary (we want to see how it differs by gender).
• Exposure variable: The factor we think influences the response, here gender (we study its effect on salary).
• Confounding variable: A variable that affects both exposure and response, here speciality (different specialities have different salaries and may differ by gender, so it could confound the gender - salary relationship).

Answer:

• Salary serves as the response variable.
• Gender serves as the exposure variable.
• Speciality is a possible confounding variable.