Question

I'm struggling with my research variables.

My research topic is the US-China trade conflict.

I want to prove that the US-China trade conflict has helped the US economy.

if so, what would be my dependent variable, and what would be my independent variables?

(I have data such as trade balance, income, unemployment rate, interest rate, economic growth rate, and foreign trade growth rate.)

Answer 1

In this scenario you can take the economic growth rate as the dependent variable and others as independent variables. This is because the economic growth rate is influenced by all other variables. Since you want to prove that the conflict has helped the U. S economy it can be better analysed by taking the economic growth as the dependent variable. The economic growth rate depicts the situation of an economy, whether there is an increasing economic activity or whether the economy is on a downswing.