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I have the following variables:

  • Psychological trait data collected at pre- and post-intervention
  • Fitness data (e.g., weight in kg), collected at pre- and post-intervention

I am interested in seeing whether psychological trait at baseline (pre-intervention) explains change (e.g., weight loss) in the fitness from pre- to post-.

Is ANCOVA okay for this? The way I have it set up is:

  • Dependent: Fitness post- (continuous)
  • Independent: psychological trait pre- (continuous)
  • Covariate: Fitness pre- (continuous)

My concern is that my independent variable (psychological trait pre-) is continuous, not categorical. Is it okay to proceed with this ANCOVA, or do I need to go with a different analysis method (that allows for testing a continuous independent variable's effect on change observed between two time points in the dependent variable)?

UPDATE: Actually, I'm wondering if it's just better to go with a linear regression model and add baseline (pre-intervention) as a covariate.

09fruits
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1 Answers1

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ANCOVA is a term generally used when you have a categorical factor and a continuous covariate (see e.g. Sokal R.R., & Rohlf J.F. 1995. Biometry. Macmillan). If you have two continuous covariates then the "ANCOVA" is generally called a multiple regression model or linear model but it is mostly a different name (software should give you the same result).

Emili
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