My partner and I are conducting a study on the abiotic factors that affect the optimization of Nephila clavipes silk for the construction of nerve conduits. Our methods include housing three spiders in three separate terrariums, each with varying temperature and humidity. They will be fed with varying amount of adult crickets. We would like to see under which conditions will it produce the best quality of silk for nerve conduits. The quality will be based on the tensile strength and elasticity of the silk.
What statistical analysis can be used to determine the significance of our results? Thank you very much.
There is a whole range of statistical analyses that you can use to do this.
First of all, you can calculate correlation coefficients between the mechanical properties and the environmental variables. This will give you an idea about the relationship between two variables (bivariate correlation). Depending on the data, you can calculate a pearson or a spearman rank correlation coefficient.
The next step would be to perform a regression analyses. Here, you will analyse the relationship between one response/dependent variable and two or more independent variables. The mechanical properties would be the response variable and the environmental variables the independent variables. Depending on the data, you can perform an ordinary least squares regression or maybe a generalized linear model. There are of course many other possibilities.
A third option is to perform partial least squares regression, as you have two response variables (tensile strength and elasticity). In PLS, you will look for a relationship between one response matrix and one dependent variables matrix.
Be aware: these will give you only insight in the correlation. That is (not always) the same as causation.
Thank you very much, Mr. Van Meerbeek! I will look into these options.
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