LESSON 2

Kinds of Variables and

their Uses
 INTRODUCTION
 The root word of the word variable is "vary" or
simply "can change".
 Variables are among the fundamental concepts of
research, alongside with measurement, validity,
reliability, cause and effect and theory.
 Bernard (1994) defines a variable as “something
that can take more than one value, and values can
be words or numbers”.
 Variables are “changing qualities or characteristics”
of persons or things like age, gender, intelligence,
confidence, etc.
 INTRODUCTION
 All social research is based on defining variables,
looking for associations among them, and trying
to understand whether one variable causes
another.
 Still other experts define a variable as any entity
that can take on different values. Simply stated,
anything that can vary can be considered a
variable. An attribute, on the other hand, is a
specific value on a variable. For instance, the
variable gender has two attributes: male and
female.
 VARIABLES
 Variables are units of analysis, some of which
include gender, age, socio-economic status,
attitudes or behaviors such as bullying, racial
discrimination, among others.
 A variable specifically refers to a characteristic, or
attribute of an individual or an organization that
can be measured or observed and that varies
among the people or organization being studied
(Creswell, 2002).
 The Nature of Variables and Data
Quantitative researchers try to count human behaviors,
they attempt to count multiple variables at the same time

Classification of variables(Allen, Titsworth, Hunt, 2009).

1. Nominal variables represent categories that cannot be
ordered in any particular way. Examples are biological
sex (e.g. males vs. females), political affiliation,
basketball fan affiliation, etc.
2. Ordinal variables represent categories that can be
ordered from greatest to smallest. Examples of ordinal
variables include education level (e.g. freshman,
sophomore, Grade XI, Grade XII), income brackets, etc.
3. Interval variables have values that lie along an
evenly dispersed range of numbers. Examples of
interval data include temperature, a person's net
worth (how much money you have when you
subtract your debt from your assets) etc.
4. Ratio variables have values that lie along an evenly
dispersed range of numbers when there is an
absolute zero, as opposed to net worth, which can
have a negative debt-to-income ratio-level variable.
That is, you cannot have income or some positive
amount of income. Most scores stemming from
response to survey items are ratio-level values
because they typically cannot go below zero.
summary of data types and scale measures
 Kinds of Variables
1. Independent variables - those that probably
cause, influence, or affect outcomes. They are
invariably called treatment, manipulated,
antecedent or predictor variables.
2. Dependent variables - those that depend on the
independent variables; they are the outcomes or
results of the influence of the independent
variable.
3. Intervening or mediating variables- "stand
between" the independent and dependent
variables, and they show the effects of the
independent variable on the dependent variable
 Intervening variables are hypothetical internal
states that are used to explain relationships
between observed variables, such independent
and dependent variables.
 Intervening variables are not real things. They are
interpretations of observed facts, not facts
themselves. But they create the illusion of being
facts.
 learning, memory, motivation, attitude,
personality, traits, knowledge, understanding,
thinking, expectation, intelligence, intention.
 Kinds of Variables

4. Control variables - special types of independent

variables that are measured in a study because
they potentially influence the dependent
variable. Researchers use statistical procedures
(e.g. analysis of covariance) to control these
variables. They may be demographic or personal
variables that need to be "controlled" so that the
true influence of the independent variable on the
dependent can be determined.
 Kinds of Variables
5. Confounding variables - those that are not
actually measured or observed in a study. They
exist but their influence cannot be directly
detected in a study. Researchers comment on
the influence of confounding variables after the
study has been completed, because these
variables may have operated to explain the
relationship- between the independent variable
and dependent variable, but they were not or
could not be easily assessed.
 Patrick Regoniel (2012) advances these
examples of variables:

Phenomenon A: Climate Change

Examples of variables related to climate change:
 sea level
 temperature
 the amount of carbon emission
 the amount of rainfall
 Phenomenon B: Crime and violence on
streets
Examples of variables related to crime and
violence in streets
 number of robberies
 number of attempted murders
 number of prisoners
 number of crime victims
 number of law enforcers
 number of convictions
 number of carnapping incidents
 Phenomenon C: Poor performance of students in
college entrance exams
Examples of variables related to poor academic
performance:
 Entrance exam score
 Number of hours devoted to studying
 Student-teacher ratio
 Number of students in the class
 Educational attainment
 Teaching style
 The distance of school from home
 Number of hours devoted by parents in providing
tutorial support
 Independent and Dependent Variables

 Independent variables stand alone and they are

not changed by the other variables you are trying
to measure.
 Examples of independent variables are age,
gender, what people eat, how much time they
spend using gadgets, how much television they
watch or how much time youngsters spend on
computer games.
 Dependent variables are what researchers are
interested in. They depend on other factors.
 Independent and Dependent Variables

Example:
A test score could be a dependent variable,
because it could change depending on several
factors such as how much you studied, how
much sleep you got the night before you took
the test, or even how hungry you were when
you took it. In sum, the changes in the
dependent variables are what the researcher is
trying to measure with varied scientific
techniques.
 In the second phenomenon, crime and violence
on streets, the independent variable may be the
number of law enforcers and dependent variable
is the number of robberies. Now, figure out the
independent and dependent variables in
Phenomenon C.
 If you are studying the impact of a new
enrollment procedure on the school personnel
and the students, the new enrollment procedure
is the independent variable and the impact of
the new enrollment procedure is the dependent
variable.
 The following is one of the best ways to
distinguish an independent variable from a
dependent variable.

 (Independent variable) causes a change in

(dependent variable) and it isn't possible that
(dependent variable) could cause a change in
(independent variable).
 You can read the above thus: (Time Spent
Studying) causes a change but it is not possible
that (Test score) could cause a change in (Time
Spent Studying).
 Traits of Variables

 Exhaustive- this should include all possible

answerable responses.
 Mutually exclusive- no respondent should be
able to have two attributes simultaneously.