LESSON 3: NATURE OF VARIABLES

Intended Learning Outcomes

This learning activity challenges you to:

1. define variables;
2. differentiate types of variables; and
3. identify dependent and independent variables.
Research cannot be possible without taking into consideration measurable factors that are subject to
change due to circumstances. Anything that can vary in research due to circumstances is called a
variable. A variable is an object, event, idea, feeling, time period, or any other type of category you
are trying to measure.

There are so many variables in research that it could be impossible or extremely difficult to account for
all of them due to the fact that what can be considered a variable in one study may not necessarily be
a variable in another study.

TYPES OF VARIABLES

A. Based on Cause-and-Effect

A variable is either a result of some force or is itself the force that causes a change in another variable.
In experiments, these are called independent variable(IV),dependent variable (DV) and extraneous
variable (EV).

1. The “cause” or the factor that is being tested or manipulated (can be controlled) is the
independent variable.
2. The dependent variable is the effect or observed reaction upon the application of the
independent variable. These are factors which are there inherently and are not changed or
manipulated.
3. The other variable is the extraneous variables. In a study, all other variables other than the
independent variable and the dependent variable that are kept constant in an experiment is
called extraneous variable.

Examples:

1. A researcher is doing an investigation on the effectivity of a new found drug.

 When a researcher gives an active drug to one group of people and a placebo, or inactive
variable is the drug treatment.
 Each person's response to the active drug or placebo is called the dependent variable.
 The extraneous variables can be the age of the patient, the dosage of medicine given or the
time of administration of the drugs.
2. Another example of the use of this cause-and-effect variable is the study conducted by a group
of high school students. Their problem is: the effect of classical and rock music on the growth of
45-day old chicken.
 In this study, the type of music which is classical and rock is the independent variable.
 The growth in terms of the mass of chicken is the dependent variable.
 To make sure that the experiment will be successful, the following extraneous variables are
controlled: age and mass of chicken at the start of the experiment; number of chicken per
cage/per treatment; environmental conditions; amount of feeds given; frequency of feeding
and others.

B. Based on the Value taken by the Variable

We have mentioned in the earlier part that quantitative research is essentially about collecting
numerical data to explain a particular phenomenon. These numerical data can take different values.
1. It can be a continuous variable.

A continuous variable can take on any value in a certain range. These are measurements with
fractional values. Time, distance, mass, age, temperature and pH are some of the examples of
continuous variables.

Let us take for example mass of chicken. A chicken can measure one kilogram (1kg) or one and one-
half kilogram (1.5Kg).

The age of a person is also a continuous variable. A boy can be ten and a half-year old, meaning to say
he is ten years and six months old. But it does not mean to say that when the measurement is whole
number, it is not continuous. It depends upon the parameters being measured.

2. The other type of variable based on value taken is discrete or discontinuous variable.

This variables assure exact values. No fractional unit. Discrete variables can be counted. Example
are: number of siblings, population of students, number of chicken, fingers and numbers of light posts.

C. Based on Scales of Measurements

Before you can conduct a statistical analysis, you need to measure your dependent variable. Exactly
how the measurement is carried out depends on the type of variable involved in the analysis.

Different types are measured differently. Although procedures for

measurement differ in many ways, they can be classified using a few fundamental categories. The
categories are called "scale types," or just "scales," and are described in this section.

 Nominal

Nominal value distinguishes a variable from all others by assigning a name or description. The name
serves to identify the class or group and give qualitative distinction among groups.

Gender, blood type, favorite color, and religion are examples of variables measured on a nominal
scale. The essential point about nominal scales is that they do not imply any ordering among the
responses.

For example, when classifying people according to blood type, there is no ordering of blood type. It
does not matter which type of blood comes first whether it is O, A, AB or B. Responses are merely
categorized.

Numerical value assigned to represent various classes in a nominal scale have no quantitative
property.

 Ordinal

Ordinal or ranking refers to order sequences. It is useful in measuring behavior such as degree of
activity, motivation, amount of inhibition, damage and healthiness. It is used when quantitative
measurements are not possible or practical.

For example, when you rank basketball players according to their worthiness in the team or when you
rank food based on palatability. A researcher wishing to measure consumers' satisfaction with their
internet provider might ask them to specify their feelings as either "very dissatisfied, ” “ somewhat
dissatisfied," "somewhat satisfied," or “ very satisfied”.

The items in this scale are ordered, ranging from least to most satisfy. This is what distinguishes
ordinal from nominal scales. Unlike nominal scales, ordinal scales allow comparisons of the degree to
which two subjects possess the dependent variable.
You can also assign a scale of 1-5 to describe degree of infections incurred by a person expose to
different health hazard. One (1) may mean no infection and 5 serious infections, where the numbers 1-
5 used are without quantitative basis and merely indicates the position and 'how much' of a difference
exist between positions on a scale.

On the other hand, ordinal scales fail to capture important information that will be present in the other
scales we examine. In particular, the difference between two levels of an ordinal scale cannot be
assumed to be the same as the difference between two other levels. In our satisfaction scale, for
example, the difference between the responses "very dissatisfied" and “somewhat dissatisfied” is
probably not equivalent to the difference between “ somewhat dissatisfied" and "somewhat satisfied.
"Nothing in our measurement procedure allows us to determine whether the two differences reflect the
same difference.

 Interval

Interval scales are numerical scales in which intervals have the same interpretation throughout.
Though the difference between measurements, it employs an arbitrary zero point which does not
represents complete absence of the attribute.

Let us take for example a measurement of temperature. The difference between 30 degrees Celsius
and 40 degrees Celsius represents the same temperature difference as the difference between 80
degrees Celsius and 90 degrees Celsius. This is because each 10-degree interval has the same physical
meaning (in terms of the kinetic energy of molecules). But when you measure zero () degree Celsius, it
does not mean that there is an absence of kinetic energy there.

In reality, the label “ zero” is applied to its temperature for quite accidental reasons connected to the
history of temperature measurement.

Other examples like intelligence quotient (IQ)shows that there is no such thing as zero intelligence. The
same way, when you measure time, it is not possible to have zero time. Also in using compass for
direction, the compass is always pointed to the North. But that North is not the true north. It is only
used to give direction. Remember the Earth round.

 Ratio

The ratio scale of measurement is the most informative scale. It is an interval scale with the additional
property that its zero position indicates the absence of the quantity being measured. There is a true
zero point (represents complete absence of attribute). It employs same as interval in the sense that
equal differences between the numbers assigned to successive classes equal differences in the
amount of property/ attribute measured. Temperature measured using the Kelvin scale zero is absolute
zero. This makes the Kelvin scale a ratio scale.

For example, if one temperature is twice as high as another as measured on the Kelvin scale, then it
has twice the kinetic energy of the other temperature.

Other examples of ratio value are measurement of height. When a researcher measures the
germination of a seed, the day that nothing had germinated, the height is zero, meaning the seed has
not germinated. When you measure the volume of milk, an empty carton of milk yield zero volume
while a full one box of milk can be one liter.