Variables: Prepared By: Belly Jane P. Larracas

VARIABLES
PREPARED BY:
BELLY JANE P. LARRACAS
CHAPTER 1: NATURE OF INQUIRY AND
RESEARCH
D. THE NATURE OF VARIABLES
I. Variables
A. Quantitative Variable
B. Qualitative Variable
II. Types Of Variables

A. Continuous Variable ( Interval Variable and Ratio Variable)
B. Discrete Variable (Nominal Variable and Ordinal Variable)
C. Independent Variable
D. Dependent Variable
E. Intervening Variable
F. Moderator Variable
G. Controlled Variable
VARIABLES
• Is a central concept in research.

• Anything that has quantity or quality that may vary from one group
to another group, one person to another or even with the same
person.
Example:
 Sex is a variable, it may be male or female but it won’t be applicable as a variable if

the setting of the research is an exclusive school for the girls.
 Educational attainment of parents is another variable, it may be from did not attend to
school to post-doctorate degree.
Difference between Quantitative and Qualitative Variable:
QUANTITATIVE VARIABLE QUALITATIVE VARIABLE
 Variables that are measured on a • Also called a Categorical Variable,

numeric or quantitative scale. are variables that are not numerical. It
describes data that fits into categories.
EXAMPLE:
EXAMPLE:
 country’s population • Eye colors (variables include: blue,
green, brown, hazel).
 a person’s shoe size
• States (variables include: Florida, New
 a car’s speed Jersey, Washington).
Ordinal, Interval, Ratio, and Nominal • Dog breeds (variables include: Alaskan
Malamute, German Shepherd, Siberian
are the scale of quantitative measure. Husky, Shih tzu).
TYPES OF VARIABLES
1
CONTINUOUS VARIABLE
 A variable that can take infinite number on the value that can occur
within a population and which can be divided into fractions.
Example:
 height and weight of students in class
 time it takes to get to school
 distance traveled between classes
Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

 INTERVAL VARIABLE
 RATIO VARIABLE
CONTINUOUS VARIABLES
RATIO VARIABLES
INTERVAL VARIABLES • Possesses the properties of interval variable and
has a clear definition of zero, indication that there
is none of the variable.
• Is a measurement where the
difference between two values does Example:
have meaning. Ratio Variable: Temperature measured in Kelvin
Example: Explanation: 0 Kelvin, often called absolute
 The difference between a zero, indicates that there is no
temperature of 60° and 50° is the temperature whatsoever.
same difference between 30° and A temperature of 10 Kelvin is four
20°. times the temperature of 2.5 Kelvin
TYPES OF VARIABLES
2
DISCRETE VARIABLES
• Also known as CATEGORICAL or CLASSIFICATORY VARIABLE

• Is any variable that has a limited number of district values and which cannot be
divided into fractions.
Example: sex, blood group, and number of children in the family.
Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

 NOMINAL VARIABLE
 ORDINAL VARIABLE
DISCRETE VARIABLES
NOMINAL VARIABLE ORDINAL VARIABLES
• Variables whose data are non- • Similar to categorical, but there is a clear
numeric labels that do not reflect ordering of the variables.
quantitative information. • Has two or more categories which can be
• Has two or more categories but does ranked.
not imply ordering of cases.
Example:
• A sub-type of nominal scale with only
two categories is called Dichotomous.  Educational level might be categorized as:
1: Elementary school education
Example: 2: High school graduate
 Gender 3: Some college
 Blood type 4: College graduate
5: Graduate degree
 Eye color
RATIO VARIABLE
Quantitative Variable
INTERVAL VARIABLE
ORDINAL VARIABLE
Qualitative Variable
NOMINAL VARIABLE
OTHER TYPES OF VARIABLES
1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
4 MODERATOR VARIABLE
2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE
5 CONTROLLED VARIABLE
3 INTERVENING VARIABLE
1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
• The cause variation or the one responsible for the conditions that act on
something else to bring out changes.
2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE
• Show the effect of manipulating or introducing the independent variables.

EXAMPLE:
“How stress affects mental state of human

beings?”
Independent Variable Stress
Dependent Variable Mental
state of
human beings
You can directly manipulate stress levels in your human subjects

and measure how those stress levels change mental state.
EXAMPLE:
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Test Score
The length of time spent
sleeping
3 INTERVENING VARIABLE
• A variable that helps explain the relationship between variables such

independent and dependent variables.
4 MODERATOR VARIABLE
• Affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

by modifying the effect of the intervening variable(s).
• Measured and taken into consideration.
EXAMPLE:
EXAMPLE:
5 CONTROLLED VARIABLE
• A variable that must be kept

constant for a fair test in order to
assess or clarify the relationship
between two other variables.
EXAMPLE:
SUMMARY
• Variables is anything that has quantity or quality that may vary from one group to
another group, one person to another or even with the same person.
• Quantitative variable is a variables that are measured on a numeric or quantitative
scale while Qualitative variable are variables that are not numerical, describes data
that fits into categories.
• Continuous variable is a variable that can take infinite number on the value that can
occur within a population and which can be divided into fractions.
• Interval variables is a measurement where the difference between two values does
have meaning while Ratio variables is a interval variable that possesses the properties of
interval variable and has a clear definition of zero
• Discrete variable is any variable that has a limited number of district values and which
cannot be divided into fractions.
SUMMARY
• Nominal variable is a variable whose data are non-numeric labels that do not
reflect quantitative information while ordinal variable has a clear ordering of the
variables and it has two or more categories which can be ranked.
• Independent variable is the cause variation or the one responsible for the
conditions that act on something else to bring out changes.
• Dependent variable shows the effect of manipulating or introducing the
independent variables.
• Intervening variable is a variable that helps explain the relationship between
variables.
• Moderator variable affects the relationship between the variables by modifying
the effect of the intervening variable(s).
• Discrete variable is any variable that has a limited number of district values and
which cannot be divided into fractions.

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VARIABLES

II. Types Of Variables

• Is a central concept in research.

 Sex is a variable, it may be male or female but it won’t be applicable as a variable if

QUANTITATIVE VARIABLE QUALITATIVE VARIABLE

 Variables that are measured on a • Also called a Categorical Variable,

Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

• Also known as CATEGORICAL or CLASSIFICATORY VARIABLE

Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

NOMINAL VARIABLE ORDINAL VARIABLES

• Show the effect of manipulating or introducing the independent variables.

“How stress affects mental state of human

You can directly manipulate stress levels in your human subjects

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

• A variable that helps explain the relationship between variables such

• Affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

• A variable that must be kept

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