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Lesson 3 Different Kinds of Variables and Their Uses

The document provides an overview of different types of variables used in research, including independent, dependent, and extraneous variables, as well as their classifications such as nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. It explains the importance of understanding these variables in the context of social research and experimental design. Additionally, it includes examples and exercises for identifying and classifying variables.

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He Shai Ne
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14 views14 pages

Lesson 3 Different Kinds of Variables and Their Uses

The document provides an overview of different types of variables used in research, including independent, dependent, and extraneous variables, as well as their classifications such as nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. It explains the importance of understanding these variables in the context of social research and experimental design. Additionally, it includes examples and exercises for identifying and classifying variables.

Uploaded by

He Shai Ne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Different Kinds

of Variables and
their Uses
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.
The most common variables in social
research are age, sex, gender, education,
income, marital status and occupation.
• An attribute, is a specific value on a variable. For
instance, the variable gender has two attributes:
male and female.
• Or the variable agreement might be defined as
having 5 attributes:
*Strongly Disagree
*Disagree
*Neutral
*Agree
*Strongly Disagree
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
people or organization being studied (Creswell, 2022).
A Variable is anything that has a quantity or quality
that varies.
For instance, during the quarantine period, your
mother planted tomato seedlings in pots. Now
common understanding from science tells you that
several factors are affecting the growth of tomatoes:
sunlight, water, kind of soil, and nutrients in soil.
How fast the tomato seedlings will grow and bear
fruits will depend on these factors.
The growth of tomatoes and the number of fruits
produced are examples of the Dependent
Variables. The amount of sunlight, water, and
nutrients in the soil are the Independent
Variables.
The independent variable is also identified
as the presumed cause while the dependent
variable is the presumed effect.
In an experimental quantitative design, the
independent variable is pre-defined and
manipulated by the researcher while the
dependent variable is observed and measured.
It is important to note other factors that may
influence the outcome (dependent variable)
not manipulated or pre-defined by the
researcher. These factors are called
Extraneous Variables.
Controlling the extraneous variable can be
done by holding it constant or distribute its
effect across the treatment. When the
researcher fails to control the extraneous
variable that it caused considerable effect
to the outcome, the extraneous variable
becomes a Confounding Variable.
The Nature of Variables and Data
Generally, variables are classified as one of four
types: (Allen, Titsworth, Hunt, 2009).
1. Nominal variables represent categories that
cannot be ordered in any particular way.
Ex. 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.
Ex. 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.
Ex. Temperature, a person’s net worth, year,
IQ 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. Ex. Age height,
weight and distance.
Most scores stemming from response to
survey items are ratio-level values because
they typically cannot go below zero.
Variables can also be classified according to their nature.
I. Quantitative (Numerical) – used in quantitative
research because they are numeric and can be
measured.
a. Discrete Variables – countable whole numbers. It
does not take negative values or values between
fixed points.
Ex. Number of students in a class, group size, and
frequency
b. Continuous variables take fractional (non-whole
number) values that can either be a positive or a
negative. Ex. Height, temperature.
Numerical data have two levels of
measurement:
A. Interval
B. Ratio
II. Qualitative (Categorical) – are not
expressed in numbers but are descriptions or
categories. It can further be divided into
dichotomous, nominal or ordinal.
A. Dichotomous – a response (yes or no)
B. Nominal – simply defines groups of
subjects
Ex. Blood type, hair color, mode of
transportation
C. Ordinal variable – ranked in a certain
order.
This can have qualitative or quantitative
attribute. Ex. Numerical rating as choices,
categorical rating, cancer stage, Spotify Top
20 hits, academic honors
Let’s Try This!
Identifying variables Directions: Identify the Independent,
Dependent and Extraneous variable/s in each of the following
situations.
1. Three groups of students were placed in a classroom with
controlled room temperatures of 18°C, 20°C, 25°C. The math
exam scores of the students were then taken and compared
to the other groups.
Independent variable: _______________________________________
Dependent variable: _________________________________________
Extraneous variable: _________________________________________
2. An online seller would like to know whether the indication
of price on Facebook posts will attract consumers more. He
posted 50 products for sale on Facebook market, 25 of which
he indicated the price while the remaining 25 products, did
not have prices. Buyers were just instructed to send him a
personal message (pm) if they want to know the price. He
then identified which products have greater sales.
Independent variable:
Directions: Identify the following variable as either
qualitative or quantitative. Then, classify which
specific category
Data
they belong.
Type of variable Classification (Discrete,
(Qualitative/Quanti continuous, interval,
tative) ratio, nominal,
dichotomous, ordinal)
Ex. Number of eggs Quantitative Discrete, interval
laid
by chickens
1. Amount of
fertilizer
given to plants
2. Weight of Pechay
harvested (in
grams)
3. Speed of car

4. Tomato plant
variety
5. Color of alcohol
packaging (blue,
orange, white, pink)
6. Educational level of
parents (high school grad,
college grad, MS, PhD)
7. Online seller satisfaction
rating
(1- 5 stars)
8. Cellphone brand
9. Number of Covid-19
positive
cases
10. Type of music
11. Number of passengers
in a PUJ
12. Socio-economic status
13. Gender
14. Temperature in
Fahrenheit

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