Practical Research Variables
Practical Research Variables
Department of Education
Region IX – Zamboanga Peninsula
Schools Division of Isabela City
Basilan National High School
Subject : Practical Research II
Week : 3
Topics : Variables
VARIABLES
The root word of the term “variable” is “vary”, or simply “can change”
It is among the fundamental concepts of research alongside with measurement, validity,
reliability, cause and effect and theory. (Prieto et. al, 2016)
It is something that can take more than one value, and values can be words or numbers.
(Bernard, 1994)
It 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)
Nature of Variables and Data
Variables are classified as one of the four types (Allen, et. al, 2009)
NOMINAL DATA. This represents categories that cannot be ordered in any particular way.
Example: sex (male and female), political affiliation, religion
ORDINAL DATA. This represents categories that can be ordered from greatest to smallest
Example: education level (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior), income brackets
INTERVAL DATA. These have values that lie along an evenly dispersed range of numbers.
Example: temperature, a person’s net worth (how much money you have when you subtract
your debt from your assets)
RATIO DATA. These have values that lie along an evenly dispersed range of numbers when
there is an absolute zero, as opposed to net worth, which have a negative debt – to – income
ratio – level variable. That is, you cannot have income or some positive amount of income.
Example: scores stemming from response to survey items are ratio – level values because
they typically cannot go below zero
Kinds of Variables
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
- Those that probably cause, influence, or affect outcomes.
- They are invariably called treatment, manipulated, antecedent or predictor variables
- The researcher manipulates or changes and is assumed to have a direct effect on the
dependent variable.
- It is also defined as the variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment.
- A change in the independent variable directly causes a change in the dependent variable.
Example:
1. A scientist is testing the effect of light and dark on the behavior of moths by turning a
light on and off. The independent variable is the amount of light and the moth's
reaction is the dependent variable.
2. In a study to determine the effect of temperature on plant pigmentation, the
independent variable (cause) is the temperature, while the amount of pigment or
color is the dependent variable (the effect).
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
- This what researchers are interested in
- It is the variable that is being measured or tested in an experiment.
- It is the outcome or the effect that a researcher measures. Its value depends on changes
in the independent variable.
- The dependent variable is dubbed dependent because it is believed to depend in some
way on the variations of the independent variable.
- Dependent variables are also known by these terms:
a. Response variables (they respond to a change in another variable)
b. Outcome variables (they represent the outcome you want to measure)
c. Left-hand-side variables (they appear on the left-hand side of a regression
equation)
Example:
1. You are studying the impact of a new medication on the blood pressure of patients with
hypertension. Your dependent variable is the outcome that you measure: the blood
pressure of the patients.
2. For example, in a study looking at how tutoring impacts test scores, the dependent
variable would be the participants' test scores, since that is what is being measured.
3. A scientist studies the impact of a drug on cancer. She administers the drug to a research
group and a placebo to a control group. The dependent variable is the drug's impact
on cancer.
INTERVENING VARIABLES
- It is a variable that helps explain the relationship between two variables.
- It explains how or why the independent variable affects the dependent variable. It is also
referred to as the mediating variable.
- It is a hypothetical variable used to explain causal links between the independent and
the dependent variables. These variables cannot be observed in an experiment (that’s
why they are hypothetical).
- It is a control variable that follows an independent variable but precedes the dependent
variable in a causal sequence. To simply put it, the intervening variable mediates
between the two. The diagram below shows the link of the intervening variable to other
variables.
CAUSAL SEQUENCE
2. Ramona was not able to finish her midterm examination which led her to fail the
test. The intervening variables could be, she was sleepy during the examination,
and she was hungry. The independent variable is unfinished midterm examination,
and the dependent variable is failure in the test. (See the diagram below)
For each item below, specify the independent and dependent variables, as well as constants.
1. A study was done to find if different tire treads affect the braking distance of a car.
2. The time it takes to run a mile depends on the person’s running speed.
3. The height of bean plants depends on the amount of water they receive.
4. The higher the temperature of the air in the oven, the faster a cake will bake.
5. Lemon trees receiving the most water produced the most lemons.
6. An investigation found that more bushels of potatoes were produced when the soil was fertilized more.
7. Students measured the temperature of the water at different depths in Lake Skywalker and found that the
temperature varied.
8. The amount of pollution produced by cars was measured for cars using gasoline containing different amounts of
lead.
9. Four groups of rats are first massed and then fed identical diets except for the amount of vitamin A they receive.
Each group gets a different amount. After 3 weeks on the diet, the rats’ masses are measured again to see if there has
been a decrease.