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Capstone 3

Variables can be independent, dependent, categorical, or continuous. Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher and influence dependent variables, which are measured. Categorical variables include nominal variables with unordered categories, dichotomous with two categories, and ordinal with ordered categories. Continuous variables have numerical values and can be interval, having meaningful differences, or ratio, having a true zero point. Extraneous and confounding variables can influence results if not properly controlled.

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158 views3 pages

Capstone 3

Variables can be independent, dependent, categorical, or continuous. Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher and influence dependent variables, which are measured. Categorical variables include nominal variables with unordered categories, dichotomous with two categories, and ordinal with ordered categories. Continuous variables have numerical values and can be interval, having meaningful differences, or ratio, having a true zero point. Extraneous and confounding variables can influence results if not properly controlled.

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Ma.Dulce Manalastas
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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KINDS OF VARIABLES AND ITS USES

Variables
- are “changing qualities or characteristics” of persons or things like age, sex,
intelligence, ideas, achievements, confidence and so on that are involved in the
research study.
- Made up of the root word “vary” which means to undergo changes or to differ from,
variables have different or varying values in relation to time and situations.
- Anything that can vary in research due to circumstances is called variables
.
TYPES OF VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
- the variable that is manipulated either by the researcher or by nature or
circumstance
- independent variables are also called “stimulus” “input” or “predictor” variables
- analogous to the “cause” in a cause-effect relationship

DEPENDENT VARIABLE
- a variable that is observed or measured, and that is influenced or changed by
the independent variable
- dependent variables are also known as “response” or “output” or “criterion”
variables
- analogous to the “effect” in a cause-effect relationship

For example:
#1 Students of different ages were given the same jigsaw puzzle to put together. They
were timed to see how long it took to finish the puzzle.
Independent Variable (IV) : Ages of students
Dependent Variable (DV) : Time it took to put the puzzle together

#2 Amount of studying affects students’ grades


Independent Variable (IV) : Amount of studying
Dependent Variable (DV) : Students’ grades

CATEGORICAL VARIABLES
- It is also known as qualitative or discrete variables. These categorical
variables can be further classified as being nominal, dichotomous or ordinal
variables.
- Each of the types of categorical variable has categories or levels. These
categories or levels are the descriptions that you give a variable that help to
explain how variables should be measured, manipulated and/or controlled.
NOMINAL VARIABLES
- These are variables that have two or more categories but which do not have an
intrinsic order.
Example: gender, religion, civil status
DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLES
- These are nominal variables that have just two categories. They are designed to
give you an either/or response which can
Examples are:
- Heads or Tails. - Male or Female.
- Rich or Poor. - Democrat or Republican.
- Pass or Fail. - Under age 65 or 65 and
over.

ORDINAL VARIABLES
- It is just like nominal variables, ordinal variables have two or more categories.
However, unlike nominal variables, ordinal variables can also be ordered or
ranked.
Examples are:
- socio economic status (“low income”,”middle income”,”high income”),
- Education level (“high school”, ”BS”,”MS”,”PhD”),
- income level (“less than 50K”, “50K-100K”, “over 100K”),
- satisfaction rating (“extremely dislike”, “dislike”, “neutral”, “like”, “extremely
like”).
-
CONTINUOUS VARIABLES
- It is also known as quantitative variables, can either be classified as interval or
ratio variables. Each of these types of continuous variable has numerical
properties.
- These numerical properties are the values by which continuous variables can
be measured, manipulated and/or controlled.
Ex: No. of students in a class, No. of children in the family

INTERVAL VARIABLES
- They have a numerical value and can be measured along a continuum. It is a
measurement where the difference between two values have meaning.
Ex.:temperature in degree Celsius and Fahrenheit

RATIO VARIABLES
- These are interval variables but with the added condition that 0 (zero) of the
measurement indicates that there is none of that variable. Examples of this are
height, weight and distance.

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES
- It is any variable not categorized as a dependent or independent variable in a
study. It is an undesired variable that can influence the results of an
experiment.
- By knowing the extraneous variables, you will be able to lessen their adverse
effects on your study.
Types of Extraneous Variables
- Demand characteristics: environmental clues which tell the participant how to
behave, like features in the surrounding or researcher’s non-verbal behavior.
- Experimenter / Investigator Effects: where the researcher unintentionally
affects the outcome by giving clues to the participants about how they should
behave.
- Participant variables, like prior knowledge, health status or any other individual
characteristic that could affect the outcome.
- Situational variables, like noise, lighting or temperature in the environment.

CONFOUNDING VARIABLES
- These are variables that researchers fail to control and threaten the validity of
an
experiment’s procedure.

For example, a research group might design a study to determine if heavy


drinkers die at a younger age.
They proceed to design a study, and set about gathering data. Their results,
and a battery of statistical tests, indeed show that people who drink excessively are
likely to die younger.
Unfortunately, when the researchers gather data from their subjects’ non-
drinking peers, they discover that they, too, die earlier than average. Maybe there is
another factor, not measured, that influences both drinking and longevity?

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