Classification of research variables
Okello Lawrence Oun
Gulu University
August 30, 2024
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Objectives of this lesson
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, a student will be able to:
Define the term variable
Discuss the types of variable
Identify different types of variables i.e. independent variable,
dependent variable, extraneous variables etc. in a research study;
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Classification of research variables
What Is a variable?
A variable is a characteristic, or a quantity of a phenomenon that can
be measured or classified. As the name suggests, the values of
variables can vary over time or across units
A variable is any factor property that a researcher measures, controls,
and/or manipulates
It is also the changing quantity or meaasures of any factor, trait, or
condition that can exists in differing amounts or types
It is a logical set of attributes, characteristics, numbers, or quantties
that can be measured or counted
it is also called a data item.
Therefore, understanding the purpose, operationalization and
measurement of variables is a key part of a research.
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Variables continued....
Examples of variables
Gender, hair color, shoe size, income levels, disease status – all of
these are examples of variables.
However, variables can also measure abstract concepts – like
self-esteem, well-being, sense of religiosity, intelligence, etc.
Some variables are more complex, for example, in a study on
socioeconomic status we may use “income” as our variable or we may
use ownership of a permanent housing structure or amount of savings.
Another example is a study on academic achievement of 5th graders.
Here, we could use “annual exam grade” as the variable denoting
academic achievement or “average test grade” (the average of all
exams and tests conducted during the year) or “literacy level” to
denote academic achievement.
Thus, different researchers studying the same topic may choose
different variables, depending on the focus of their research
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Variables continued....
Qualitative and Quantitative variables
Qualitative variables are those that express a qualitative attribute
such as hair color, eye color, religion, favorite movie, gender, and so
on. The values of a qualitative variable do not imply a numerical
ordering. Values of the variable ”religion” differ qualitatively; no
ordering of religions is implied.
Qualitative variables are sometimes referred to as categorical
variables. Quantitative variables are those variables that are measured
in terms of numbers. Some examples of quantitative variables are
height, weight, and shoe size.
Quantitative data is numbers-based, countable, or measurable.
Qualitative data is interpretation-based, descriptive, and relating to
language.
Quantitative data tells us how many, how much, or how often in
calculations. Qualitative data can help us to understand why, how, or
what happened behind certain behaviors.
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Variables continued....
Quantitative variables are further divided into two categories, namely,
continuous variables and discrete variables.
Continuous Variable
These variables may assume any value between a certain set of real
numbers
A continuous variable is one which is capable of being measured in
any arbitrary degree of fineness or exactness. Age, height, intelligence,
reaction time, etc., are some of the examples of a continuous variable.
The age of the person can be measured in years, month and days.
Thus, all such variables which can be measured in the smallest degree
of fineness are called continuous variable
These values depend on the scale used
Continuous variables are alo called interval variables
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Variables continued....
Discrete Variable
These are variables only asume any whole value within the limits of
the given variables
The discrete variables are those variables which are not capable of
being measured in any arbitrary degree of fineness or exactness
because the variables contain a clear gap.
Example incluesd
I the number of regsitered cars
I number of business locations
I number of children in the family
I population,and number of family members
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Activity
Check whether the following are continuous or discrete variables:
a the bar presses that a rat makes in a Skinner box
b the height of six-year-old boys and girls in Chicago
c the score you make on a true-false exam
d the distance various people can travel in 5 hours
A researcher wants to administer an intelligence test to 30 college
students. After collecting information on subjects’ age, sex, height,
weight, political preference, career goals, and socioeconomic status,
the researcher administers and attitude survey on current issues to all
30 subjects.
Required:
Identify examples of the following types of variables in the paragraph
and the scales by which they would be measured:
a) discrete b) continuous c) categorical d) quantitative
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Variables continued....
Independent variables
Itis also called manipulated or explanatory variable
An independent variable or stimulus variable is that factor
manipulated or selected by the experimenter in his attempt to
ascertain its relationship to an observed phenomenon.
For example the experimenter wants to study the effect of noise upon
the class performance in a class. Here the IV (Independent Variable)
is the noise and the DV(Dependent Variable) is the class performance
Is the rate of production dependent upon the age of the workers? Age
is here the independent variable
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Variables continued....
Dependent variables
These variables are usually affected by the manipulation of the
independent variables.
They are also called response or predicted variable
A dependent variable is the factor that appears, disappears, or varies
as the experimenter introduces, removes or varies the independent
variable.
The dependent variable is a measure of the behaviour of the subject.
The dependent variable is the response that the person or animal
makes.
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Variables continued....
The relationship between independent and dependent variables
The relationship is that of dependence. One variable depends upon
the other.
Suppose you find a relationship between meaningfulness of the
learning material and speed of learning. Speed of learning then
depends upon meaningfulness; the greater the meaningfulness, the
faster the learning. The speed of learning is, therefore, called
dependent variable; meaningfulness is independent variable.
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Variables continued....
Extraneous variables
These avriables are already existing during the research and they are
also called mediationg or intervening variable
Extraneous variables may directly affect the dependent variable or
may combine with the independent variable to produce an affect.
Therefore, extraneous variables must be controlled in order to
determine whether the dependent variable changes in relation to
variation in the independent variable.
For instance you want to study the relationship between smoking and
coronary heart disease
Factors that may affect the extent to which smoking might cause
coronary heart disease includes; number of cigarettes or the amount
of tobacco smoked every day; the duration of smoking; the age of the
smoker; dietary habits; and the amount of exercise undertaken by the
individuals.
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Variables continued....
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Variables continued....
Active and Attribute Variables
Any variable that is manipulated is called active variable.
Examples of active variable are reward, punishment, methods of
teaching, creating anxiety through instructions and so on.
Attribute variable is that variable which is not manipulated but
measured by the experimenter.
Attribute variables includes are human characteristics like intelligence,
Aptitudes, sex, socio economic status, education, field dependence
and need for achievement are the example of attributes variables.
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Activity
Self Assessment Questions
1) The event manipulated or altered by the experimenter is termed as
...... ........................................................
2) The ....................... is the response that the person or animal makes.
3) Any and all other variables that may mask the relationship between
independent variable and dependent variables are known as ...............
4) Manipulated variables are called ............... and measures variable are
called .......................................
5) .............................. is one that varies in amount whereas
.................... varies in kind
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The End
Thanks for Listening and Attending this topic
Please do the Questions
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