Practical Research 2 Lesson 3

1. PRACTICAL RESEARCH
2
Quarter 1 -Lesson 3
The Nature of Variables

2. At the end of the lesson, you should be able
to:
1. differentiate the kinds of variables and their
uses,
2. identify variables in a research statement,
and
3. value the importance of variables in a
research study.

3. Variables refers to the characteristics or
attribute of an individual or an organization
that can be measured or observed and that
varies among people or organization being
studied.

4. The common variables in social research
are age, gender, education, income, marital
status and occupation. Gender, for instance
has two characteristics, the male and the
female.

5. TYPES OF VARIABLES

6. A. DISCRETE VARIABLES – This is also
known as the “categorical variable". This is
any variable that has limited number of
distinct values and which cannot be divided
into fractions like sex, blood group, and
number of children in family.

7. Discrete variable can be categorized
into two:
1.Nominal Variables
2.Ordinal Variables

8. 1. Nominal Variable represents categories
that cannot be ordered in any
particular way. These are variables whose
data are non-numeric labels that
do not reflect quantitative information.
Example: Gender, Occupation, and Social
Status

9. 2. Ordinal Variables represents categories that
can be ordered from smallest to greatest. It refers
to variables where there is a meaningful order or
categories but there is no measurable distance
between categories.
Example: Grade level and Sibling Rank

10. B. CONTINUOUS VARIABLES - are
numeric variables that have an infinite number
of values between any two values. It can be
numeric or date/time.
Continuous variable can be categorized as:
.

11. 1. Interval Variables are values that lie
along an evenly dispersed range of numbers. It
is a variable whose data values are ranged in a
real interval and can be as large as from
negative infinity to positive infinity.
Example: Temperature, IQ Level

12. 2. Ratio variables have values that lie
along an evenly dispersed range of
numbers when there is an absolute
zero.

13. KINDS OF VARIABLES

14. 1. Independent Variables (the cause) -
those that probably cause influence or affect
outcomes. They are invariably called
treatment, manipulated,antecedent or
predictor variables. It is presumed to
influence other variables.

15. 2. Dependent Variables (the effect) -
those that depend on the independent
variables; they are the outcomes of the
influence of the independent variable.

17. 3. Intervening or Moderating
Variable – “stand between” the
independent and dependent variables
and they show the effects of the
independent variable on the dependent
variable.

19. 4. Control Variables - is one which the
researcher holds constant (controls) during an
experiment. It is also known as a constant
variable or simply as a "control."

20. The control variable is not part of an
experiment itself - it is neither the
independent nor dependent variable - but it
is important because it can have an effect on
the results. It is not the same as a control
group.

21. Examples of controlled variables could be an
amount of light, using the same type of
glassware, constant humidity, or duration of
an experiment.

22. 5. Confounding variables – also known as
“extraneous variable”, are variables in
researches which may have an effect on the
dependent and independent variables but which
are not controlled. It can ruin an experiment and
give you useless results.