Independent vs.
Dependent Variables |  These terms are especially used in
Definition & Examples
Published on February 3, 2022 by Pritha
Bhandari. Revised on May 4, 2022.
In research, variables are any
characteristics that can take on different
values, such as height, age, temperature,
or test scores.
Researchers often manipulate or
measure independent and dependent
variables in studies to test cause-and-
effect relationships.
 The independent variable is the cause.
Its value is independent of other
variables in your study.
 The dependent variable is the effect. Its
value depends on changes in the
independent variable.
Example: Independent and dependent
variables
You design a study to test whether
changes in room temperature have an
effect on math test scores.
Your independent variable is the
temperature of the room. You vary the
room temperature by making it cooler for
half the participants, and warmer for the
other half.
Your dependent variable is math test
scores. You measure the math skills of all
participants using a standardized test and
check whether they differ based on room
temperature.
What is an independent variable?
An independent variable is the
variable you manipulate or vary in an
experimental study to explore its effects.
It’s called “independent” because it’s not
influenced by any other variables in the
study.
Independent variables are also called:
 Explanatory variables (they explain an
event or outcome)
 Predictor variables (they can be used
to predict the value of a dependent
variable)
 Right-hand-side variables (they
appear on the right-hand side of a
regression equation).
statistics, where you estimate the
extent to which an independent
variable change can explain or predict
changes in the dependent variable.
Types of independent variables
There are two main types of independent
variables.
 Experimental independent variables
can be directly manipulated by
researchers.
 Subject variables cannot be
manipulated by researchers, but they
can be used to group research subjects
categorically.
Experimental variables
In experiments, you manipulate
independent variables directly to see how
they affect your dependent variable. The
independent variable is usually applied at
different levels to see how the outcomes
differ.
You can apply just two levels in
order to find out if an independent
variable has an effect at all.
You can also apply multiple levels to
find out how the independent variable
affects the dependent variable.
Example: Independent variable levels
You are studying the impact of a
new medication on the blood pressure of
patients with hypertension. Your
independent variable is the treatment that
you directly vary between groups.
You have three independent variable
levels, and each group gets a different level
of treatment.
You randomly assign your patients to
one of the three groups:
 A low-dose experimental group
 A high-dose experimental group
 A placebo group
A true experiment requires you to
randomly assign different levels of an
independent variable to your participants.
Random assignment helps you
control participant characteristics, so that
they don’t affect your experimental results.
This helps you to have confidence that
your dependent variable results come
solely from the independent variable
manipulation.
Subject variables
Subject variables are
characteristics that vary across
participants, and they can’t be
manipulated by researchers. For example,
gender identity, ethnicity, race, income,
and education are all important subject
variables that social researchers treat as
independent variables.
It’s not possible to randomly assign
these to participants, since these are
characteristics of already existing groups.
Instead, you can create a research design
where you compare the outcomes of
groups of participants with
characteristics. This is a quasi-
experimental design because there’s no
random assignment.
Example: Quasi-experimental design
 You study whether gender identity
affects neural responses to infant cries.
 Your independent variable is a subject
variable, namely the gender identity of
the participants. You have three
groups: men, women and other.
 Your dependent variable is the brain
activity response to hearing infant
cries. You record brain activity with
fMRI scans when participants hear
infant cries without their awareness.
 After collecting data, you check for
statistically significant differences
between the groups. You find some and
conclude that gender identity
influences brain responses to infant
cries.
What is a dependent variable?
A dependent variable is the
variable that changes as a result of the
independent variable manipulation. It’s
the outcome you’re interested in
measuring, and it “depends” on your
independent variable.
In statistics, dependent variables are also
called:
 Response variables (they respond to a
change in another variable)
 Outcome variables (they represent the
outcome you want to measure)
 Left-hand-side variables (they appear
on the left-hand side of a regression
equation)
The dependent variable is what you
record after you’ve manipulated the
independent variable. You use this
measurement data to check whether and
to what extent your independent variable
influences the dependent variable by
conducting statistical analyses.
Based on your findings, you can
estimate the degree to which your
independent variable variation drives
changes in your dependent variable. You
can also predict how much your
dependent variable will change as a result
of variation in the independent variable.
Identifying independent vs. dependent
variables
Distinguishing between
independent and dependent variables
can be tricky when designing a complex
study or reading an academic paper.
A dependent variable from one
study can be the independent variable in
another study, so it’s important to pay
attention to research design.

Here are some tips for identifying each
variable type.
Recognizing independent variables
Use this list of questions to check whether
you’re dealing with an independent
variable:
 Is the variable manipulated, controlled,
or used as a subject grouping method
by the researcher?
 Does this variable come before the
other variable in time?
 Is the researcher trying to understand
whether or how this variable affects
another variable?
Recognizing dependent variables
Check whether you’re dealing with a
dependent variable:
 Is this variable measured as an
outcome of the study?
 Is this variable dependent on another
variable in the study?
 Does this variable get measured only
after other variables are altered?
Independent and dependent variables in
research
Independent and dependent variables
are generally used in experimental and
quasi-experimental research.
Here are some examples of research
questions and corresponding independent
and dependent variables.
For experimental data, you analyze
your results by generating descriptive
statistics and visualizing your findings.
Then, you select an appropriate statistical
test to test your hypothesis.
The type of test is determined by:
 your variable types
 level of measurement
 number of independent variable levels.
You’ll often use t tests or ANOVAs to
analyze your data and answer your
research questions.
Visualizing independent and dependent
variables
In quantitative research, it’s good
practice to use charts or graphs to
visualize the results of studies. Generally,
the independent variable goes on the x-
axis (horizontal) and the dependent
variable on the y-axis (vertical).
The type of visualization you use
depends on the variable types in your
research questions:
 A bar chart is ideal when you have a
categorical independent variable.
 A scatter plot or line graph is best
when your independent and dependent
variables are both quantitative.
Example: Results visualization
You collect data on blood pressure
before and after treatment for all
participants over a period of 2 months.
To inspect your data, you place your
independent variable of treatment level on
the x-axis and the dependent variable of
blood pressure on the y-axis.
You plot bars for each treatment
group before and after the treatment to
show the difference in blood pressure.
Based on your results, you note that
the placebo and low-dose groups show
little difference in blood pressure, while
the high-dose group sees substantial
improvements.