Week 3 – Variables

A variable is an aspect of a testing condition that can change or take on different characteristics with
different conditions.

Types of Variables

1. Dependent and Independent Variables

- The dependent variable is a measure behaviour on the subject that reflects the
independent variable’s effects.
- Dimensions in measuring:
a. Frequency – the number of times a behaviour is performed.
b. Rate – the number of times a behaviour is performed relative to time.
c. Duration – the amount of time a behaviour lasts.
d. Latency – amount of time between a behaviour and the instruction to do that
behaviour.
e. Topography – the shape or style of the behaviour.
f. Force – the intensity or strength of a behaviour
g. Locus – where the behaviour occurs in the environment
- The independent variable is the condition manipulated or selected by the experiment to
determine its effect on behaviour. This variable is the one that is believed to cause a
change in dependent variables. E.g., Researching whether music affects a person’s
running pace. (music is the independent variable)
- Every independent variable has at least 2 values, these values are called levels.
- We might also have trouble deciding which of two variables in a study is the cause and
the effect. In such investigations, these variables are often called variables of interest (a
variable for which its role in the cause and effect of an observed relationship is not
clear).
- The independent variable can often be thought of as what the researcher does to the
subject, and the dependent variable as what the subject does back. Although there are
certain researchers that do not manipulate. These are called subject variables (variables
that can only be selected and not controlled).
2. Confounded Variables
- One whose effect cannot be separated from the supposed independent variable.
- Not all Details of a Study are Independent Variables. To make sure that unintended
variables do not confound a study, many potential variables are kept constant. Variables
must vary between conditions.
3. Quantitative and Categorical Variables
- Quantitative Variables – one that varies in amount. (speed of response and loudness)
- Categorical Variables – one that varies in kind. (college major and gender)
- The distinction between the two variables are most important in building theories.
4. Continuous and Discrete Variables
- Continuous Variables – variable that is not limited to a certain number of values and
follows a continuum.
- Discrete Variables – variables that falls into separate bins with no intermediate values
possible.
- Because continuous variables are commonly measured in a discontinuous fashion, it is
necessary to distinguish the real limits (the interval defined by the number plus or minus
 half the distance to the next number) of a measure from apparent limits (the points
indicated by a number).

Measurement

The ability to state laws quantitatively means two things are true:

1. The phenomenon is regular enough to make a reasonably precise statement of it.

2. The law is simple to make an equation describing about it. (Steven’s law of sensation
magnitude R = kS^n)

What is Measurement?

- The process of assigning numbers to events or objects according to rules. The properties
of the events are represented by the properties of the number system. An example
would be assigning numbers to people according to a rule.

Types of Measurement Scales

1. Nominal Scales
- A measure that divides objects or events into categories according to their similarities or
differences.
- The rule is that objects or events of the same kind get the same number and objects or
events of a different kind get a different number.
2. Ordinal Scales
- A measure that both assigns objects or events a name and arranges them in order of
their magnitude.
3. Interval Scales
- A measure in which the differences between numbers are meaningful; includes both
nominal and ordinal information.
4. Ratio Scales
- A measure having a meaningful zero point as well as all of the nominal, ordinal, and
interval properties. (should have a true zero point)

Comparison of the Scales

- Nominal scale gives information only about whether two events are the same or
different.
- Ordinal scale does the same, but gives us a ranking on a certain variable.
- Interval scale conveys both nominal and ordinal scale information, and allows us to make
quantitative statements about the differences between events.
- Ratio scale contains all the information of the other three scales, as well as conveying
information about ratios of magnitudes.
- The ways we can alter the assignment of numbers to individual events without distorting
the scale are called permissible transformations.
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Measurement and Statistics

The scale on which a variable is measured determines the type of statistics that can appropriately be
performed on the data. Many hold that it is not appropriate to use the usual parametric statistics the
data are measured on an interval or ratio scale.

Reliability and Validity of Measurements

- Reliability – the property of consistency of a measurement that gives the same result on
different occasions.
- Validity – the property of measurement that tests what it is supposed to test.
- A measurement should be reliable before it can be valid.

Validity of Measurement

- Variability and Error – The task of research is to find relationships between independent
and dependent variables, to find how the dependent variable changes with changes in
the independent variable. So variability in the dependent variable is good when it is
associated with changes in the independent variable. A certain bad variability is called
error variance, or random error (variability in the dependent variable that is not
associated with the independent variable).
- Types of Validity of Measurements:
1. Construct Validity – a test that the measurements actually measure the constructs
they are designed to measure, but no others.
o Several ways to determine whether a test yields data that have construct
validity:
a. The test should actually measure whatever theoretical construct it tests.
b. The test should measure what it intends to measure but not measure
theoretically unrelated constructs.
c. The test should prove useful in predicting results related tot the theorical
concept it is measuring.
2. Face Validity – an idea that a test should appear superficially to test what it is
supposed to test. (a test should appear to any person to be a test of what it is
supposed to test).
 3. Content Validity – the idea that a test should sample the range of behaviour
represented by the theoretical concept being tested.
4. Criterion Validity – the idea that a test should correlate with other measures of the
same theoretical construct.

Types of Measurement Error (read)

1. Systematic Error – measurement error that is associated with consistent bias.

2. Random Error - measurement error that reduces the precision with which you assess the
effects of the independent variable.

Types of Reliability Measures (read)

1. Test-retest Reliability – the degree to which the same test score would be obtained on
another occasion.
2. Internal Consistency – the degree to which the various items on a test are measures of the
same thing. Split-half reliability is determined when the items on a test are divided into two
sets as if they were two separate tests. Then the scores on the two halves are correlated to
see how closely the various individuals’ scores agree on the two halves. If the test is a good
test, it will have a high split-half correlation.