Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 3

Content Standards
The learners demonstrate an understanding of the nature of variables.

Performance Standards
The learners should be able to decide on suitable quantitative research in different areas of interest.

Most Essential Learning Competencies

To differentiate kinds of variables and their uses.

Lesson Presentation/Discussion

Nature of Variables

Types of Variables
● Constant – do not undergo any changes during an experiment
● Attribute – characteristics of people: intelligence, creativity, anxiety, learning styles, etc.
● Covariate – included in the research study to create interactions with the independent and
dependentvariables
● Continuous – quantitative in nature and is used in interval or ratio scale of measurement
● Dichotomous – has only two possible results: one or zero
● Latent – cannot be directly observed like personality traits
● Manifest – can be directly observed to give proofs to latent variables
● Exogenous – found outside an identified model
● Endogenous – found inside; as a part of the identified model

Variables are “changing qualities or characteristics” of persons or things like age, gender,
intelligence, ideas, achievements, confidence, and so on that are involved in your research study. Made
up of the root or base word “vary” which means to undergo changes or to differ from, variables have
different or varying values about time and situation. For instance, as years go by, your age or intelligence
increases. But placed in a situation where you are afflicted with a disease or have no means of reading or no
access to any sources of knowledge, your intelligence tends to decrease. (Suter 2013, p. 137)

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Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 3

TYPES OF VARIABLES (ALLEN, TITSWORTH, HUNT, 2009)

1. Continuous Variables
A variable can take an infinite number of the value that can occur within the population. Its values can be
divided into fractions. Examples of this type of variable include age, height, and temperature.Continuous
variables can be further categorized as:

a) Interval Variables
It has values that lie along an evenly dispersed range of numbers. It is a measurement where the difference
between two values does have meaning. Examples of interval data include temperature, a person’s net
worth (how much money you have when you subtract your debt from your assets), etc. In temperature, this
may illustrate as the difference between a temperature of 60 degrees and 50 degrees is the same as the
difference between 30 degrees and 20 degrees. The interval between values makes sense and can be
interpreted.

b) Ratio Variables
It has values that lie along an evenly dispersed range of numbers when there is absolute zero. It possesses.
the properties of interval variables and has a clear definition of zero, indicating that there is none of that
variable.
Examples of these are height, weight, and distance. Most scores stemming from responses to survey items
are ratio-level values because they typically cannot go below zero. Temperature measured in degrees
Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit is not a ratio variable because 0 under these temperature scales does not
mean any temperature at all.

2. Discrete Variables
This is also known as a categorical or classificatory variable. This is any variable that has a limited number
of distinct values and which cannot be divided into fractions like sex, blood group, and the 0number of
children inthefamily. The discrete variable may also categorize into:

▪ Nominal Variable
It represents categories that cannot be ordered in any particular way. It is a variable with no quantitative
value. It has two or more categories but does not imply the ordering of cases. Common examples of this
variable include eye color, business type, religion, biological sex, political affiliation, basketball fan affiliation,
etc. A sub-type of nominal scale with only two categories just like sex is known as dichotomous.

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Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 3

▪ Ordinal Variable
It represents categories that can be ordered from greatest to smallest. This variable has two or more
categories that can be ranked. Examples of ordinal variables include education level, income brackets, etc.
An illustration of this is if you asked people if they liked listening to music while studying and they could
answer either “NOT VERY MUCH”, “MUCH”, o r “VERY MUCH” then you have an ordinal variable. While
you can rank them, we cannot place a value on them. In this type, distances between attributes do not have
any meaning.

For example, if you used educational attainment as a variable on a survey, you might code elementary school
graduates = 1, high graduates = 2, college undergraduates = 3, and college graduates = 4. In this measure, a
higher number means greater education. Even though we can rank these from lowest to highest, the spacing
between the values may not be the same across the levels of the variables. The distance between 3 and 4 is
not the same as the distance between 1 and 2.

Kinds of Variables
Several experts have lumped together the following as the major kinds of variables:

1. Independent Variables are those that probably cause, influence, or affect outcomes. They are invariably
called treatment, manipulated, antecedent, or predictor variables. This is the cause variable or the one
responsible forthe conditions that act on something else to bring about changes.

Example: A study is on the relationship between study habits and academic performance of UTNHS
senior high school students. STUDY HABITS is the independent variable because it influenced the
outcome or theperformance of the students.

2. Dependent Variables are those that depend on the independent variables; they are the outcomes or
results ofthe influence of the independent variable. That is why it is also called the outcome variable.
Example: A study is on the relationship between study habits and academic performance of
UTNHS senior high school students. ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE is the dependent variable because it is
depending on
the study habits of the students; if the students change their study habits academic performance also
change.

3. Intervening or Meddling Variables - variables that “stand between” the independent and dependent
variables, and they show the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Example: Consider the given below. Even if farm production is good, if the attitude towards payment
is negative, loan repayment would be low, whereas, if the attitude towards repayment is favorable, loan
repayment would be high.

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Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 3

4. Control Variables A special type of independent variables that are measured in the study because they
potentially influence the dependent variable. Researchers use statistical procedures (e.g. analysis of
covariance) to control these variables. They may be demographic or personal variables that need to be
“controlled” so that the true influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable can be
determined.

5. Confounding Variables - Variables that are not measured or observed in a study. They exist but their
influence cannot be directly detected in a study. Researchers comment on the influence of confounding
variables after the study has been completed, because these variables may have operated to explain the
relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables, but they were not or could not be
easily assessed.

Conclusion/Summary
In research, especially quantitative research, one important thing you must focus on at the start of
your study is to determine the variables involved in your study. Unless you spend some time pondering on
variablesin your research, your work has no chance of attaining its goal. Your research problem or research
topic to which you devote much of your initial research time finalizing stands great if it has wordings on the
basic variables involved in your study.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. Communication Process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z1BIeje_ko
2. https://kupdf.net/download_practical-research-2_599acfd8dc60851153a1fb_pdf

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