The Nature of Variables

Learning Objective
To differentiate kinds of variables and their uses

Key Understanding
Understanding of the different kinds of variables and their uses

Key Question
 What are the different kinds of variables and their uses?
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 in
relation to time and situation.
 Types of Variables
Independent variables are those that
cause changes in the subject
Dependent variables are those that
bear or manifest the effects caused by
the independent variables.
 Variable
Relationships
In a scientific way of studying
cause-effect relationships, these
two variables, independent and
dependent are part and parcel of
the research because the first one
is the cause; the second, the
effect that you can subject to any
form of measurement.
 Variable
Relationships
However, as you carry out the
research, it is possible that one, two,
or more variables or extra variables
crop up to create an impact on the
relationship between the independent
and dependent variables. Being extra
variables, they form this other type of
variables called extraneous variables.
 Variable
Relationships
For example, in the case of SFG vs. IC, (the
first as the independent variable; the second
as the dependent variable) extraneous
variables like age, gender, or personality
traits may suddenly surface to create effects
on the relationships of the two basic
variables. Such extraneous variables are
called participant variables if they refer to
the moods, emotions, or intelligence of the
subject; situational variables, if they pertain
to nature of the place: smelly, chilly, cold,
hot, spacious, and the like.
 Other Types of Variables
Extraneous variables are to be controlled by you, the
experimenter. But if they do not give in to your control, they
become confounding variables that can strongly influence your
study.
Involved not within the research situation but outside the
research process, the extraneous variables exist as “nuisance
variables,” whose potency need to go down to prevent it from
affecting the results negatively. (Suter 2013, p. 137; Thomas 2013;
Schreiber 2012).
 Other Types of Variables
(Russell 2013; Babbie 2013)
1. Constant – do not undergo any changes during an experiment
2. Attribute – characteristics of people: intelligence, creativity, anxiety,
learning styles, etc.
3. Covariate – included in the research study to create interactions with the
independent and dependent variables
4. Continuous – quantitative in nature and is used in interval or ratio scale of
measurement
5. Dichotomous – has only two possible results: one or zero
6. Latent – cannot be directly observed like personality traits
7. Manifest – can be directly observed to give proofs to latent variables
8. Exogenous – found outside an identified model
9. Endogenous – found inside; as a part of identified model