VARIABLES ON EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

A research always starts with and focuses on variables to be measured. Measuring

variables means to identify the variations. A research cannot be conducted if the variables are not
clear. There are continuous and discreet variables based on its nature.

Continuous variables are variables that show gradational differences possessed by

individual. If the variables are continuous variables, it means that the researcher have to identify
the variations of level from the highest to the lowest. To put it simple, it means to rank people.
The example of continuous variables is IQ, motivation, age, and language achievement. The
researcher can rank peoples IQ from the highest to the lowest. The research design for
continuous variables is correlation design. The purpose is to investigate the correlation between x
and y variable. For example is when a researcher wants to know the correlation between
students IQ and their achievement. The researcher believes that IQ varies. The research question
would be Do the higher the students IQ, the better the students achievement in learning
English? Therefore, the objective is to investigate the correlation between the students IQ and
their achievement. In this research design, the researcher involves all the subjects. It means that
the researcher involves students from the highest IQ level until the lowest IQ level. However, if
students IQ level as continuous variables are categorized into high, mid, and low, and the
researcher ranks the three groups from high IQ to low IQ group, the research design used is
called causal comparative design. It is different from causal comparative design using discreet
non-manipulated variables that will be discussed later. One thing to be remembered when the
researcher uses causal comparative design using continuous variables is that the range of the two
groups is not too big. For example if the researcher wants to investigate the different
achievement between students with high IQ and low IQ level, the research question would be
Do students with High IQ achieve better in learning English than students with Low IQ? The
researcher believes that there is different achievement. Therefore, the objective is to investigate
the different achievements in learning English between students with high IQ and students with
low IQ.
 Discreet variables are used to categorize, classify, or group people. There are two ways to
group the variables; naturally categorical and by assignment. If the variables are naturally
categorized, the researcher does not give any assignment. The variables are called discreet non-
manipulated variables. The example of non-manipulated variables is gender, marital status, and
parents professions. The research design used for discreet non-manipulated variables is causal
comparative design whose purpose is to investigate the different between two variables (to
compare). The example is when the researcher wants to investigate the different achievement
between male and female students. The research question would be Do female students achieve
better in learning English than male students? If the finding shows that female students achieve
better male students, the researcher cannot claim that the different is caused by gender
difference.

If the grouping is done by giving assignment, the variables are called discreet
manipulated variables. By assignment, it means that the researcher assigns people to join
experimental group or control group. The research design used for discreet manipulated variables
is experimental design. The purpose is to investigate the cause and effect relationship between x
and y variable. To be exact, the purpose is to investigate the effect of x variable as the cause to y
variable. The example is when the researcher wants to investigate the effect of using media to
students achievement in speaking. The research question would be Do the students who are
taught speaking using media achieve better the students who are taught speaking in a
conventional way? The researcher believes that there is different effect. Therefore, the objective
is to investigate the effectiveness of teaching speaking using media to the students achievement
in learning speaking. If the finding shows that the students who are taught speaking using media
achieve better than the students who are taught in conventional way, the researcher can claim
that the difference is because of the different treatment.

The x-variable in continuous variables and discreet non-manipulated variables is called

predictor variable. However, the x-variable in discreet manipulated variables is called
independent variable because it is expected to give influence to the dependent variable which is
y-variable. There is uncontrolled variable called intervening variables which can also influence
the y-variable.