KINDS OF VARIABLES

Definition of Variable. According to Tejero (2006 in Sevilla et al. 1992)

“variables is a characteristic that has two or more actually exclusive values or
properties. Variables are construct or properties being studied.

1. Independent Variable. It is the factor that is measured, manipulated, or selected

by the experimenter to determine its relationship to an observed phenomenon. It
is a stimulus variable or input operates within a person or within his environment
to effect behavior. Independent variable may be called factor and its variation is
called levels.

2. Dependent Variable. It is a response variable or output. The dependent variable

is the factor that is observed and measured to determine the effect of the
independent variable; it is the factor that appears, disappears, or varies as the
researcher introduces, removes, or varies the independent variables.

3. Moderate Variables. It is the factor that is measured, manipulated, or selected

by the experimenter to discover whether it modifies the relationship of the
independent variable to an observed phenomenon. The term moderate variable
describes a special type of independent variable, a secondary independent
variable selected to determine if it affects the relationship between the study’s
primary independent variable and its dependent variable.

4. Control Variable. It refers to the factor controlled by the experimenter to cancel

out or neutralize any effect they might otherwise on the observed phenomena. A
single study cannot examine all of the variables in a situation (situational
variable) or in a person (dispositional variable): some must be neutralized to
guarantee that they will not exert differential or moderating effects on the
relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables.

5. Intervening Variables. This is the factor that theoretically effects observed

phenomena but cannot be seen, measured, or manipulated; its effects must be
inferred from the effects of the independent and moderate variable on the
observed phenomena.

Practical Research 2 (Quantitative Research)

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