NAME: ________________________ SECTION & STRAND: _________________

TASK SHEET NO. 3 Kinds of Variables and their Uses

CONTENT STANDARD: The learner demonstrates understanding of the nature of

variables.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD: The learner is able to decide on suitable quantitative
research in different areas of interest.
OBJECTIVES: The student should be able to differentiates kinds of variables and their
uses.

THE VARIABLES IN RESEARCH

The term ‘variable’ has been mentioned several times so that it is necessary to
define it here. In research, a variable refers to a “characteristics that has two or more
mutually exclusive values or properties” (Sevilla and Other, 1988). Sex, for instance,
has two properties which are maleness and femaleness. The ages of different persons
have different values; so with their size, height, weight and income. The phenomenon
of variety is what makes life interesting; it is one of the motivating factors of the
research undertaking. The root word of the word variable is “vary” or simply “can
change”. These variables are among the fundamental concepts of research, alongside
with measurement, validity, reliability, cause and effect; and theory. Bernard (1994)
defines a variable as something that can take more than one value, and values can be
words or numbers. A variable specifically refers to characteristics, or attribute of an
individual or an organization that can be measured or observed and that varies among
the people or organization being studied (Creswell, 2002).

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

1. CONTINUOUS VARIABLES – A variable that can take infinite number on 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 have 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 difference between 30
degrees and 20 degrees. The interval between values makes sense and can be
interpreted.
b. RATIO VARIABLES – It have values that lie along an evenly dispersed range
of numbers when there is absolute zero. It possesses the properties of interval
variable and has a clear definition of zero, indication that there is none of that
variable. Examples of which are height, weight, and distance. Most scores
stemming from response 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 temperatures
scales does not mean no temperature at all.

2. DISCRETE VARIABLES – This is also known as categorical or classificatory

variable. This is any variable that has limited number of distinct values and which
cannot be divided into fractions like sex, blood group, and number of children in family.
Discrete variable may also categorized into:
 a. NOMINAL VARIABLE – It represent 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 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.
b. ORDINAL VARIABLE – It represent categories that can be ordered from
greatest to smallest. This variable has two or more categories which can be
ranked. Examples of ordinal variable 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”, “VERY
MUCH” then you have an ordinal variable. While you can rank them, we cannot
place a value to them. In this type, distances between attributes do not have any
meaning. For example, you used educational attainment as a variable on survey,
you might code elementary school graduates = 1, high graduates = 2, college
undergraduate = 3, and college graduate = 4. In this measure, 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 with the distance
between 1 and 2.

I. DIRECTIONS: Identify what is being asked in each number. Write your

answer after the statement. Choose your answer from the box below.

 Variable  Dependent  Independent

 Control  Continuous  Intervening
 Confounding  Interval  Nominal
 Ordinal  Ratio  Abstract

_______________1. It refers to the characteristics that have two or more mutually

exclusive values or properties.
_______________2. Variables that represent categories that cannot be ordered in any
particular way.
_______________3. Special kind of independent variables that are measured in a study
because they potentially influence the dependent variable.
_______________4. Variables that have values that lie along an evenly dispersed range
of numbers when there is an absolute zero, as opposed to
net worth, which can have a negative debt-to-income ratio-
level variable.
_______________5. Kind of variable that are not actually measured or observed in a
study. They exist but their influence cannot be directly
detected in a study.
_______________6. It “stands between” the independent and dependent variables,
and they show the effects of the independent variable on
the dependent variable.
_______________7. Variables that represent categories that can be ordered from
greatest to smallest.
_______________8. Kind of variable that probably cause, influence, or effect outcomes.
They are variably called treatment, manipulated, antecedent
or predictor variables.
_______________9. Variables that depend on independent variables; they are the
outcomes or results of the influence of the independent
variable.
_______________10. Variables that have values that lie along an evenly dispersed
range of numbers.
 II. DIRECTIONS: Determine if what type of variable are the following. Write I if
the variable is Interval, N if Nominal, R if Ratio and O if Ordinal.

1. Military Title ___________

2. Temperature in degree Celsius ___________
3. Birthplace ___________
4. Year Level ___________
5. Favorite Type of Music ___________
6. Clothing such as hat, shirt, shoes __________
7. A score in 5- item quiz in Math ___________
8. Feeling for today ___________
9. Means of Transportation ___________
10. How internet is used at home ___________
11. Freshman, Sophomore ___________
12. Person’s net worth ___________
13. Male or female ___________
14. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ___________
15. Political Affiliation ___________