SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

CMR UNIVERSITY, BANGALORE

DUMO LIONEL PHILLIPS FREDERICK, 20CMBAD061

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

SHORT ESSAY ON DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEPENDENT

VARIABLE AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

This short essay begins by defining the term variable and then the terms dependent and
independent variables, providing examples of each. It then proceeds to describe and discuss
synonyms for the terms dependent variable and independent variable.
The term variable is maybe the most frequently used word in scientific research.
Notwithstanding, people who might not have been thought in research always finds it odd. The
simplest definition of the word variable is that it is something that takes on different values; it is
something that varies. Within the context of research, a variable may be defined as “an empirical
phenomenon that takes on different values or intensities. A variable also maybe a property of
something: the height, weight, and temperature of an object are three examples of its properties.
Human research measures, among other things, the properties of people.
These properties might include their height, weight, and temperature as mentioned before as well
as other properties (i.e., variables), such as intelligence, personality, and health status. Variables
are mostly divided into two main categories in research, independent variables and dependent
variables. Nonetheless, researchers refer to them by many different names, and there are other
types of variables too.
INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES.
In the health profession, many of them most have heard the terms independent variable and
dependent variable but they may not know what they mean or know difference between them.
Although the terms are similar, their meanings are very different, and the ability to
differentiating the two is vital for understanding and designing research studies. One of the major
aims of doing research is to understand the causes of the phenomenon. The resumed cause in a
cause-effect relationship is called the independent variable and the presumed effect is called the
dependent variable. In other words, an independent variable is a variable that is presumed to
have an effect on another variable ( a dependent variable). A dependent variable is, quite simple,
dependent, in that it dependents, in some sense, on an independent variable. In a research study,
the researcher is mostly interested in understanding and possibly predicting the dependent
variable.
It is also important to bear in mind that variables are not inherently dependent or independent
variables. A dependent variable in one study might be another study. For instance, one study
might look into the effect of exercise (the independent variable) on osteoporosis (the independent
variable); another study might looked at the effect of osteoporosis (the independent variable) on
the occurrence of bone fracture (the dependent variable). The use of the term independent
variable came from experimentation, and the aim of most experiments is to test whether an
independent variable, in fact, does have an effect on one or more dependent variables.
Another example is that readers of the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy will be familiar with is
an RCT by Toussaint, Barry, Bornfriend, and Markman (2014), in which they randomly assigned
patients to two conditions, or groups. The experimental group engaged in educational activities
related to forgiveness (their independent variable), while the control group did not. The study
tested whether the independent variable of educational activities had an effect on a number of
dependent variables, including pessimism, self-acceptance, and self-forgiveness. The
independent variable only had an effect on self-forgiveness. As often happens, the authors did
not use the terms independent variable or dependent variable, and, therefore, readers had to
figure them out form themselves.
Some of the key difference between are that an independent variable is a variable whose value
never depends on another variable whereas a dependent variable is a variable whose value
depends on another variable. The independent variables is the presumed cause while on the other
hand, the dependent variable is the presumed effect. Independent variables are the predictors or
repressors but dependent variables are often referred as the predicted variable. Independent
variables do not need any complex mathematical procedures and observations, while dependent
variable are obtained from longitudinal research or by solving complex mathematical equations.
In summary, this short essay is brought about to assist readers unfamiliar with the research terms
to navigate their way through the maze of terminology used to describe the relationships which
exits among variables, as well as those used with regards to measuring variables and variables
mainly falls into two categories: independent variables and dependent variables. The terms
treatment, intervention, predictor, and risk factor are essential synonyms for independent variable
and terms response variable and outcomes are synonyms for dependent variables.