Practical Research 2

VARIABLES IN Lesson 4

RESEARCH
Variables
measurable factors that are
subject to change as situations
change; anything that can change
in research due to circumstances
Variables
measurable factors that are
subject to change as situations
change; anything that can change
in research due to circumstances

measurable?
 Identification of Variables
❖ Attributes
❖ characteristics of a data set or sub-values of a variable
❖ e. g. income is the variable as 10,000 per month,
15,000 per month or 200,000 per year are the
attributes
❖ Variables should have at least 2 attributes (otherwise it
is a constant)
 Types of Variables
❖ Independent (nakaaapekto)
❖ input, probable cause of an
event
❖ controlled by the
researcher
❖ Dependent (naaapektuhan)
❖ outcome, affected by the IV
❖ changes as IV changes
Independent Variable Dependent Variable

determine the value of DV get determined from IV

experiment measure; difficult to

experiment controller
manipulate

stimulus; two attributes (present has attributes which are direct,

or absent) indirect or through constructs

causal variables caused variables

What affects the choice of
a Presidential candidate?

DV = vote for President

IV = income class,
educational attainment,
political views, region of
residence, age

Note: there may be

extraneous variable that
can affect the DV. It is the
responsibility of the
researcher to control these
factors.
A study on the thoughts of Grade
12 students on difficulties in
solving math problems

DV = level of math anxiety

IV = score in the last math test,
terror math teachers, mastery of
previous math lessons

How are these “measured” or

“quantified”?
 Relating IV and DV
❖ change in IV (or IVs) change the value of the DV
❖ the “other way around” does not make sense

❖ if the value of the DV changes even if the values of the IVs

don’t, then there is no causal relationship between the
variables

❖ the value of the IVs can change even without changes in the
value of the DV
Quick Exercises - Identifying IV and DV
• Students watched a cartoon either alone
or with others and then rated how
funny they found the cartoon to be.
Quick Exercises - Identifying IV and DV

• A comprehension test was given to

students after they had studied textbook
material either in silence or with the
television turned on.
Quick Exercises - Identifying IV and DV

• Some elementary school teachers were

told that a child’s parents were college
graduates, and other teachers were told
that the child’s parents had not finished
high school; they then rated the child’s
academic potential.
Quick Exercises - Identifying IV and DV
• Workers at a company were assigned to
one of two conditions: One group
completed a stress management training
program; another group of workers did
not participate in the training. The
number of sick days taken by these
workers was examined for the two
subsequent months.
Quick Exercises - Identifying IV and DV
• Students at a University were split into
two groups and each received a
different text for a philosophy course.
Once group received a traditional text
book, while the other received an
interactive textbook on a tablet
computer. After the course, the final
exam marks between the two groups of
students was compared.
Prediction

the goal of quantitative

research is to predict how
the DV change with
respect to changes in the
values of the IVs
 Variable Classification
CATEGORICAL NUMERICAL
(gender, eye color, religion) (age in years, height in cm, grade in Math)

DISCRETE CONTINUOUS
(obtained by counting) (obtained by measurement)
e.g. number of children with TB, e.g. temperature, distance, area
number of males in a Stat class —cannot be listed because they
can have any value in some interval
of real numbers
 AGE CIVIL TYPE OF
ROOM NO. GENDER
(in years) STATUS ILLNESS

101 M 25 Widower High Fever

102 F 32 Married Cough

103 F 12 Single Pneumonia

104 M 4 Single Hepatitis B

 Research Exercise 4
❖ Refer to Page 20
❖ Identify the IV/s. Name the DV. Give two attribute of each IV.
❖ Example: 1. A study on the effect of gender on the academic
performance of students.
❖ IV: gender
❖ DV: final grades in Math, Science and English
❖ IV Attributes: male, female
❖ Answer items 2 to 10
 ASSIGNMENT

❖ Read Chapter 3 Lessons 1 and 2

❖ Decide on your research groupings (maximum of 4
members)
❖ Brainstorm on Research Topic, start formulating your
Research Questions
❖ Research Log 3: How did our group brainstorm
(process)? What were the results of said brainstorming?