This assignment

A variable is a characteristic or feature that varies, or changes within a study. The

opposite of variable is constant: something that doesn't change. In math, the symbols
"x”, "y" or "b" represents variables in an equation, while "pi" is a constant. In an
experimental example, if a study is investigating the differences between males and
females, gender would be a variable (some subjects in the study would be men, and
others would be women). If a study has only female subjects, gender would not be a
variable, since there would be only women. If a study includes both males and females
as subjects, but is not interested in differences between men and women - and does
not compare them, gender would not be a variable in that study.

If a study compares three different diets, but keeps all 3 diets the same in the amount
of sodium, then sodium isn't a variable in that study - it's a constant. Other features
of the diets would be variables of interest - maybe the calories or carbohydrates or fat
content.

In this course, we will study independent variables, dependent variables, and

confounding or intervening variables. In this section, we will focus on how to identify
and distinguish Independent from Dependent variables, and the roles these variables
play in a research study.

Independent Variables. In experimental research, an investigator manipulates one

variable and measures the effect of that manipulation on another variable. The
variable that the researcher manipulates is called the independent, or grouping
variable. The independent variable is the variable that is different between the groups
compared: all the members of one group will have the same level of the independent
variable, a second group will have a different level of that same variable, and the same
for a 3rd or 4th group, if present.

For example, let's take a study in which the investigators want to determine how often
an exercise must be done to increase strength. Stop for a minute and think about how
they might organize a study so they could figure this out. There are usually several
possible studies that could be done to address a question.
Some non-experimental studies also have independent variables, but they may not be
determined or manipulated by the investigators. For example, a study may compare
test performance between men and women; so gender would be the independent
variable. However, since investigators didn't determine or specify which individuals
would be men and which would be women (!), it is not considered to be an active
independent variable. Because gender does define the variable used for comparison, it
is still an independent variable, even though it has lost some of its power. We'll look at
this in more detail in the next chapter.

Dependent Variables. The outcome variable measured in each subject, which may be

influenced by manipulation of the independent variable is termed the dependent
variable. In experimental studies, where the independent variables are imposed and
manipulated, the dependent variable is the variable thought to be changed or
influenced by the independent variable.

Example: study title: Effects of a new tooth paste (YummyTooth) on incidence of caries

in 1st grade children. The intervention group was given YummyTooth toothpaste,
while the control group was given an identical toothpaste that did not contain the
secret ingredient in YummyTooth. Subjects were observed brushing their teeth 3x per
day with the assigned toothpaste (by teacher or parent). 6 months later, dental
appointments were scheduled, and the number of dental caries present in each child
was reported.

In this study, the toothpaste was the independent variable; it was different between
the two groups: one level was the YummyTooth toothpaste itself, and the second level
(a control group) was the identical non-YummyTooth toothpaste (a placebo).
The outcome measure (dependent variable) - that "depended" upon the type of
toothpaste, was the number of dental caries.

Frequently a single research study may have many dependent variables. However,
since most analyses only consider one dependent variable at a time (called univariate
analyses), each dependent variable analysis is considered a separate study for the
purposes of statistical analysis.

Independent Variables in Observational Studies and Some Quasi-Experimental

Studies: When Independent Variables are not Manipulated
Observational and some quasi-experimental studies lack active interventions - their
independent variables are not specifically imposed by the investigators. They may
study variables that cannot physically impose the intervention (e.g., gender, country of
birth, family history of heart disease) or cannot manipulate it ethically (smoking,
exposure to risk factors). While these studies cannot tell us whether one variable
causes changes, they can tell us how strong a relationship exists between variables.

Identifying the Independent variables in these studies is a bit trickier than in true
experiments, where the investigators control them. Observational studies may collect
all of the data from a single questionnaire or set of medical records, so all information
comes from a single assessment. Since they don't impose a change, they cannot tell us
what would happen if we changed something. They tell us about relationships among
variables in populations. In many cases, a single set of data can be analyzed in several
ways, so it is important to determine exactly how the particular study probed the data:
what questions did they ask?

Another example from a study title: Impact of smoking status on long-term mortality
in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The independent variable is smoking
status (undoubtedly not imposed, not active)- could be reporting just smoking/non-
smoking/quit categories. The dependent variable would be long-term mortality.

Confounding or Extraneous Variables

In the best circumstances, the only consistent feature that differs between the
intervention and control groups is the intervention level itself. The groups that are
compared should be similar in every other way, and only differ in the independent
variable level. In the YummyTooth toothpaste example above, this would mean that
the groups receiving the two types of toothpaste should be similar. If children with a
history of many more caries were systematically put into the control group, this would
introduce bias. When the two groups start out the same (have the same incidence of
prior caries), then introduce a single intervention difference, any difference in later
number of caries reflects only the influence of the intervention. If there are other
differences between the two groups of children, such as a bias that put children with
more caries in the control group, then we can no longer have that confidence. In this
situation, even if the YummyTooth group of children have significantly fewer caries, we
won't be able to tell whether it was the toothpaste, or the history of caries, or some
combination, that caused the different number of caries between the groups. These
biasing variables are called confounding or extraneous variables.

The confounding variables are differences between groups other than the independent
variables. That means that most members of a group are alike on a variable, but
different from the other group, e.g., if the control group was mostly smokers and the
experimental group mostly non-smokers. These variables interfere with assessment of
the effects of the independent variable because they, in addition to the independent
variable, potentially affect the dependent variable. Since they cannot be separated
from the independent variable, they are said to be confounding variables. These
variables produce differences between groups that cannot be attributed to the
independent variable. In these situations,the independent variable is not the only
difference that exists between the groups. Therefore, there may be many other
variables contributing to the differences observed between the groups compared. Thus,
we cannot conclude that the independent variable is the cause of the difference or
change seen. These other factors that may influence the dependent variable are
termed "extraneous", "intervening" or "confounding" variables. Usually this type of
confounding variable is avoided by randomly assigning subjects to groups, so not all of
one kind of subject goes into one group.

You can use this typical form to determine the independent and dependent variables
from the title of the study. If the study title is in the form "The effects of X on Y in Z". X
is the independent variable and Y is the dependent variable - the outcome, and Z is
the type of subjects represented.

A simple example would be: The effects of tomatoes on risk of prostate cancer in
Scandinavian men. The "tomatoes" is in the X position, so it is the independent
variable - it is the variable being compared between groups (and the variable possibly
manipulated - it also implies that there's another level - a comparison group of some
sort). The Y position is "risk of prostate cancer" - that's the dependent variable, which
is measured as the outcome. The target population: Scandinavian men is the sample
in which the study was done - however, the results may be more generalizable. (back
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Variable Summary:

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

"manipulated" or "imposed"
manipulated/measured by researchers in an measured as outcome variable
experiment

grouping variable: different

groups different/groups all subjects in all groups are
levels for different groups
the same measured the same way
in observational studies

each study may have

each study likely has several to
several independent
many dependent variables
variables