PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

QUARTER 1 WEEK 3
QUARTER 4 Lesson
WEEK 3: The8Nature of Variables
THE VARIABLES IN RESEARCH
Name: _________________________ Grade Level: 12 Section: _____________
Activity Sheet No. 3 Date Answered: ____________
Content Standard: Demonstrates understanding of the nature of variables.
Learning Competency: Differentiates kinds of variables and their uses (CS_RS12-Ia-
c-3).

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).

LET’S KICK IT OFF!

Activity 1. Directions: Briefly describe the nature of variables in research.

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 ARE YOU TAKING IT?

Activity 2. Directions: Identify the types and kinds of variable.

TYPES KINDS
Continuous Variables
1. ___________________ 1. ___________________
2. ___________________ 2. ___________________
Discrete Variables 3. _____________________
3. ___________________ 4. ___________________
4. ___________________ 5. ___________________

HERE’S HOW IT IS!

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 be categorized into:

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 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.

KINDS OF VARIABLES

Several experts have lumped together the following as the major kinds of variables:

1. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES – Those that probably cause, influence, or affect

outcomes. They are invariably called treatment, manipulated, antecedent or
predictor variables. This is the cause variable or the one responsible for the
conditions that act on something else to bring about changes.
EXAMPLE: A study is on the relationship of study habits and academic
performance of UTNHS senior high school students. STUDY HABITS is the
independent variable because it influenced the outcome or the performance of
the students.

2. DEPENDENT VARIABLES – those that depend on the independent variables;

they are the outcomes or results of the influence of the independent variable. That
is why it is also called outcome variable.
EXAMPLE: A study is on the relationship of study habits and academic
performance of UTNHS senior high school students. ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE is the dependent variable because it is depending on the study
habits of the students; if the students change their study habit the academic
performance also change.

3. INTERVENING OR MEDLING VARIABLES – Variables that “stand between”

the independent and dependent variables, and they show the effects of the
independent variable on the dependent variable.
EXAMPLE: Consider the given below. Even if farm production is good, if the
attitude towards payment is negative, loan repayment would be low, whereas,

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 if the attitude towards repayment is positive or favorable, loan repayment would
be high.

4. CONTROL VARIABLES – A special types of independent variables that are

measured in the study because they potentially influence the dependent variable.
Researchers use statistical procedures (e.g. analysis of covariance) to control these
variables. They may be demographic or personal variables that need to be
“controlled” so that the true influence of the independent variable on the dependent
variable can be determined.

5. CONFOUNDING VARIABLES – Variables that are not actually measured or

observed in a study. They exist but their influence cannot be directly detected in a
study. Researchers comment on the influence of confounding variables after the
study has been completed, because these variables may have operated to explain
the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable, but
they were not or could not be easily assessed.

DO IT!

Activity 3. Directions: Identify the variables and the constant in each research study
presented below. Determine the independent and dependent variable;
then determine whether it is a discrete or continuous variable.

Research Title: A study on the relationship of study habits and academic

performance of LNHS-STEM students.
VARIABLES
CONSTANT Independent Discrete / Dependent Discrete /
Continuous Continuous

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 Research Title: A study on the effects of Covid-10 Pandemic to the study
habits of LNHS-SHS students.
VARIABLES
CONSTANT Independent Discrete / Dependent Discrete /
Continuous Continuous

ACE IT!

Activity 4. Directions: Answer the question.

In a research, is it important to always identify the variables? Why? Why not?

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