ICTE 1043

Statistical Analysis with Software Application

Week 1
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Discuss the different types of variables

2. Classify variables into levels of measurement.
Variable

❑ a characteristic or an attribute that can assume different values.

Dichotomous Variable
 A variable that can have only two values
Qualities of Variables

❑ Exhaustive
– Should include all possible answerable responses

❑ Mutually exclusive
– No respondent should be able to have two attributes simultaneously
e.g. Employed vs. Unemployed
- it is possible to be both if looking for a second job while employed
Types of Variables

Variable

Qualitative/ Quantitative/
categorical variable numerical variable

Discrete Continuous
Qualitative Variables

❑ Variables that do not assume numeric values

❑ Variable whose observations vary in kind but not in degree
e.g. Sex
Religion
Marital status
Quantitative Variables

❑ Variables which assume numeric values

❑ Variable whose observations vary in magnitude
e.g. Age
No. of children
Income
Discrete Variable

❑ Quantitative variables whose observations can assume only a

countable number of values
❑ Values are obtained by counting
e.g. No. of children in the family
No. of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines
No. of dates in the past month
Continuous Variable

❑ Quantitative variables whose observations can assume any one of the

countless number of values.
❑ Values are obtained by measuring
e.g. Height
Weight
Time
Independent and Dependent Variables

❑ Independent Variable
- Cause or determine or influence the dependent variable(s)

❑ Dependent Variable
- Presumed outcome of the influence of the independent variable(s)
Direct relationship between Independent and Dependent variables

Independent Cause or Determine Dependent

Variables or Influence Variables
Intervening Variable

❑ Sometimes referred to as test or control variables.

❑ Used to test whether the observed relations between the independent
and dependent variables are spurious
❑ Serve either to increase or decrease the effect the independent
variable has on the dependent variable
 INTERVENING VARIABLE

Intervening
Variables

Independent Dependent
Variables Variables
Scales of Measurement

Measurement refers to the procedure of attributing qualities or quantities to specific

characteristics of objects, persons or events. Measurement is a key process in quantitative
research and evaluation. If the measurement procedures are inadequate its usefulness will
be limited (Polgar & Thomas, 2008)

Levels of Measurement
❑ Nominal
❑ Ordinal
❑ Interval
❑ Ratio
Nominal Level

❑ A measurement level in which numbers are used as labels or names

rather than to reflect quantitative information
e.g. Sex 1 = Male
2 = Female

- Marital status
- Religion
- Type of car used
Ordinal Level

❑ A measurement level in which values reflect only rank order

e.g. Educational attainment 1 = Elementary
2 = High School
3 = College
Service quality rating
Opinion on an issue (Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree,
Strongly disagree)
Interval Level

❑ A measurement level with an arbitrary zero point in which

numerically equal intervals at different locations on the scale reflect
the same quantitative difference

e.g. Temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit

IQ level
Standardized exam score
Ratio Level

❑ The highest level of measurement that has all the characteristics of the
interval scale plus a true zero point

e.g. Income
No. of children
Weekly mobile data load spending
Properties held by each level of measurement

Property
Level of
measurement Equal True zero
Categories Ranks
intervals point
Nominal Yes No No No

Ordinal Yes Yes No No

Interval Yes Yes Yes No

Ratio Yes Yes Yes Yes

Levels of Measurement Guidelines

❑ It is usually best to gather data at highest level of measurement

possible because one can perform more mathematical operations and
gain greater precision of measurement

❑ Interval and ratio variables can be changed to become ordinal or

nominal variables but not vice versa