VARIABLES

PREPARED BY:
BELLY JANE P. LARRACAS
 CHAPTER 1: NATURE OF INQUIRY AND
RESEARCH
D. THE NATURE OF VARIABLES
I. Variables
A. Quantitative Variable
B. Qualitative Variable

II. Types Of Variables

A. Continuous Variable ( Interval Variable and Ratio Variable)
B. Discrete Variable (Nominal Variable and Ordinal Variable)
C. Independent Variable
D. Dependent Variable
E. Intervening Variable
F. Moderator Variable
G. Controlled Variable
 VARIABLES

• Is a central concept in research.

• Anything that has quantity or quality that may vary from one group
to another group, one person to another or even with the same
person.

Example:

 Sex is a variable, it may be male or female but it won’t be applicable as a variable if

the setting of the research is an exclusive school for the girls.

 Educational attainment of parents is another variable, it may be from did not attend to
school to post-doctorate degree.
 Difference between Quantitative and Qualitative Variable:
QUANTITATIVE VARIABLE
 Variables that are measured on a
numeric or quantitative scale.
EXAMPLE:
 country’s population
 a person’s shoe size
 a car’s speed
Ordinal, Interval, Ratio, and Nominal
are the scale of quantitative measure.
QUALITATIVE VARIABLE
• Also called a Categorical Variable,
are variables that are not numerical. It
describes data that fits into categories.
EXAMPLE:
• Eye colors (variables include: blue,
green, brown, hazel).
• States (variables include: Florida, New
Jersey, Washington).
• Dog breeds (variables include: Alaskan
Malamute, German Shepherd, Siberian
Husky, Shih tzu).
 TYPES OF VARIABLES
1
CONTINUOUS VARIABLE
 A variable that can take infinite number on the value that can occur
within a population and which can be divided into fractions.
Example:
 height and weight of students in class
 time it takes to get to school
 distance traveled between classes

Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

 INTERVAL VARIABLE
 RATIO VARIABLE
 CONTINUOUS VARIABLES
INTERVAL VARIABLES
• Is a measurement where the
difference between two values does
have meaning.
Example:
 The difference between a
temperature of 60° and 50° is the
same difference between 30° and
20°.
RATIO VARIABLES
• Possesses the properties of interval variable and
has a clear definition of zero, indication that there
is none of the variable.
Example:
Ratio Variable: Temperature measured in Kelvin
Explanation: 0 Kelvin, often called absolute
zero, indicates that there is no
temperature whatsoever.
A temperature of 10 Kelvin is four
times the temperature of 2.5 Kelvin
 TYPES OF VARIABLES
2
DISCRETE VARIABLES

• Also known as CATEGORICAL or CLASSIFICATORY VARIABLE

• Is any variable that has a limited number of district values and which cannot be
divided into fractions.
Example: sex, blood group, and number of children in the family.

Continuous variable can be categorized as an:

 NOMINAL VARIABLE
 ORDINAL VARIABLE
 DISCRETE VARIABLES
NOMINAL VARIABLE
• Variables whose data are non-
numeric labels that do not reflect
quantitative information.
• Has two or more categories but does
not imply ordering of cases.
• A sub-type of nominal scale with only
two categories is called Dichotomous.
Example:
 Gender
 Blood type
 Eye color
ORDINAL VARIABLES
• Similar to categorical, but there is a clear
ordering of the variables.
• Has two or more categories which can be
ranked.
Example:
 Educational level might be categorized as:
1: Elementary school education
2: High school graduate
3: Some college
4: College graduate
5: Graduate degree
 RATIO VARIABLE
Quantitative Variable

INTERVAL VARIABLE

ORDINAL VARIABLE
Qualitative Variable

NOMINAL VARIABLE
 OTHER TYPES OF VARIABLES

1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

4 MODERATOR VARIABLE
2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE
5 CONTROLLED VARIABLE

3 INTERVENING VARIABLE
 OTHER TYPES OF VARIABLES

1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

• The cause variation or the one responsible for the conditions that act on
something else to bring out changes.

2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE

• Show the effect of manipulating or introducing the independent variables.

EXAMPLE:

“How stress affects mental state of human

beings?”
Independent Variable Stress
Dependent Variable Mental
state of
human beings

You can directly manipulate stress levels in your human subjects

and measure how those stress levels change mental state.
EXAMPLE:

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Test Score
The length of time spent
sleeping
 OTHER TYPES OF VARIABLES

3 INTERVENING VARIABLE

• A variable that helps explain the relationship between variables such

independent and dependent variables.

4 MODERATOR VARIABLE

• Affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

by modifying the effect of the intervening variable(s).
• Measured and taken into consideration.
EXAMPLE:
EXAMPLE:
 OTHER TYPES OF VARIABLES

5 CONTROLLED VARIABLE

• A variable that must be kept

constant for a fair test in order to
assess or clarify the relationship
between two other variables.
EXAMPLE:
 SUMMARY

• Variables is anything that has quantity or quality that may vary from one group to
another group, one person to another or even with the same person.
• Quantitative variable is a variables that are measured on a numeric or quantitative
scale while Qualitative variable are variables that are not numerical, describes data
that fits into categories.
• Continuous variable is a variable that can take infinite number on the value that can
occur within a population and which can be divided into fractions.
• Interval variables is a measurement where the difference between two values does
have meaning while Ratio variables is a interval variable that possesses the properties of
interval variable and has a clear definition of zero
• Discrete variable is any variable that has a limited number of district values and which
cannot be divided into fractions.
 SUMMARY
• Nominal variable is a variable whose data are non-numeric labels that do not
reflect quantitative information while ordinal variable has a clear ordering of the
variables and it has two or more categories which can be ranked.
• Independent variable is the cause variation or the one responsible for the
conditions that act on something else to bring out changes.
• Dependent variable shows the effect of manipulating or introducing the
independent variables.
• Intervening variable is a variable that helps explain the relationship between
variables.
• Moderator variable affects the relationship between the variables by modifying
the effect of the intervening variable(s).
• Discrete variable is any variable that has a limited number of district values and
which cannot be divided into fractions.