IDENTIFICATION OF VARIABLES

VARIABLES INTRODUCTION

Variables are qualities, properties, or characteristics of

people, things, or situations that are manipulated or

measured in research

Variables are measured with instruments or scales

VARIABLES

Depressio
Pain Apathy
n

Lonelines
Hunger Affect
s

Hair
Age Gender
Color
 TYPES OF VARIABLES

1. DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLES.

2. ATTRIBUTE VARIABLE .

3. ACTIVE VARIABLES.

4. DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES .

5. EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE
 1. DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLES.

Variables that vary in only two values.

For example:
Male Vs female.
Alive Vs dead.
Day Vs night.
 2. ATTRIBUTE VARIABLE OR
DEMOGRAPHIC :

A pre-existing characteristic or attribute such as age, sex

…etc.

which the researcher simply observes and measures.

 3. ACTIVE VARIABLES
Variables that do not pre-exist, so, the researcher has to
create them.

For example:

If the researcher is testing the effectiveness of 4 drugs on

blood pressure, here, all the four drugs are considered

variable that varies among individuals.

Where different ones are taking different drugs: a, b, c or d

 4. DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES

 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: “Variable that is

believed to cause or influence the dependent variable".

 DEPENDENT VARIABLE: “Variable that is

influenced OR effect by the independent variable".

Independent Variable –

something that is changed by the scientist

What is tested

What is manipulated

Dependent Variable –

something that might be affected by the change in the independent

variable
What is observed

What is measured

The data collected during the investigation

EXAMPLE OF DEPENDENT/INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES
Does Smoking Cause Lung cancer ?

Does Nursing care Cause Rapid recovery ?

Does Drug (a) Cause Improvement ?

Cause Effect

INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLE

VARIABLE
 5. EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE

Variable that confound (mix) the relationship between the dependent

and independent variables, thus it needs to be controlled.

E.g., "air pollution" is an extraneous variable interferes with studying the

relationship between smoking "independent variable" and lung

cancer "dependent variable".