VARIABLE

The word variable is derived from the root word vary,

meaning, changing in amount, volume, number, form, nature
or type. These variables should be measurable, i.e., they can
be counted or subjected to a scale.
Any concept that contain more than one value is known as
variable, if concept does not vary than it does not cover as
variable because it is constant.
Variable is a central idea in research
Variable is a concept that varies.
Anything (Concept/term) that can take on differing or varying
values i.e more than two values.
Variation can be in quantity, intensity, amount or type.
 If in a situation all belongs to same field then they can not be
variable, e.g. If in the class all the students are from the same
religion than theoretically religion is variable but in this case it is
not variable.
Every variable is a concept but every concept is not variable.
Examples are:
Production unit.
Salary
Inflation
Age
Grade
Motivation.
Gender
Religion.
Absenteeism.
Per capital income
GDP
GNP.
Incentives.
 Example:
Phenomenon: climate change
Examples of variables related to climate change:
sea level
temperature
the amount of carbon emission
the amount of rainfall
Phenomenon: Crime and violence in the streets
Examples of variables related to crime and violence:
number of robberies
number of attempted murders
number of prisoners
number of crime victims
number of convictions
Phenomenon: poor performance of students in
college entrance exams
Examples of variables related to poor academic
performance:
entrance exam score
number of hours devoted to studying
student-teacher ratio
number of students in the class
educational attainment of teachers
teaching style
the distance of school from home
number of hours devoted by parents in providing tutorial
support
Phenomenon: Poor crop growth
Examples of variables related to poor crop growth:
the amount of nitrogen in the soil
the amount of phosphorous in the soil
the amount of potassium in the ground
the amount of rainfall
frequency of weeding
type of soil
temperature
 Types of Variable:-
Continuous and Discontinuous Variable.
Dependent and Independent Variable.
Moderating Variable
Intervening variable.
Extraneous Variable
 Continuous and Discontinuous Variable.
To check:
Can the variable be divided into fraction.
If the variable can be divided into fraction then the variable
is continuous and when the variable can not be divided into
fraction then the variable is termed as discontinuous
variable or discrete.
Example
Income - Continuous
Gender - Discontinuous
 Dependent and Independent Variable.
If one variable depends upon or is a consequence of
the other variable, it is termed as a dependent
variable, and the variable that is antecedent to the
dependent variable is termed as an independent
variable
D. V -----Outcome variable-----influenced by other
variable i.e I.V.
Example
Variation in variable X due to the change in Y.
height depends upon age, then height is a dependent
variable and age is an independent variable
 Moderating Variable.
A variable that moderate the strength of X and Y i.e D.V
and I.V variable is known as moderating variable.
Example
There is a relationship between facility of library (X) and
performance of student (Y) .........the strength of the
relationship between these two variable is depend upon
interest and inclination of the student.
Interest and inclination is known as M.V. Which modify the
original relationship.
 Intervening Variable.
An intervening variable (sometimes called a mediating
variable) is a hypothetical variable used to explain
causal links between other variables.
 IV IVV DV
Intervening variable may be DV for IV in the first
place, then it is IV for DV.
Example
For example, there is an association between being
poor and having a shorter life span. Just because
someone is poor doesnt mean that will lead to an
early death, so other hypothetical variables are used to
explain the phenomenon. These intervening variables
could include: lack of access to healthcare or poor
nutrition. (Poor ------lack of access--------short life)
4 days workweek (IV) will lead to higher productivity
(DV) by increasing job satisfaction (IVV)
i.e IV(4 days) IVV(job satisfaction) DV (high productivity)
 Extraneous Variable:
Extraneous variable are any variables that you are not
intentionally studying in your experiment or test
Example
you want to know if online learning increases student understanding
of statistics. One group uses an online knowledge base to study, the
other group uses a traditional text. Extraneous variables could
include prior knowledge of statistics; you would have to make sure
that group A roughly matched group B with prior knowledge before
starting the study. Other extraneous variables could include amount
of support in the home, socio-economic income, or temperature of
the testing room.
 RANDOM VARIABLE
Two Thoughts
If i roll a die what are the possible outcome

Exactly -----1
Exactly-------2
Exactly -------3
Exactly -------4
Exactly-------5
Exactly -------6
Only Six Outcome
No in between
 Second Thought
If we measure the average family income in rupees for
the each state of India.
This could be any value, nearly infinite possibilities.
For example, if we were to put all possible incomes from Rs.
10,000.00 to 10,000.99 , it would be 100 possibilities.
For Rs. 10,000 to 10,099.99, it would be 10,000 possibilities.
Eventually, the outcomes are so numerous that not possible
to count i.e it become continuous.
It becomes like...........
 So What is random variable:
A random variable is a variable that takes on numerical
values as a result of a random experiment or measurement;
associates a numerical value with each possible outcome.
Random variable must have numerical values.
Two things must be keep in mind:
The random variable itself
The possible outcomes or values the random variable can take.
The random variable is denoted by a capital letter such as X
The outcome are denoted by lowercase letters such as x.
Example result from die.............
NOW THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF RANDOM VARIABLE

CONTINIOUS

DISCRETE
 DISCRETE V/S CONTINOUS RANDOM VARIABLE
A discrete random variables has a finite number of values or
an infinite sequence of outcome (0,1,2...) and the
differences between the outcomes are meaningful.
Die throw can only have 1,2,3,4,5,6 and each is meaningfully
different
A continuous random variable has a nearly infinite number
of outcomes that cannot be easily counted and the
differences between the outcomes are not meaningful.
With average income, the difference between Rs. 10,000.00 and Rs.
10,000.01 is not meaningful.