The Nature of

Variables
 Learning Objective

 To differentiate kinds of
variables and their uses
Key Understanding
 Understanding of the different kinds
of variables and their uses

Key Question
 What are the different kinds of
variables and their uses?
Variables
 Are “changing qualities or characteristics”
of persons or things like age, gender,
intelligence, ideas, achievements,
confidence, and so on that are involved in
your research study.
 Made up of the root or base word “vary”
which means to undergo changes or to
differ from, variables have different or
varying values in relation to time and
situation.
Types of Variables
 Independent variables are
those that cause changes in the
subject
 Dependent variables are those
that bear or manifest the effects
caused by the independent
variables.
 Variable Relationships
 In a scientific way of studying
cause-effect relationships,
these two variables,
independent and dependent
are part and parcel of the
research because the first one
is the cause; the second, the
effect that you can subject to
any form of measurement.
 Variable Relationships

 However, as you carry out the research, it is

possible that one, two, or more variables or
extra variables crop up to create an impact on
the relationship between the independent and
dependent variables. Being extra variables,
they form this other type of variables called
extraneous variables.
Variable Relationships
For example, in the case of SFG vs. IC, (the first
as the independent variable; the second as the
dependent variable) extraneous variables like
age, gender, or personality traits may suddenly
surface to create effects on the relationships of
the two basic variables. Such extraneous
variables are called participant variables if they
refer to the moods, emotions, or intelligence of
the subject; situational variables, if they pertain
to nature of the place: smelly, chilly, cold, hot,
spacious, and the like.
Other Types of Variables
 Extraneous variables are to be controlled by
you, the experimenter. But if they do not give
in to your control, they become confounding
variables that can strongly influence your
study.
 Involved not within the research situation but
outside the research process, the extraneous
variables exist as “nuisance variables,” whose
potency need to go down to prevent it from
affecting the results negatively. (Suter 2013,
p. 137; Thomas 2013; Schreiber 2012).
 Other Types of Variables
(Russell 2013; Babbie 2013)

1. Constant – do not undergo any changes

during an experiment

2. Attribute – characteristics of people:

intelligence, creativity, anxiety, learning
styles, etc.

3. Covariate – included in the research study

to create interactions with the independent
and dependent variables
 Other Types of Variables
(Russell 2013; Babbie 2013)

4. Continuous – quantitative in nature and is

used in interval or ratio scale of
measurement

5. Dichotomous – has only two possible

results: one or zero

6. Latent – cannot be directly observed like

personality traits
 Other Types of Variables
(Russell 2013; Babbie 2013)

7. Manifest – can be directly observed to give

proofs to latent variables

8. Exogenous – found outside an identified

model

9. Endogenous – found inside; as a part of

identified model