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Variables and Data

The document explains the concepts of data and variables in psychological statistics, highlighting the difference between them. It categorizes variables into categorical (qualitative) and numerical (quantitative), with further distinctions into ordinal and nominal for categorical variables, and discrete and continuous for numerical variables. Additionally, it discusses the importance of controlling confounding variables to avoid research biases.

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Maica
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9 views

Variables and Data

The document explains the concepts of data and variables in psychological statistics, highlighting the difference between them. It categorizes variables into categorical (qualitative) and numerical (quantitative), with further distinctions into ordinal and nominal for categorical variables, and discrete and continuous for numerical variables. Additionally, it discusses the importance of controlling confounding variables to avoid research biases.

Uploaded by

Maica
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PSYCHOLOGICAL

STATISTICS
What are
Variables and
Data?
Data and Variables
Data refers to observations and measurements
which have been collected in some way, often
through research.

Variables are the characteristics or attributes that


you are observing, measuring and recording data
for.

Variables can be categorical or numerical.


Difference of Data and Variables
In statistics and data analysis, a variable is any
characteristic or attribute that can be measured.
Data refers to the values or observations that are
collected for a particular variable.

For example, if you have a discrete random variable


representing years of schooling, the data you
collect would be discrete data.
Variables
The main two discussed in quantitative research:

You manipulate the independent variable (the one you


think might be the cause) and then measure the
dependent variable (the one you think might be the
effect) to find out what this effect might be.

You will probably also have variables that you hold


constant (control variables) in order to focus on your
experimental treatment.
Variables
Confounding Variables
A variable that hides the true effect of another variable in
your experiment.

This can happen when another variable is closely related to


a variable you are interested in, but you haven’t controlled
it in your experiment.

Be careful with these, because confounding variables run a


high risk of introducing a variety of research biases to your
work, particularly omitted variable bias.
Variables
Variables can also be categorical or numerical.

Categorical—also called qualitative—variables consist of


names and labels that divide data into specific categories.
When you select your nationality or your race on a survey,
those responses are categorical.

Numerical—also called quantitative—variables have values


that can either be counted or measured. Discrete and
continuous variables are specific types of numerical data.
Categorical Variables
Categorical variables may be further described as ordinal or
nominal:

A nominal variable is a categorical variable. Observations can


take a value that is not able to be organized in a logical sequence.

An ordinal variable is a categorical variable. Observations can


take a value that can be logically ordered or ranked. The
categories associated with ordinal variables can be ranked higher
or lower than another, but do not necessarily establish a numeric
difference between each category.
Numerical Variables
Numerical variables may be further described as discrete or
continuous:

A discrete variable is a numeric variable. Observations can


take a value based on a count from a set of distinct whole
values.

A discrete variable cannot take the value of a fraction


between one value and the next closest value.
Numerical Variables
Discrete data can only take on specific values.
For example, you might count 20 cats at the animal shelter. These
variables cannot have fractional or decimal values. You can have
20 or 21 cats, but not 20.5! Natural numbers have discrete values.

Other examples of discrete variables include the following:

The number of books you check out from the library.


The number of heads in a sequence of coin tosses.
The result of rolling a die.
The number of patients in a hospital.
The population of a country.
Numerical Variables
Numerical variables may be further described as discrete or
continuous:

A continuous variable is a numeric variable. Observations


can take any value between a certain set of real numbers.

Continuous variables can be meaningfully split into smaller


parts. Consequently, they have valid fractional and decimal
values.
Numerical Variables
In fact, continuous data have an infinite number of potential
values between any two points. Generally, you measure them
using a scale.

When you see decimal places for individual values, you’re


looking at a continuous variable.

Examples of continuous data include weight, height, length,


time, and temperature.
Are Continuous Variables Treated
as Discrete Variables?
Sometimes we treat continuous variables as if they were
discrete.
Age is an excellent example of this. If you know a person’s
time of birth, you could measure their age precisely up to the
second or even millisecond if you wanted to. In this sense, age
is a continuous variable. However, we don’t usually care about
a person’s exact age. Instead, we treat age as a discrete
variable and count age in years.

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