Kinds of variables

and its uses IN

QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
Let’s analyze this
Suppose you are interested
IN studying the growth of a
plant.
What do you think are the
factors that CONTRIBUTES
TO the growth of a plant?
FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTES
TO THE GROWTH OF A PLANT

WATER FERTILIZER SOIL AMOUNT OF

SUNLIGHT
What is VARIABLE?
 The root word of variable is “vary” or simply “can
change”.
 A measurable or observable characteristics, or
attribute of an individual or an organization that
changes in value.
May vary among the people or organization being
studied over time. (Creswell, 2002).
AGE
GENDER

EXAMPLES OR FORMS OF
VARIABLES

WEIGHT SIZE
A variable that can take on numerical values is
called a quantitative variable or numerical
variable.
Examples of numerical variables are I.Q, height,
weight, income, and age.
On the other hand, a variable that can take on
non-numerical values is called a qualitative
variable or categorical variable
such as gender, political affiliation, religion,
education attainment, and occupation.
 In research, it is important to know the
nature of variables and how they
function in a particular study. Variable
can be classified to three criteria:
according to
(1) functional relationship,
(2) continuity of scale, and
(3) scale of measurement.
VARIABLES CLASSIFIED
ACCORDING TO
FUNCTIONAL
RELATIONSHIP
Independent Variable
A variable that is presumed to influence a dependent variable

Dependent Variable
The variable the researcher is mostly interested

The relationship between the independent and dependent variable is usually indicated by a
directional arrow from the independent variable to the dependent variable as shown in
Figure 1.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
This is the cause variable or the one responsible for the
conditions that act on something else to bring about changes.
Also known as treatment, manipulated, antecedent or
predictor variables.
EXAMPLE
A study is on the relationship of study habits and academic
performance of senior high school students in IPIL NHS.

STUDY HABITS is the independent variable

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

Those that depend on the independent variables; they are

the outcomes or results of the influence of the independent
variable.
It is also called outcome variable.

EXAMPLE
A study is on the relationship of study habits and academic
performance of senior high school students in IPIL NHS.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE is the dependent variable

VARIABLES CLASSIFIED
ACCORDING TO
CONTINUITY OF SCALE
1. Continuous variables

Quantitative variables that can take on any value of

measurement scale.
These variables represent numerical measurements
on a continuous dimension or scale and can take any
numerical value within a continuum or interval.

Examples of continuous variables are height, age,

weight, income, temperature, etc.
2. Discrete variables

Quantitative variables that can take only designated

values (finite or countable) .
The only possible values that this variable can
assume are 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc. which are obviously
whole numbers.

Examples of discrete variables are number of

pregnancies, number of failing grades, number of
times absent, and number of cars owned.
 REMEMBER
Values of discrete variables are obtained from
a process of counting and are therefore
generally restricted to whole numbers.
On the other hand, values of continuous
variable are obtained from a process of
measuring in which case the results can be real
numbers.
VARIABLES CLASSIFIED
ACCORDING TO THE
LEVEL OF
MEASUREMENT
Nominal Scale
The nominal scale is the simplest scale of
measurement that establishes equivalence or
difference between the attributes of the objects or
respondents.
In this scale, numbers are used merely as labels
of the categories of the variable.
EXAMPLE
The variable gender is a nominal variable since the
scale of measurement that applies will be nominal
scale. If we assign ‘1’ for Male, 2 for ‘Female’, and ‘3’
for ‘LGBTQ’, then the numbers are just labels of the
categories of the variable gender, and cannot be
meaningfully ordered or operated mathematically. We
cannot say that being Female is higher than being
Male even if 2 is greater than 1. Hence, the
frequencies of 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s that will result from the
measurement of gender are nominal data.
 
Ordinal Scale
In this scale of measurement, the numbers
serve as labels of the categories but more
than being labels, these numbers can be
meaningfully ranked.
In the example , there are ranks assigned
to each student based on their average
performance. You notice, the ranks are
less meaningful because looking at the
ranks alone, you cannot tell how much
higher is rank 1 than rank two, rank 2 than
rank 3. Hence, the differences between
ranks are not equal. In this case, Rank
1’s true average is 95, Rank 2’s true
average is 93, the difference is 2. The
difference between Rank 2 (93) and Rank
3 (91) is also 2.However, the difference
between Rank 3 (91) and Rank 4 (90) is
1. Ranks only tell you which one is higher
or lower but do not give information on
how much higher or how much lower.
 Interval Scale
The interval scale possesses all the characteristics of the ordinal
scale which means that the numbers used in measuring the variable
also serve as labels of the categories of the variable and that these
can be meaningfully ranked.

Interval scale refers to the level of measurement in which the

attributes composing variables are measured on specific numerical
scores or values (standard units) and there are equal distances
between attributes.
 
Example
A common example used to illustrate a
variable measured using the interval scale
is temperature in degrees Celsius. Here,
the standard unit is ‘1 degree Celsius’.
This is because the interval scale has no
true zero point.
 
Ratio Scale
The highest scale of measurement
Ratio scales have all the attributes of
interval scale variables and one
additional attribute: ratio scales
include a ‘true zero point’.
Example
For example, traffic density (measured in
vehicles per kilometer) represents a ratio scale.
The density of a link is defined as zero when
there are no vehicles in a link. Other ratio scale
variables include number of vehicles in a queue,
height of a person, weight, work experience,
amount of time to finish a task, age, distance
traveled, accident rate, etc.
LET’S APPLY YOUR LEARNING

Distribute the paper.

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29
Thank you!
Direction: Identify the Independent variable (Cause) Dependent
Variable (Result or Outcome).

1. The higher the temperature of water, the faster an egg will cook.

CAUSE (IV):
RESULT (DV):

2. The time it takes to run a kilometer depends on the amount of

exercise a person gets.

CAUSE (IV):
 RESULT (DV):
Direction: Identify the Independent variable (Cause)
Dependent Variable (Result or Outcome).

1. The higher the temperature of water, the faster an egg will

cook.
CAUSE (IV): Temperature of water
RESULT (DV): The cooking time of the egg.

2. The time it takes to run a kilometer depends on the amount

of exercise a person gets.
CAUSE (IV): Amount of exercise
RESULT (DV): Time it takes to run a km