PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2:

MODULE 3 – WEEK 3

Sir Mark Anthony C. Mamon

LEARNING
COMPETENCY

Differentiates
kinds of
variables and
their uses
Group yourselves based on the
following categories or features:
1. Province
2. Age
3. Grade 11 – Section
4. Junior High School
5. Number of siblings
https://www.colourbox.de/preview/6384415-different-groups-of-people-concept-3d-illus
What is a variable?

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Variable
Simply something that varies
 A variable is a feature characteristic
of any member of a population
differing in quality or quantity from
one member to another
 Common variables in social
research are age, sex, gender,
education, income, marital status,
and occupation
Phenomenon or Situation:
Crime and violence on streets
Examples of variables:
 Number of robberies
 Number of prisoners
 Number of attempted murders
 Number of law enforcers
 Number of carnapping incidents
Phenomenon or Situation:
COVID-19 Cases in Metro Manila
Examples of variables:
 Number of positive cases per city
 Number of deaths per city
 Number of active cases per city
 Number of quarantine facilities per city
 Number of recoveries per city
Researchers organize variables into different
categories:
• according to their statistical type; and,
• according to their roles play in research
QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE
Quantitative variable - A variable differing in quantity is called
quantitative variable, for example, the weight of a person,
number of people in a car.

Qualitative variable - A variable differing in quality is called a

qualitative variable or attribute, for example, color, the degree of
damage of a car in an accident
QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE
Quantitative variable - A variable differing in quantity is called
quantitative variable, for example, the weight of a person,
number of people in a car.

Qualitative variable - A variable differing in quality is called a

qualitative variable or attribute, for example, color, the degree of
damage of a car in an accident
STATISTICA
L TYPE

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A. NUMERICAL VARIABLE
1. Discrete variable - is a quantitative variable with a finite number of values
- Limited number of distinct values
- Countable
Example: Number of children – 4
Number of refugees - 35

2. A continuous variable is a quantitative variable with an infinite number of

values
Example: Temperature – 35.67 degrees Celsius
Weight – 45.67 Kilos
Height – 5.67 Feet
B. Categorical Variable - can take names or labels as values

1. Nominal variable
- have values without placing them in some sort of order
- Attributes (feature)

Examples:
A. Biological Sex G. School ID
B. Eye color H. Blood Type
C. Religion
D. Jersey Number
E. Political affiliation
F. Zip code
2. Ordinal Variables
- Categories that can be ordered or ranked

Examples:
A. Education Levels
B. Income Brackets
C. Scale in amount pain (1 – 10)
D. Likert Scale on Agreement:
(Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree)
B. Categorical Variable - can take names or labels as values

1. A dichotomous variable can have two possible values when

observed or measured
A. Sex: male or female
B. Academic status: passed or failed
C. Completion status: yes or no

2. Polychotomous variable can have more than two possible values.

The following categorical variables can be classified as follows:
• Skin color → Nominal, Polychotomous
• Sex → Nominal, Dichotomous
• Educational Attainment → Ordinal, Polychotomous
• Religion → Nominal, Polychotomous
Number of
Variables in
Research

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3. Ratio Variable –
Measurement where the difference between two values does have
meaning
has a clear definition of zero (ABSOLUTE zero)

Examples: HEIGHT, WEIGHT, DISTANCE

4. INTERVAL VARIABLES
Measurement where the difference between two values does have
meaning
no absolute zero

Example: TEMPERATURE
TYPES OF RESEARCH VARIABLES

1. Independent variable or (cause or predictor variable)
- the cause variable or the one that is responsible for the conditions that act
on something else to bring about changes.
- is a variable that is being manipulated in an experiment in order to observe
the effect on a dependent variable.

2. Dependent variable (outcome variable)

- depend on the independent variables
- they are the outcomes or results of the influence of the independent
variable
https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/independent-variable
Examples:

Effectiveness of different strategies in teaching mathematics on

the academic performance of Grade 10 students

Independent Variable: strategies in teaching mathematics

Dependent Variable: academic performance of Grade 10

students
Ex. 1: Impact of blended learning on student achievement test in
Science

Independent variable: Blended Learning

Dependent variable: Student Achievement Test in Science

Ex. 2: School burnout and engagement: their combined effects

on student achievement

Independent variables: School Burnout and Engagement

Dependent variable: Student Achievement
Ex. 3: The effects of schooling, family, and poverty on children’s
attainment, potential, and confidence

Independent variables: Schooling, Family and Poverty

Dependent Variable/s: Children’s Attainment, Potential and
Confidence

Ex. 4: Nutritional levels of food in school canteens: its effects on the

physical well-being of Grade 1 students

Independent Variables: Nutritional levels of food

Dependent Variables: Physical well-being of Grade 1 students
3. Control Variable
- Is used as a constant and unchanging standard of 
comparison in scientific experimentation.

- is another factor in an experiment; it must be held constant.

- is a variable that is held constant to prevent it from influencing
the outcome of a study. 
Experimental Study:
Effects of Organic Fertilizer X and Y on the growth of the plants

Independent Variable: Organic Fertilizer X and Y

Dependent Variables: Plant Growth

1. Height
2. Number of leaves

Control Variables:
3. Amount of Water 4. Same size of pot
4. Same type of Soil
5. Same plant
4. Intervening variables (mediating variables)
- “stand between” the independent and dependent variables
- is a hypothetical variable used to explain causal links between
other variables. Intervening variables cannot be observed in an
experiment (that’s why they are hypothetical). 

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https://www.statisticshowto.com/intervening-variable/#:~:text=An%20intervening%20variable%20is%20a,having%20a%20shorter%20life%20span.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.statology.org%2Fintervening-variable
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slideshare.net%2FAbhijeetSatpathy2%2Fvariables-in-social-science-research-and-its-measurement-
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5. Moderating variable
-  refers to a variable that can strengthen, diminish, negate, or
otherwise alter the association between independent and
dependent variables.

- In other words, it affects the relationship between the

independent variable and a dependent variable.

- Moderating variables can also change the direction of this

relationship.

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6. Extraneous Variables

- These variables are external factors that may affect the result of the
study, therefore, needs to be controlled.
- These variables include the following:
• Situational variables such as the environment
• Participant variables such as mood and intelligence
• Experimenter effects such as giving unintentional clues during
experiment and demand characteristics which are clues in an
experiment that gives hint to the participants of the purpose of the
study
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.simplypsychology.org%2Fvariables.jpg%3Fezimgfmt%3Drs%3A382x182%2Frscb24%2Fng%3Awebp%2Fngcb24&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.simplypsychology.org%2Fextraneous-
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Reference:

Faltado, R.E., Bombita, M.B., Boholano, H.B. & Pogoy,

A.M. 2016. Practical Research 2 (Quantitative Research
for SHS). Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.