Identify 1 importance of

Research in the field of

Education
 VARIABLES
 Definition: Variables are properties or
characteristics of people or things that vary in
quality or magnitude from person to person or
object to object (Miller & Nicholson, 1976)
 Demographic characteristics
 Personality traits
 Communication styles or competencies
 Constructs

 in order to be a variable, a variable must

vary (e.g., not be a constant), that is, it must
take on different values, levels, intensities, or
states
Extraneous variables
An extraneous variable is any factor that is not
the independent variable that can affect an
experiment's dependent variables, which are
the controlled conditions. Since unexpected
variables can change an experiment's
interpretation and results, it's important to
learn how to control them. Extraneous
variables can be natural characteristics of
the participant, such as age or gender, or
they could be features of the environment such
Factors that affect
the dependent
variable but that
the researcher did
not originally
consider when
designing the
experiment
Example: Robert conducted a
study to examine how lack of Parental support, prior
sleep affects college students. knowledge of a foreign
Each student participant is a language or
dependent variable, while the socioeconomic status
independent variable is the are extraneous
amount of sleep that they get. In
this study, an extraneous
variables that could
variable could include other influence a study
factors that affect college assessing whether
students, such as living in a loud private tutoring or
dormitory or having a smoke online courses are
detector malfunction one night more effective at
and wake up a participant. To improving students'
control this extraneous variable,
Confounding
Variable influences
the dependent variable, Extra variables that
and also correlates with the researcher did not
or causally affects the account for that can
independent variable. disguise another
Confounding variables variable's effects and
can invalidate your show false
experiment results by correlations
making them biased or
suggesting a relationship
In a study of whether a particular
genre of movie affects how much
candy kids eat, with experiments
are held at 9 a.m., noon and 3
p.m. Time could be a confounding
variable, as the group in the noon
study might be hungrier and
therefore eat more candy because
lunchtime is typically at noon.
Control, or
controlling,
variables have no Characteristics
effect on other variables that are constant
and are often kept the and do not
same throughout an change during a
experiment to prevent study
bias. Composite
variables are often
made up of two or more
In an experiment about plant
development, control variables
might include the amounts of
fertilizer and water each plant
gets. These amounts are always
the same so that they do not
affect the plants' growth.
Discrete variable
A discrete variable is a factor that data
analysts can represent as a whole
number and collect through
counting.

For example, discrete variables could

include simple data that an analyst
collects by counting, like the number
of employees who complete a task or
Discrete Variable Examples

- The number of workers in an

office
- The number of steps you take in
a day
- The number of babies born each
day
A continuous variable is a variable that
can take on any value within a range. A
continuous variable takes on an infinite
number of possible values within a given
range.
Because the possible values for a
continuous variable are infinite, we
measure continuous variables (rather
than count), often using a measuring
device like a ruler or stopwatch. Continuous
Continuous Variable Examples

- The time it takes for office

employees to commute to work
- The distance you walk in a day
- The weight of newborn babies
Examples of continuous variables include:
•The time it takes sprinters to run 100 meters
•The size of real estate lots in a city
•The weight of baby elephants
•The body temperature of patients with the flu
•The deployment altitude of skydivers

None of these variables are countable. This is the

key difference between discrete and continuous
variables. A continuous variable can take on an
infinite number of values within a range.
 b
The VARIABLE
The term variable refers to the characteristic or property whereby the
members of the group or set vary or differ from one another. For instance,
the members of a group may vary in sex, age, color, attitude, intelligence
and others. Labels or numerals may be used to name a variable.

Variables According to Functional

Relationship

Variables are classified into independent and dependent with respect to

their functional relationship. For example: if you variable y as a function
of variable x , then x is your independent variable and y is your dependent
variable. This means that the value of y (say Academic Achievement)
depends on the value of x (say Mental Ability).
 Scales of Measurement

Data

Qualitative Quantitativ
e

Numerical
Numerical Nonnumerical
Nonnumerical Numerical
Numerical

Nomina
Nomina Ordina
Ordina Nominal
Nominal Ordinal
Ordinal Interval
Interval Ratio
Ratio
ll ll
 Scales of Measurement
Scales
Scales of
of measurement
measurement include:
include:
Nominal Interval
Ordinal Ratio

The scale determines the amount of informati

contained in the data.
The
The scale
scale indicates
indicates the
the data
data summarization
summarization and
and
statistical
statistical analyses
analyses that
that are
are most
most appropriate.
appropriate.
Scales of Measurement
•Nominal
Data
Data are
are labels
labels or
or names
names used
used to
to identify
identify an
an
attribute
attribute of
of the
the element.
element.

A
A nonnumeric
nonnumeric label
label or
or numeric
numeric code
code may
may be
be use
use
Scales of Measurement
categorical variable. Nominal variables have
two or more categories without having any
kind of natural order. they are variables with
no numeric value, such as occupation or
political party affiliation. Another way of
thinking about nominal variables is that they
are named (nominal is from Latin nominalis,
meaning pertaining to NAMES).
Nominal variables:
•Cannot be quantified. In other words, you can’t perform
arithmetic operations on them, like addition or subtraction, or
logical operations like “equal to” or “greater than” on them.
•Cannot be assigned any order.
•Gender (Male, Female, Transgender).
•Eye color (Blue, Green, Brown, Hazel).
•Type of house (Bungalow, Duplex, Ranch).
•Type of pet (Dog, Cat, Rodent, Fish, Bird).
•Genotype ( AA, Aa, or aa).

•Placing cats into breed type. Example: a Persian

is a
breed of cat.
•Putting cities into states. Example: Davao is a
city in
Philippines.
•Surveying people to find out if men or women
have higher
self-esteem.
•gender – male or female
•civil status – single or married
•nationality – Filipino, Chinese, Singaporean
Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese
•religion – Muslim, Christian, Buddhist,
Shinto

Notice that the categories of each nominal

variable do not indicate that one is superior
or greater than the other. These are mainly
classifications that separate one group
from the other.
Scales of Measurement
•Ordinal
The
The data
data have
have the
the properties
properties of
of nominal
nominal data
data and
and
the
the order
order or
or rank
rank of
of the
the data
data is
is meaningful.
meaningful.

A
A nonnumeric
nonnumeric label
label or
or numeric
numeric code
code may
may be
be us
us
 ORDINAL SCALE.
The ordinal scale contains things that you can place in order. For
example, hottest to coldest, lightest to heaviest, richest to poorest.
Basically, if you can rank data by 1st, 2nd, 3rd place (and so on), then
you have data that’s on an ordinal scale.
 High school class rankings: 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc..
Social economic class: working, middle, upper.

The Likert Scale: agree, strongly agree, disagree

etc..
The ordinal scale is a type of measurement scale that
deals with ordered variables.
Let’s say you were asked to order five movies from
your most favorite to your least favorite: Jaws, The
Matrix, All Good Things, Children of Men and The
Sound of Music. Creating the order of preference
results in the movies being ordered on an ordinal
scale:
The Matrix.
Jaws.
Children of Men.
The Sound of Music.
A second example of the ordinal scale: you
might conduct a survey and ask people to
rate their level of satisfaction with the choice
of the following responses:

Extremely satisfied.
Satisfied.
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
Dissatisfied.
Extremely dissatisfied.

The choices from “extremely satisfied” to

“extremely dissatisfied” follow a natural
To illustrate this statistical scale simply and clearly,
examples of variables that are measured using this scale
of measurement are the following:

•order of child in the family – eldest, second eldest …

youngest
•socioeconomic status of families – upper, middle, lower
•size – small, medium, large

Notice that while the different groups follow an order of

magnitude, there is no discernible distance between
them or that the distances could vary between each
group
Scales of Measurement
•Interval
The
The data
data have
have the
the properties
properties of
of ordinal
ordinal data,
data, and
and
the
the interval
interval between
between observations
observations is
is expressed
expressed in
i
terms
terms of
of a
a fixed
fixed unit
unit of
of measure.
measure.

Interval
Interval data
data are
are always
always numeric.
numeric.
 Interval Scale. An interval scale has ordered
numbers with meaningful divisions.
Temperature is on the interval scale: a difference of 10
degrees between 90 and 100 means the same as 10
degrees between 150 and 160.
Compare that to high school ranking (which is ordinal),
where the difference between 1st and 2nd might
be .01 and between 10th and 11th .5.
If you have meaningful divisions, you have
something on the interval scale.
A interval scale has measurements where the difference
between values is meaningful. In other words, the
differences between points on the scale are measurable and
exactly equal.

For example, the difference between a 110 degrees F and 100

degrees F is the same difference as between 70 degrees F and
80 degrees F.

Dates
are also measured on an interval scale. For example, there’s
100 years between the 20th and 21st, and also the 21st and 22
centuries. Dates illustrate a major problem with interval
The interval scale of measurement measures variables better than the
rank order mode of the ordinal scale of measurement. There is now
an equal spacing between the different groups that composes the
variable. Examples of variables that can be measured using this
statistical scale of measurement are the following:
•household income in PhP5,000 brackets – 1st group: earns
up to PhP5,000, 2nd group: PhP10,000, 3rd group:
PhP15,000
•temperature in 5 degree intervals – 5, 10, 15, 20
•number of student absences in one week – week 1
absence, week 2 absence, week 3 absence
•water volume in 5 milliliter increments – 5 ml, 10 ml, 15ml, 20 ml
Scales of Measurement
•Ratio
The
The data
data have
have all
all the
the properties
properties of
of interval
interval dat
dat
and
and the
the ratio
ratio of
of two
two values
values is
is meaningful.
meaningful.
Variables
Variables such
such as
as distance,
distance, height,
height, weight,
weight, and
and time
time
use
use the
the ratio
ratio scale.
scale.

This
This scale
scale must
must contain
contain aa zero
zero value
value that
that indicates
indicates
that
that nothing
nothing exists
exists for
for the
the variable
variable at
at the
the zero
zero point.
point
A ratio scale has all the properties of an interval scale. Ratio
data on the ratio scale has measurable intervals.

For example, the difference between a height of six feet and

five feet is the same as the interval between two feet and
three feet. Where the ratio scale differs from the interval scale
is that it also has a meaningful zero.

The zero in a ratio scale means that something doesn’t exist.

For example, the zero in the Kelvin temperature scale means
that heat does not exist at zero. Other examples of the ratio
scale:
Ratio Scale. The ratio scale is exactly the same as the interval
scale with one major difference: zero is meaningful. For
example, a height of zero is meaningful (it means you don’t
exist). Compare that to a temperature of zero, which while it
exists, it doesn’t mean anything in particular (although
admittedly, in the Celsius scale it’s the freezing point for water).
The ratio scale of measurement works similarly
with the interval scale. In fact, in using statistical
tests, these two statistical scales of measurement
are not treated differently from the other. The only
difference between the ratio and the interval scale is
that the former (i.e., the ratio scale) has an
absolute zero point.
Examples of ratio variables are the following:
•weight in kilograms or pounds
•height in meters or feet
•distance of school from home
•amount of money spent during vacation
As the “0” in the ratio scale means the complete
absence of anything, there are no negative
numbers on this scale
•Age. The clock starts ticking when you are born, but an
age of “0”
technically means you don’t exist.
•Weight. At 0 pounds, you would weight nothing and
therefore wouldn’t
exist.
•Height. If you were 0″, you would have no height.
•Sales figures. Sales of zero means that you sold nothing
and so sales
didn’t exist.
•Quantity purchased. If you bought 0 items, then there
were no
quantities purchased.
Characteristics of Ratio Scale
1.Ratio scale, - has an absolute zero
characteristic. It has orders and equally
distanced value between units.

2.Ratio scale doesn’t have a negative

number, unlike interval scale because of
the absolute zero or zero point
characteristic.
The following are the most commonly
used examples:
1. What is your height in feet and
inches?
•Less than 5 feet.
•5 feet 1 inch – 5 feet 5 inches
•5 feet 6 inches- 6 feet
•More than 6 feet

2. What is your weight in kgs?

•Less than 50 kgs
•51- 70 kgs
•71- 90 kgs
•91-110 kgs
•More than 110 kgs

3. How much time do you spend

daily watching television?
•Less than 2 hours
•3-4 hours
•4-5 hours
•5-6 hours
•More than 6 hours
VARIABLES according to VALUES

1. Continuous (Interval or
Ratio)
2. Discrete (Nominal or
Ordinal)
Discrete Variables
Quantitative variables whose observations can assume only
a countable numbers and values cannot take the decimal form
Examples:
-number of children in the family number of students in
the class; Number of houses in the city

Continuous Variables
- quantitative variables whose observations can assume
any one of the countless number of values in a line interval
Examples:
height- 5 feet, 4.6 inches
weight- 115 lbs 68 kgs
time- 1 hour, 46 minutes
Continuous variables: include constant
increments or gradations, which can be
arithmetically compared and contrasted
IQ scores
self-esteem scores
age
heart rate, blood pressure
number of gestures
 Discrete variables
 Nominal variables: distinct, mutually
exclusive categories
 religions; Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.
 occupations; truck driver, teacher,
engineer
 marital status; single, married, divorced
 Concrete versus abstract variables
 concrete; relatively fixed, unchanging
 biological sex
 ethnicity
 abstract; dynamic, transitory
 mood, emotion
 occupation
Qualitative Data
Labels
Labels or
or names
names used
used to
to identify
identify an
an attribute
attribute of
of each
each
element.
element. E.g.,
E.g., Black
Black or
or white,
white, male
male oror female.
female.

Referred
Referred to
to as
as categorical
categorical data
data

Use
Use either
either the
the nominal
nominal or
or ordinal
ordinal scale
scale of
of
measurement
measurement

Can
Can be
be either
either numeric
numeric or
or nonnumeric
nonnumeric

Appropriate
Appropriate statistical
statistical analyses
analyses are
are rather
rather limited
limited
 Quantitative Data

Quantitative
Quantitative data
data indicate
indicate how
how many
many oror how
how much:
much:
Discrete,
Discrete, if
if measuring
measuring howhow many.
many. E.g.,
E.g., number
number
of
of 6-packs
6-packs consumed
consumed at at tail-gate
tail-gate party
party
Continuous,
Continuous, ifif measuring
measuring how
how much.
much. E.g.,
E.g., pounds
pounds
of
of hamburger
hamburger consumed
consumed at at tail-gate
tail-gate party
party

Quantitative
Quantitative data
data are
are always
always numeric.
numeric.

Ordinary
Ordinary arithmetic
arithmetic operations
operations are
are meaningful
meaningful for
for
quantitative
quantitative data.
data.