PR2-Presentation-Q1-Week-3.pdf

Kinds of variables and their uses Practical Research 2 – 1st Quarter Week 3 Recall ✗ All experiments examine some kind of variable(s). A variable is not only something that we measure, but also something that we can manipulate and something we can control for....

Kinds of variables and their uses Practical Research 2 – 1st Quarter Week 3 Recall ✗ All experiments examine some kind of variable(s). A variable is not only something that we measure, but also something that we can manipulate and something we can control for. 3 Activity Form a group and complete the concept map by writing words associated with the middle word. A representative will present your concept map. 4 Analysis questions 1. What are your bases in connecting these words in ‘variable’? 2. What are your bases in connecting these words in ‘extraneous’? 3. Do you agree with the other groups’ collection of words? 4. Did you see any relationship between the two words? 5. How are you going to synthesize the words of the other groups? 5 What is a variable? What is a variable? ✗ A variable is a label of name that represents a concept or characteristic that varies (e.g. gender, weight, achievement, attitudes toward inclusion, etc.) 7 Definition of variables Conceptual ✗ The use of words or concepts to define a variable ✗ Dictionary definition ✗ Explains what to measure in a study Example: Anxiety - one’s feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease 8 Definition of variables Operational ✗ An indication of the meaning of a variable through the specification of the manner by which it is measured, categorized, or controlled ✗ Explains how to measure the variable in a study Example: Measuring the level of anxiety of students by checking their heart rate 5 minutes before the exam. 9 Types of Variables  Types of variables Independent Variable - the Dependent Variable - the variable varied or manipulated outcome variable based from by the researcher the changes of the independent variable 11  Independent variable For Instance: A group of college students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. The independent variable in the situation is: ✔ Monetary incentive 12  Dependent variable Using the same example earlier: The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. The dependent variable will be: ✔ Level of performance of college students 13 ACTIVITY Activity Identify the independent and dependent variable in the following situations: 1. A study was done to find if different tire treads affect the braking distance of a car. 2. An investigation found that more bushels of potatoes were produced when the soil was fertilized more. 3. Students of different ages were given the same puzzle to assemble. The puzzle assembly time was measured. 15  Extraneous Variables 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. 16  Extraneous Variables Example: Measuring students’ exam scores (dependent variable) given various time frames (independent variable) to review. Extraneous Variables can be age or gender. They are called participant variables if they refer to the moods, emotions, or intelligence of the student. They will be called situational variables, if they pertain to nature of the place: smelly, chilly, cold, hot, spacious, and the like. 17 Extraneous 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. Meaning, confounding variables are factors other than the independent variable that may cause a result. 18 Intervening variables Intervening variables, sometimes called a mediator variable, is a theoretical variable the researcher uses to explain a cause or connection between other study variables—usually dependent and independent ones. They are associations instead of observations. Meaning, confounding variables are factors other than the independent variable that may cause a result. 19  Intervening variables For example, if wealth is the independent variable, and a long life span is a dependent variable, the researcher might hypothesize that access to quality healthcare is the intervening variable that links wealth and life span. 20 Other types of variables ✗ Constant ✗ Attribute - do not undergo - characteristics of any changes people: during an intelligence, experiment creativity, learning styles, etc. 21 Other types of variables ✗ Covariate ✗ Continuous - included in the - quantitative in research study to nature and is used create interactions in interval or ratio with the scale of independent and measurement dependent variables 22 Other types of variables ✗ Dichotomous ✗ Latent - has only two possible - cannot be directly results: one or zero observed like personality traits Ex. Pass or Fail, True or False Ex. Quality of life, Happiness 23 Other types of variables ✗ Manifest ✗ Exogenous - can be directly - variables found observed to give outside an identified proofs to latent model variables Ex. Weather and pest in Ex. Customer satisfaction farming 24 Variables and their level of measurement Importance of levels of measurement ▪ Knowing helps you decide how to interpret the data from that variable. ▪ Knowing helps you decide what statistical analysis is appropriate on the values that were assigned. 26 27 Four levels of measurement Nominal Scale Describes a variable with categories that do not have a natural order or ranking. You can code nominal variables with numbers if you want, but the order is arbitrary and any calculations, such as computing a mean, median, or standard deviation, would be meaningless. 28 Four levels of measurement Nominal Scale Examples of nominal variables include: ✗ genotype, blood type, zip code, gender, race, eye color, political party 29 Four levels of measurement Ordinal Scale An ordinal scale is one where the order matters but not the difference between values. Examples: socio economic status (“low income”,”middle income”,”high income”), education level (“high school”,”BS”,”MS”,”PhD”) 30 Four levels of measurement Interval Scale An interval scale is one where there is order and the difference between two values is meaningful. Examples: temperature (in Celcius or Farenheit), pH scale, SAT score (200-800), credit score (300-850) 31 Four levels of measurement Ratio Scale A ratio variable, has all the properties of an interval variable, and also has a clear definition of 0.0. When the variable equals 0.0, there is none of that variable. Examples: enzyme activity, dose amount, reaction rate, flow rate, concentration, pulse, weight, length, temperature in Kelvin (0.0 Kelvin really does mean “no heat”), survival time 32 Activity Determine the level of measurement of the ff: 1. Cars described as compact, midsize, and full-size 2. Colors of M&M candies 3. Weights of M&M candies 4. types of markers (washable, permanent, etc.) 5. time it takes to sing the National Anthem 6. total annual income for statistics students 7. body temperatures of bears in the north pole 8. teachers being rated as superior, above average, average, below average, or poor Determine the independent and dependent variables in the following situations: 1. Randell wants to determine if the amount of time spent in social media has an effect on anxiety levels 2. Nika conducted an experiment to see if there’s a change in the total sales if they used social media marketing. 3. Allison studied the stress levels of children in face to face classes vs in online classes. Performance Task Performance Task 3 From the 3 research topics in Performance Task 2, identify the independent and dependent variables, and its level of measurement. Performance Task Titles Variables Independent/ Level of Dependent Measurement 1 2 3 “Destiny is variable, not fixed; it is forever changing depending upon your free will to make choices for what you want your life to be.” ― Steven Redhead, The Solution 39