PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2 /RESEARCH in
DAILY LIFE 2
NATURE OF
INQUIRY AND
RESEARCH
LEARNING COMPETENCIES
• Differentiate kinds of variables and their uses
CS RS12_Ia-c-3
SAN ANTONIO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
VARIABLE is a measurable characteristics that
varies.
CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLES
1. Quantitative variables ( numerical variables)
are quantifiable in nature and represented in numbers, allowing the
data collected to be measured on a scale or range (Moodie & Johnson,
2021).
- data that can be organized, ranked, measured, and subjected to mathematical operations.
2 KINDS of QUANTITATIVE VARIABLES
a. Continuous Variable - can take on any value within a range.
Examples : Height, weight, temperature (in Kelvin) are all continuous variables.
b. Discrete variables-can only take on whole values within a range.
It means you can count the possible values.
Examples : Number of siblings, number of nurses in a hospital,
results of a coin toss are all discrete variables .
DISCRETE CONTINOUS
values you cannot divide any value within the range
count data measurable data
2, Qualitative variables or categorical variables that
can be added into categories according to their characteristics.
Categorical variables can be classified into two types: Nominal Variables and
Ordinal Variables.
NOMINAL VARIABLES - Nominal variables, a subtype of qualitative variables,
represent categories without any inherent order or ranking (Norman & Streiner, 2008).
A variable that has two or more categories, without any implied ordering.
Examples of Nominal Variables
•Gender - Male, Female
•Marital Status - Unmarried, Married, Divorcee
•State - Texas, New Delhi, Illinois, Michigan
Ordinal Variable (Ordered list)
A variable that has two or more categories, with clear
ordering.
Examples of Ordinal Variables
Scale - Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree,
Strongly Agree
•Rating - Very low, Low, Medium, Great, Very great
Dichotomous (Binary) Variables
Dichotomous or binary variables are a type of categorical
dai·kaa·tuh·muhs
variable that consist of only two opposing categories like true/false,
yes/no, success/failure, and so on (Adams & McGuire, 2022)
Whether a customer completed a transaction (Yes or No) is a
binary variable.
Either they completed the purchase (yes) or they did not (no).
Polychotomous Variables
Polychotomous variables
these are the variables that consists of many categories.
Example:
Educational attainment, level of performance, socio –economic status,
political affiliation, Blood group, religion
Coffee drinkers may smoke more cigarettes than non-coffee drinkers, so
smoking is a confounding variable in the study of the association between coffee
drinking and heart disease. The increase in heart disease may be due to the
smoking and not the caffeine
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (X) DEPENDENT VARIABLE (Y)
- Experimental or predictor - Outcome variable
variable
- Cause variable -- Response
- researcher can control over - Presumed effect
- Stimulus - Predicted to….
- Presumed cause - Measured outcome
- Manipulated - Consequence or the criterion
- Antecedent
EXAMPLE:
NUMBER OF HOURS SPENT IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA
independent variable (IV)
STUDENT ACADEMIC STANDING
dependent variable (DV)
Give more example:
Suppose a teacher asks 100 students to complete a math test. The teacher
wants to know why some students perform better than the other.
While the teacher does not know the answer to this, she think it might be
because of 2 reasons
a. Some students spend more time revising for their test
b. Some students are naturally more intelligent
As such the teacher decides to investigate the effect of revision time
and intelligence on test performance of 100 students
Independent Variable – Test mark (1-100)
Dependent variable – revision time (measured in hours)
intelligence ( measured in IQ)
confounding variable is an extraneous variable
that is not appropriately controlled in a study, which can
result in it being unequally present in the comparison
groups. This variable can potentially influence the
outcome of the study and obscure the true relationship
between the independent variable and the dependent
variable.
ACTIVITY 3 : CONTINOUS and DISCRETE VARIABLES
Direction: Classify the following random variables into
DISCRETE OR CONTINOUS VARIABLES
1. The number of arrivals at an emergency room between 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
2. The weight of cereal box labeled “18 ounces”
3. The duration of the next outgoing telephone call from business office.
4. The number of kernels of popcorn in a 1-pound container.
5. The number of applicants for a job.
6. The number of boys in a randomly selected three child family,
7. The temperature of a cup coffee served in a restaurant
8. The number of no-shows for ever 100 reservations made with commercial use.
9. The average amount spent on electricity each July by randomly selected household in certain
state.
10. The number of vehicles owned by randomly selected household
ACTIVITY 3 : CONTINOUS and DISCRETE VARIABLES
Direction: Classify the following random variables into
DISCRETE OR CONTINOUS VARIABLES
11. The number of patrons arriving at a restaurant between 5:00 PM -2:00 AM,
12. The number of new cases of Dengue at Tabaco City.
13. The amount of rain recorded at an airport one day.
14. The air pressure of a tire on an automobile.
15. The number of students who qualified for Bicol University College Entrance Test for
SY 2024-2025.
ACTIVITY 4 : INDEPENDENT & DEPENDENT VARIABLE, CONTROL
and CONFOUNDING VARIABLES
Direction: Identifying Independent / Dependent Variables, Control & Confounding
1. A florist wants to see if Product X will extend the life of cut flowers so that they last
longer.
2. A soap manufacturer wants to prove that the detergent works better to remove tough
stains.
3. An entomologist wants to determine if temperature changes how many times a
cricket chirps?
4. Orchids were studied to determine the amount of humidity affected the flowering of
these plants.
5. You want to measure the effect of different amount of oxygen on the rate of yeast
growth.
ACTIVITY 5:
Direction: Do as directed.
1. Distinguish independent and dependent variables in a complete sentence.
2. Explain control variable in your own words in a complete sentence.
3. Explain confounding variables in your own words in a complete sentence
4. Which of the two is independent variable?
A. Student undergo blended learning in an English subject
B. Student who undergo blended learning have improved grades in an English
subject.
Explain your answer in a complete sentence.
