Women's Institute of Science & Humanities (WISH) Assignment # 1

Title: Dependent & Independent Variables

Submitted To:

Submitted By:

Discipline: Organizational behavior

Subject:

Date of Submission:

October, 06, 2010

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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What is a Variable?
Simply, something that varies. Specifically, variables represent persons or objects that can be manipulated, controlled, or merely measured for the sake of research

Types of Variable
There are three types of variable, they are as following:
Dependent Variable Independent Variable Controlled Variable

Definition 1

Independent Variables

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 These variables are ones that are more or less controlled. Scientists manipulate these variables as they see fit. They still vary, but the variation is relatively known or taken into account.

Dependent Variables

Dependent variables are not controlled or manipulated in any way, but instead are simply measured or registered. These vary in relation to the independent variables, and while results can be predicted, the data is always measured. There can be any number of dependent variables, but usually there is one to isolate reason for variation.

Example 1

What affects a students arrival to class?

Variables:

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Type of School Liberals Arts v. University Type of Student Athlete? Gender? Time Bedtime, Waking, Arrival Mode of Transportation GPA?

Definition 2

Independent Variables

Independent variable is a variable that can be controlled or manipulated.

Dependent Variables

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Dependent variable is a variable that cannot be controlled or manipulated. Its values are predicted from the independent variable.

Example 2

Student Hours studied % Grade

A B C D E F 6 2 1 5 3 2 82 63 57 88 68 75

Independent variable in this example is the number of hours studied. The grade the student receives is a dependent variable. The grade student receives depend upon the number of hours he or she will study.

Definition 3

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Independent Variables

The independent variable is typically the variable representing the value being manipulated or changed and the dependent variable is the observed result of the independent variable being manipulated.

Dependent Variables

A dependent variable is what you measure in the experiment and what is affected during the experiment. The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called dependent because it "depends" on the independent variable.

Example 3

A concerning nutrition, the independent variable of daily vitamin C intake (how much vitamin C one consumes) can influence the dependent variable of life expectancy (the average age one attains). Over some period of time, scientists will control the vitamin C intake in a substantial group of people. One part of the group will be given a daily high dose of vitamin C, and the remainder will be given a placebo pill (so that they are unaware of not belonging to the first group) without vitamin C. The scientists will investigate if there is any statistically significant difference in the life span of the people

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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who took the high dose and those who took the placebo (no dose). The goal is to see if the independent variable of high vitamin C dosage has a correlation with the dependent variable of people's life span.

Independent variable in this example is: daily vitamin C intake. Dependent variable in this example is: of life expectancy. Vitamin C dosage is dependent on the life of the people.

Definition 4

Independent Variables

Something that is changed by the scientist what is tested, what is manipulated.

Dependent Variables

The variable measured by the experimenter. It is controlled by the value of the independent variable, of which it is an index.

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Example 4

Students of different ages were given the same jigsaw puzzle to put together. They were timed and observed by the scientist to see how long it took to finish the puzzle.

In this example the independent variable is the Ages of the students Different ages were tested by the scientist. In this example the dependent variable was the time they took to put the puzzle together.

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Definition 5

Independent Variables

Variables over which the researcher has control and wishes to manipulate i.e. package size, ad copy, price are called independent variables.

Dependent Variables

Variables over which the researcher has little to no direct control, but has a strong interest in testing i.e. sales, profit, market share are called dependent variables.

Example 5

An investigation was done with an electromagnetic system made from a battery and wire wrapped around a nail. Different sizes of nails were used. The number of paper clips the electromagnet could pick up was measured.

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Independent variable: Sizes of nails these were changed by the scientist Dependent variable: Number of paper clips picked up the number of paper clips observed and counted (measured).

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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Independent vs. Dependent

Intentionally manipulated Controlled Measured

Intentionally left alone

Vary at known rate Cause Effect

Vary at unknown rate

Graphing Dependent v. Independent Variables

WISH | Zaeema Tariq (7th Semester Assignment)

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The dependent variable is placed on the y-axis, while the independent variable is placed on the x-axis. Example: Stock Market Graph

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