Understanding Independent and Dependent Variables
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ScribdTranslationsUnderstanding Independent and Dependent Variables
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ScribdTranslationsVARIABLES
DEPENDENTS AND INDEPENDENTS
The ability of things and objects to vary and assume different values.
modifying its current status.
Researchers must determine which variable should be manipulated to generate.
quantifiable results:
The independent variable:
In experimental research, it is considered the variable that the researcher manipulates, it is
that characteristic or property that is assumed to be the cause of the phenomenon
studied, considered as the center of the experiment, is isolated and manipulated by the
researcher and identifies as a cause or antecedent (series of factors or elements that explain
a scientific phenomenon).
The dependent variable:
It is the measurable result of this manipulation, the results of the experimental design. It is the
factor that is studied and measured to determine the effect of the independent variable,
considered as the property or characteristic that is being changed through the
manipulation of the independent variable (effects or results of the phenomenon subject to research)
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIABLES
The phenomenon, characteristic, or process that is the subject of study that affects its state with the
Modification (manipulation) of the independent variable, meaning that it depends on it and
In that measure, it is an effect, called the dependent variable.
Example 1:
If one wants to find out how the modification occurs in visual sensations of the
Human beings with the modification of light (manipulation of intensity), light is the variable.
what the researcher has to manipulate (independent variable) and the luminous sensation of the
subject of study, the dependent variable.
Example 2:
A researcher aims to obtain information about the effectiveness of a new toothpaste.
against cavities:
For the realization of the experiment, you must select two groups of people; one group
a principal to which the treatment (use of toothpaste) will be applied and another group to which it will not be
will apply nothing at all.
For the experiment to be valid, both groups must be subjected to the same regimen.
of feeding in a way that ensures that other intervening variables do not appear
as if one group feeds only on sweets and the other does not, based on the assumption that
eating more sweets causes more cavities (a factor that is not being controlled).
In this case, the independent variable corresponds to the application or non-application of the toothpaste and the
dependent on whether or not cavities appear.
Therefore, the presence of cavities (dependent variable) is explained by the use or non-use of
toothpaste (independent variable)
The validity of any research experiment largely depends on whether it
control the intervening variables, this is the main reason why experiments
in science, they should be carried out, as much as possible, in a vacuum to be able to
eliminate all alternative explanations derived from the material conditions of the
experiment. A dependent variable is one whose values depend on those of the
take another variable.