research designs and variables

Variables, variables wherefore art thou Variables…

By: Brent Martinez

 

If research is like looking for MR. RIGHT, consider the following.

 

Love is the playing field and we the players. As players, we are not created in the same exact features; we are varied so to speak. We may have similarities, yet we aren’t exactly the same. This is because we are made for each other. However, finding the one to complete us is not a “chicken” job. Most even go through life having to live alone – some happily, some sadly.

 

There are many phenomena in the playing field; observable and non-observable. We, who believe we can control such phenomena even at least in our life, have to research and study how these happen, why they happen, when and where, and how to control these events from happening or how to improve or invent something to make certain events better.

 

Yet, time and again most fail to get a valid result of one’s research and arrive at a conclusion that makes one choose MR. WRONG or MR. INC (incomplete). I believe that this is because of the variables. VARIABLES, you may ask… what variables?

 

Meeting with Variables

 

It is a fun meeting for me. I get to learn more than the variables I studied. If a research is likened to LOVE and looking for MR. or MISS RIGHT, then a person looking for the love of his life should pay attention to variables. They are all over the playing field. You may know the phenomenon, make a hypothesis, study related literature; but not knowing and understanding variables will get you to an unscientific search and only a divine intervention can make you find what you are looking for – and what are the odds to that? Well, you can guess, but you would certainly agree, it is not like finding “somtum restaurant” in Thailand.

 

Let’s talk Variables

 

A variable is any entity that can take on different values. So, anything that can vary can be considered a variable, as my teacher put it.

 

What variables are there in looking for MR. RIGHT? Anything that can vary – age, religion, height, body size, nationality, education, salary, assets, even skin color^-^. In research, variable is the reality being searched by a researcher. When the variables are known, the researcher studies how these variables interact or affect each other thereby creating a phenomenon.

 

The reality of variable is in the question of how it varies and in what feature. It also answers the question on how a certain variable relates to others. The relationships maybe classified into a) correlational relationship which shows magnitude and direction b) association relationship which shows only how one variable is associated to another but with no correlation and c) causal relationship which shows cause and effect.

 

REMEMBERING ROMEO and JULIET

 Brent               : What’s your study about?

Shakespeare      : My study is about Romeo and Juliet. It is how two couple end to a tragic love story and how to prevent a repetition of such in other s’ relationship.

Brent                : Just how will you write it?

Shakespeare      : Scientifically….

 

I know there are Romeos and Juliets out there. May this knowledge of variables take you to a world of scientific discoveries and a scientifically modeled relationships ^-^. By and large, it is what research is for, to know the truth and use the truth to understand and live in harmony with nature and all that is there in.

 

VARIABLES and DESIGNS

Where the cloud is is where the wind blows… you see a research design, you find them variables.

 

Certain situations call for appropriate design which eventuates to certain types of variables involved.

Alongside with variables are Research designs. I learned in my class that certain types of variables are most often present in a particular design. Below are examples of those designs.

 

Experimental design

 

Independent variable

Dependent

Others

 

 

 

Active

 

Extraneous

Treatment

 

Intervening

Manipulate

 

Nuisance

Experimental

 

Moderator

Cause

Effect

 

Stimulus

Responses

 

 

If x, then y

If not x, then not y

If the program is given, then the outcome occurs.

If the program is not given, then the outcome does not occur.

 

Experimental design is used when you want to know whether some program or treatment causes some outcome or outcomes to occur. This also shows you are interested in having strong internal validity. (from: social research methods)

 

Regression and Path Analysis

Variables have predictive validity

 

Independent

Dependent

Others

 

 

Antecedent

Predictor

Criterion

Suppressor

 

 

Distorter

 

 

Dummy

 

Path analysis - In statistics, path analysis is used to describe the directed dependencies among a set of variables. As such, models equivalent to any form of multiple regression analysis, factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, discriminant analysis, as well as more general families of models in the multivariate analysis of variance and covariance analyses (MANOVA, ANOVA, ANCOVA).

 

Regression analysis - In statistics, regression analysis includes any techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables, when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. More specifically, regression analysis helps us understand how the typical value of the dependent variable changes when any one of the independent variables is varied, while the other independent variables are held fixed. (from: Wikipedia)

 

Quantitative and Qualitative

 

Quantitative

Qualitative

 

 

Continuous

Organismic

Ordinal

Categorical

Interval

Nominal

Dummy

 

 

 

 

Qualitative - Investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research. It emphasizes the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found. Interaction between variables is important. Detailed data is gathered through open ended questions that provide direct quotations. The interviewer is an integral part of the investigation (Jacob, 1988). (okstate.edu)

 

Quantitative - In quantitative research your aim is to determine the relationship between one thing (an independent variable) and another (a dependent or outcome variable) in a population. Quantitative research designs are either descriptive (subjects usually measured once) or experimental (subjects measured before and after a treatment). (from: sportssci.org)

 

 Factor Analysis and Lisrel

 

 

 

Observed variable

Non-observed

 

Latent

 

Construct

 

Component

 

LISREL - Linear Structural Relations, A computer program for analysing structural equation model which is a statistical  technique for testing and estimating causal relations using a combination of statistical data and qualitative causal assumptions. (answers.com)

 

Factor Analysis - Factor analysis is a statistical  method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables mainly reflect the variations in a single unobserved variable, or in a reduced number of unobserved variables. (from:Wikipedia).

 

If Shakespeare were to research on LOVE, I wonder which design he would pick up? If I were to make a study, I would like to use mixed methods. The work though is huge and if indeed one makes a research which is internally and externally valid, a good background on research designs, variable, and theories are really necessary.

 

Brent at School

 

I am not at school to find Juliet ^-^ With so many things to study, I can’t help but to think how I will put all these in my brain and how I will make them operational. Learning something isn’t just knowing facts but using them to unravel more facts and create something that helps the community,  the people we live with, or the world. (my dream 555+)

 

What I want to achieve is an in-depth understanding and knowledge about educational research. Experiment with me.^-^ Learning as they say is an unending process. The world will never run out of variables to study and phenomena to research. This basic understanding I have learned about variables made my head spin, but at least I got high (555+).

 

What I would do?

 

We learn, we do, we unlearn and learn, and we do again, until we get better. I shall soon embark on a baby research. My teacher told me to do it fast because I have not the luxury of time. May the good Lord bless me.