What refers to the characteristic or attribute that can be measured or observed in a study?

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1. These are attributes or characteristics that can have more than one value, such as height or weight. 2. These are variables that depend on other factors that are measured.3. It is a Latin research terminology which means "for example".4. It is a part or subset of population selected to participate in the research study.5. It involves the use of a variety of different graphical techniques.6. These are the devices/ instruments used to collect data such as questionnaire or computer-assistedinterviewing system.7. These are restrictions in a study that may decrease the credibility and generalizability of the research findings.8. It is a subject or issue that a researcher is interested in when conducting a research.9. It is the question around which a researcher centers his/her research.10. It is a list of all the sources used in the process of researching.
4 Data exploration 4.2 Types of variables
Categorical variables
Nominal variables
Ordinal variables
Numeric variables
Continuous variables
Discrete variables
What are the attributes in a research study?
What do we call the characteristic of the individual to be measured or observed?
What research variable is observed and measured during a research?
What do you call the characteristics or attributes of a sample that changes for individuals?

1. These are attributes or characteristics that can have more than one value, such as height or weight. 2. These are variables that depend on other factors that are measured.3. It is a Latin research terminology which means "for example".4. It is a part or subset of population selected to participate in the research study.5. It involves the use of a variety of different graphical techniques.6. These are the devices/ instruments used to collect data such as questionnaire or computer-assistedinterviewing system.7. These are restrictions in a study that may decrease the credibility and generalizability of the research findings.8. It is a subject or issue that a researcher is interested in when conducting a research.9. It is the question around which a researcher centers his/her research.10. It is a list of all the sources used in the process of researching.

4 Data exploration 4.2 Types of variables

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A variable is a characteristic that can be measured and that can assume different values. Height, age, income, province or country of birth, grades obtained at school and type of housing are all examples of variables. Variables may be classified into two main categories: categorical and numeric. Each category is then classified in two subcategories: nominal or ordinal for categorical variables, discrete or continuous for numeric variables. These types are briefly outlined in this section.

Categorical variables

A categorical variable (also called qualitative variable) refers to a characteristic that can’t be quantifiable. Categorical variables can be either nominal or ordinal.

Nominal variables

A nominal variable is one that describes a name, label or category without natural order. Sex and type of dwelling are examples of nominal variables. In Table 4.2.1, the variable “mode of transportation for travel to work” is also nominal.

Table 4.2.1
Method of travel to work for Canadians
Table summary
This table displays the results of Method of travel to work for Canadians. The information is grouped by Mode of transportation for travel to work (appearing as row headers), Number of people (appearing as column headers).

Mode of transportation for travel to work	Number of people
Car, truck, van as driver	9,929,470
Car, truck, van as passenger	923,975
Public transit	1,406,585
Walked	881,085
Bicycle	162,910
Other methods	146,835

Ordinal variables

An ordinal variable is a variable whose values are defined by an order relation between the different categories. In Table 4.2.2, the variable “behaviour” is ordinal because the category “Excellent” is better than the category “Very good,” which is better than the category “Good,” etc. There is some natural ordering, but it is limited since we do not know by how much “Excellent” behaviour is better than “Very good” behaviour.

Table 4.2.2
Student behaviour ranking
Table summary
This table displays the results of Student behaviour ranking. The information is grouped by Behaviour (appearing as row headers), Number of students (appearing as column headers).

Behaviour	Number of students
Excellent	5
Very good	12
Good	10
Bad	2
Very bad	1

It is important to note that even if categorical variables are not quantifiable, they can appear as numbers in a data set. Correspondence between these numbers and the categories is established during data coding. To be able to identify the type of variable, it is important to have access to the metadata (the data about the data) that should include the code set used for each categorical variable. For instance, categories used in Table 4.2.2 could appear as a number from 1 to 5: 1 for “very bad,” 2 for “bad,” 3 for “good,” 4 for “very good” and 5 for “excellent.”

Numeric variables

A numeric variable (also called quantitative variable) is a quantifiable characteristic whose values are numbers (except numbers which are codes standing up for categories). Numeric variables may be either continuous or discrete.

Continuous variables

A variable is said to be continuous if it can assume an infinite number of real values within a given interval. For instance, consider the height of a student. The height can’t take any values. It can’t be negative and it can’t be higher than three metres. But between 0 and 3, the number of possible values is theoretically infinite. A student may be 1.6321748755 … metres tall. In practice, the methods used and the accuracy of the measurement instrument will restrict the precision of the variable. The reported height would be rounded to the nearest centimetre, so it would be 1.63 metres. The age is another example of a continuous variable that is typically rounded down.

Discrete variables

As opposed to a continuous variable, a discrete variable can assume only a finite number of real values within a given interval. An example of a discrete variable would be the score given by a judge to a gymnast in competition: the range is 0 to 10 and the score is always given to one decimal (e.g. a score of 8.5). You can enumerate all possible values (0, 0.1, 0.2…) and see that the number of possible values is finite: it is 101! Another example of a discrete variable is the number of people in a household for a household of size 20 or less. The number of possible values is 20, because it’s not possible for a household to include a number of people that would be a fraction of an integer like 2.27 for instance.

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Date modified: 2021-09-02

What are the attributes in a research study?

The attributes of a research study that do not directly influence the causal interpretability of the results are population, setting, participant sampling, data collection, and statistical models used.

What do we call the characteristic of the individual to be measured or observed?

A variable is the characteristic of the individual to be measured or observed. For example, if we want to do a study about the people who have climbed Mt. Everest, then the individuals in the study are the actual people who made it to the top.

What research variable is observed and measured during a research?

Dependent variables (DV): These are the factor that you observe or measure. As you vary your independent variable you watch what happens to your dependent variable.

What do you call the characteristics or attributes of a sample that changes for individuals?

A variable is a characteristic or condition that can change or take on different values. Most research begins with a general question about the relationship between two variables for a specific group of individuals.