A variable in research refers to any characteristic, property, or quantity which increases or decreases over time and uses different values in different situations. The following are the types of variables in research-
· Qualitative variables are those which highlight a qualitative attribute such as race, gender, hair colour, method of payment, religion, social status, etc.
· Quantitative variables are also known as numeric variables. These variables are measured in numbers, such as a person’s age.
· Discrete variables are restricted to certain values and usually contain whole numbers, such as the number of defective items in a box or the family size
· Continuous variables involve taking on an infinite number of the intermediate values within a specified interval, for example, blood pressure reading, temperature, etc.
· Independent variables are sued to measure or describe the cause or the influence of the problem
· Dependent variables are used to measure or describe the outcome of a study
· Background variable involves collecting information such as age, School Management System, educational attainment, marital status, socioeconomic status, place of birth, etc.
· Extraneous variables are concerned with identifying a single independent variable and measuring its effect on the dependent variable
