Variables, Measurement, and Scaling Technique - Research Methodology - page 33

5

Variables, Measurement, and Scaling
Technique

The objective of a research is to search the
hidden truth of the universe for the betterment
of humanity. In doing, so a population is studied
by its characteristics. The different characteristics
of any population are also different in nature. If
one wants to study the students (population), then
the characteristics of these students are required to
be studied. The different characteristics of
students like age, intelligence, height, weight, eco-
nomic conditions, race, gender, etc., are also
required to be studied. All these characteristics
mentioned above vary from student to student,
and while studying the student population, one
must take into account the above characteristics
along with other varied characteristics. Similarly
if one wants to study the production behavior of
food grains of any country to meet the challenges
of food and nutritional requirements, a researcher
is required to study not only the time series infor-
mation of each and every component of the food
crops but also their variations over the different
component states/provinces of the country
concerned. Thus, studying a population is always
related with studying “variabilities” of

On the other hand, an entity which doesn't vary
is known as the

. Thus, if a variable is a
thesis, then the constant is the antithesis. The
universal gravitational constant (

constant

G

), acceleration

due to gravity ( ), Avogadro number, etc., are

some of the examples of constant. One can find
that the nature of constant

g

are not same;
G remains constant at any situation, but “ g ”
varies slightly over situations like at the top of
Mt Everest and at a ground level which is even
being constant itself. Thus, we come across two
types of constant, (1)

G and g

restricted constant and (2)

unrestricted constant. A constant ”is

known as a restricted constant, whereas constants
like

like “ g

G unrestricted constant

.
The characteristics/variables which one gener-
ally studies during a research process can be of two
different

are known as an

.
Height, weight, length, distance, marks obtained
by a student in different subjects, income, number
of family members, number of pods per plant, num-
ber of grains per panicle, number of insects per
plant, area under disease, number of employees in
a particular industry, turnover of a particular indus-
try over the year, prices of different commodities at
different markets at a particular point of time, prices
of different commodities at different points of time
at a particular market, etc., are few examples of
characteristics/variables which could be measured.
The above measurable characteristics/variables are
known as quantitative characters/variables. There
are certain characteristics like races (e.g., Aryans,
Dravidians, Mongoloids), gender (e.g., male or
female), complexion (e.g., good,

types: measurable and nonmeasurable

the

characteristics/entities under consideration.

5.1 Variable

In this universe, there are two types of entities—
the first one varies over different situations and
the second one remains fixed. An entity which
varies over different

situations (e.g., time,

individuals, places) is known as the variable . fair, better),