Variable and Response Relationships

Variable and Response Definitions

• Explanatory Variables:

  • Variables within a study whose specific effects are being evaluated to determine their influence or predictive relationship with an outcome.

• Response Variables:

  • Variables that measure the primary outcomes or results resulting from changes or conditions related to explanatory variables.

Funding and Variable Interferences

• Definition of Funding:

  • Funding in a study occurs specifically when the effects of two or more explanatory variables are not separated.

• Impact on Variable Relations:

  • When explanatory variables are not properly isolated or separated, the true relationship between an explanatory variable and a response variable becomes obscured.
  • Any observed relation that appears to exist between an explanatory variable and the response variable may actually be driven by some other variable or variables that were not accounted for in the study design.