Course: Statistics
A dependent variable is what you measure in a study, changing based on other factors, known as independent variables.
In social research, a dependent variable (DV) is an outcome or result that researchers want to understand or predict. You could think of it as a target: it’s what we aim our questions at. But it isn’t static, meaning it doesn’t stay the same. What makes it move or change? That’s where DVs come in.
Independent Variables
Independent variables (IVs) are the factors or conditions that we believe have an effect on our dependent variable. If we change them, we expect to see a change in our target, the DV. In other words, the dependent variable depends on the independent variables.
A Real-World Example: Criminal Justice
Let’s make this more tangible with a criminal justice example. Suppose we’re studying the impact of educational programs in reducing reoffending rates among ex-prisoners. In this case, the DV is the reoffending rate. We’re watching to see if it goes up or down.
The independent variable? That’s the educational program. We can tweak it, change it, and see what happens to our dependent variable afterward. After all, our theory is that better education will reduce reoffending.
Social Work
But criminal justice isn’t the only field where we see this idea in action. Social work uses the same principles. Say we’re looking at the effects of different therapeutic interventions on the well-being of foster children. Here, the DV is the children’s well-being, while the independent variable is the type of therapy used.
Political Science
Even in political science, we work with dependent variables. Let’s say we want to understand how a candidate’s campaigning style affects their election success. Here, the success in the election is the dependent variable, changing according to the campaign style, which is our independent variable.
All in All
To sum it up, the dependent variable is what we’re trying to explain or predict in our research. It’s dependent because it changes in response to our independent variable(s). Whether we’re studying criminal justice, social work, or political science, this concept helps us build our understanding of how different factors interact and shape outcomes.