Revision summary
A variable is a property with more than one value. Experiments isolate an independent condition and measure a dependent outcome, with controls. Durkheim and Merton already thought in relations among variables. Weber and Mead limit a stimulus–response reading of persons. Most sociology uses quasi-experiments and surveys, not a closed lab.
Model answer
Introduction
A variable is a property that takes more than one value across cases, such as income, caste category, or years of schooling. In experimental research, variables are named so that a cause can be isolated from a background.
Body
What a variable is
- Independent variables are the conditions the researcher varies or selects. Dependent variables are the outcomes to be explained.
- Control variables hold rival causes constant. Intervening variables sit on the path between cause and effect.
- Emile Durkheim already treated integration as a variable that moved suicide rates, even without a laboratory.
Role in experiments
- Random assignment, after R. A. Fisher’s logic, aims to make groups comparable so the treatment is the independent variable.
- Manipulation and measurement convert a theory into an operational test. Reliability of the measure matters as much as the design.
- Robert K. Merton’s middle-range hypotheses are typically statements linking two or more variables.
Sociological caution
- Max Weber warned that meaning is not a simple stimulus. George Herbert Mead’s self is not a lever.
- Field and quasi-experiments, and survey experiments, are more common than a closed lab on society.
- Census and NFHS supply measured variables, not a full experimental isolation of cause.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD IV[Independent variable] --> DV[Dependent variable] CV[Controls] --> DV EXP[Experiment random assignment] --> IV
Conclusion
Variables name changing properties so that experimental and quasi-experimental work can test a relation. They are tools of isolation. They do not erase meaning, power, or history in social life.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Why is random sampling said to have more reliability and validity in research?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2015 · Q3(a)). View answer →
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Is every number a variable?
Only if it is defined, varies, and is tied to a concept. A lone newspaper figure is information, not yet a research variable.
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Can caste be an experimental variable?
It can be a measured independent or control. It cannot be randomly assigned as if it were a laboratory treatment.
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