VARIABLES AND TYPES OF VARIABLES Variable is central idea in research.  Simply defined, variable is a concept that varies.  There are two types of concepts: those that refer to a fixed phenomenon and those that vary in quantity, intensity, or amount (e.g. amount of education).  The second type of concept and measures of the concept are variables.  A variable is defined as anything that varies or changes in value.  Variables take on two or more values.  Because variable represents a quality that can exhibit differences in value, usually magnitude or strength, it may be said that a variable generally is anything that may assume different numerical or categorical values.  Once you begin to look for them, you will see variables everywhere.  For example gender is a variable; it can take two values: male or female.  Marital status is a variable; it can take on values of never married, single, married, divorced, or widowed.  Family income is a variable; it can take on values from zero to billions of Rupees. A person’s attitude toward women empowerment is variable; it can range from highly favorable to highly unfavorable. In this way the variation can be in quantity, intensity, amount, or type; the examples can be production units, absenteeism, gender, religion, motivation, grade, and age.  A variable may be situation specific; for example gender is a variable but if in a particular situation like a class of Research Methods if there are only female students, then in this situation gender will not be considered as a variable. Types of Variable 1.  Continuous and Discontinuous variables