Variable

Research

Anything that can change or be measured in a study; independent variables are manipulated, dependent variables are measured as outcomes.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — variable merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster gives the mathematical sense, “a quantity that may assume any one of a set of values”, and the research one, “a factor in a scientific experiment that may be subject to change”. From Latin variāre, to make changeable, through Late Latin variābilis; the noun is first recorded in 1816. The dictionary does not classify variables as independent, dependent or confounding — those are study-design distinctions, described above, and they are this lexicon’s.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage above is this lexicon’s own.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Abstraction
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation

Also defined as

A measurable characteristic that can take different values; independent (cause/predictor) vs dependent (outcome) — requires careful operationalisation.

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).