Intervening variable

 

Intervening Variable Defined

An intervening variable is a variable that helps explain the relationship between two variables. But what does that really mean?

An intervening variable is a hypothetical variable used to explain causal links between other variables. Intervening variables cannot be observed in an experiment (that’s why they are hypothetical). For example, there is an association between being poor and having a shorter life span. Just because someone is poor doesn’t mean that will lead to an early death, so other hypothetical variables are used to explain the phenomenon. These intervening variables could include: lack of access to healthcare or poor nutrition.

In psychology, the intervening variable is sometimes called a mediator variable. In statistics, an intervening variable is usually considered to be a sub-type of mediating variable. However, the lines between the two terms are somewhat fuzzy, and they are often used interchangeably.

Examples of Intervening Variables

The Relationship Between Education and Spending

Joe is a psychologist interested in the relationship between education and spending. Joe decides to conduct a research study. Joe's study uses level of education as the independent variable. An independent variable is the variable that the researcher has control over and can manipulate. Spending is the dependent variable, or the variable that is being observed or measured for changes that are thought to be caused by the changes in the independent variable. The dependent variable is the effect or outcome that the researcher is interested in examining. Unlike the independent variable, the dependent variable is not manipulated by the researcher.

Limitations

Intervening variables are hypothetical constructs like personality, intelligence or attitude. As they are not “real” variables, one major limitation is that they cannot be measured. It is therefore impossible to quantify how much of the experimental results are due to the independent variables, and how much are due to each of the intervening variables.

Intervening and Independent/Dependent Variables

Boston University defines an intervening variable as “A control variable that follows an independent variable but precedes the dependent variable in a causal sequence.” So you could also look at intervening variables in terms of the independent variable and dependent variable; the intervening variable intervenes or mediates between the two. In the longevity example above, the independent variable is money (or lack of) and the dependent variable is longevity. Lack or access to healthcare or poor nutrition intervene, or fill the gap, between the independent and dependent variable.

REFERENCE:

https://www.statisticshowto.com/intervening-variable

https://study.com/academy/lesson/intervening-variable-definition-example.html

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