Question

What is the role of variables in scientific research methodology? Is it important to capture all variables in data collection tool? If so, why or why not?

Answer 1

Please don't hesitate to give a "thumbs up" in case you're satisfied with the answer

Importance / Role of a variable in scientific research methodology:

A type of variable,  controlled variables , are factors which are controlled or held constant throughout an investigation. The are kept unchanging so that they won't influence the outcome of the experiment by changing. However, they do have an impact on the experiment.

For example, if you are measuring whether plants grow better when watered with milk or water, one of the controlled variables might be the amount of light that is given to the plants. Even through the value may be held constant throughout the experiment, it is important to note the condition of this variable. You would expect the growth of the plant might be different in sunlight as compared with darkness, right? Tracking controlled variables makes it easier to replicate an experiment. Sometimes the effect of a variable comes as a surprise, leading to a new experiment.

Although the answer to this is subjective, we can say to a good level of confidence that it is not important to capture all variables in data collection tool. That ' because we should capture the variables of highest importance and not capture those which don't impact the study much. Hence, we prioritize capturing of variables that are more important