Question

9. Is economics a science like physics or math? Why or why not.

10. Define Independent and Dependent variables.

Answer 1

9. Economics is not a natural science like physics and math, while it is regarded as a social science. Being a social science , studies in economics revolve around the relationships between individual and societies. Economics highly focuses on the development and operation of societies.Unlike most natural sciences, economics being a social science highly depends on interpretation and qualitative methodologies.Though in economics various quantitative tools are being used which are similar to those in other natural sciences, to determine various charts and trends. In addition economics uses various survey methods and other research methods to understand trends and future prospectives.Physics and math being a natural science,their laws cannot be influenced by human behaviour while on the other hand economics being a social science it's laws are influenced by human behaviour.

10. Independent variables are those variables which the researcher uses to determine the dependent or targeted variable in an experiment. The researcher may change and control the independent variables to get the desired outcome as it is assumed to have a direct impact on the dependent variable.eg- suppose the researcher want to identify the education level of a state, his independent variables may include household's income, parent's education, sex etc as per his requirements.

Dependent variables on the other hand are those variables which are being tested and measured in an experiment and are directly dependent to the independent variables taken by the researcher. eg- researcher takes education as the dependent variable in his experiment.