Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer
What are variables? How do they facilitate research?
- UPSC 2023
- Research Methods and Analysis
A variable, in Paul Lazarsfeld's tradition of methodological writing that gave sociology its modern vocabulary for quantitative analysis, is any characteristic that takes on two or more values across the units being studied — age, income, religiosity, caste status, attitude toward reservation.
You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.
What the full answer covers
- What Variables Are, Briefly
- Facilitation 1: Variables Operationalise the Abstract into the Measurable
- Facilitation 2: Variables Make Hypothesis Construction and Testing Possible
- Facilitation 3: Variables Enable Correlation and Causal Analysis — the Elaboration Paradigm
- Facilitation 4: Variables Enable Comparability Across Studies, Time, and Populations
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