Question

Discuss the term Variables in the context of healthcare research.

Answer 1

There are two types of variables in healthcare research

Dependent and Independent Variables

Healthcare is assosciated with cause and effect.

The independent variable is the presumed cause and the dependent variable is the effect assosciated with the presumed cause. Therefore using the independent variable, the researcher tries to relate it to the dependent variable and generalize a relationship so as to predict the dependent variable when required.

Treatments can be provided based on these variables, for example:

Let the concentration of bacteria in causing a sore throat be the independent variable and the fever measure be the dependent variable. A treatment that causes the reduction in bacteria will then precisely help the research doctor to cure the fever and predict the outcome of the treatment based on the research data.