science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

, an attribute is a quality of an object (person, thing, etc.). Earl R. Babbie, ''The Practice of Social Research'', 12th edition, Wadsworth Publishing, 2009, , p. 14-18 Attributes are closely related to variables. A variable is a

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

al set of attributes. Variables can "vary" – for example, be high or low. How high, or how low, is determined by the value of the attribute (and in fact, an attribute could be just the word "low" or "high"). ''(For example see: Binary option)'' While an attribute is often intuitive, the variable is the operationalized way in which the attribute is represented for further data processing. In data processing

data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

are often represented by a combination of ''items'' (objects organized in rows), and multiple variables (organized in columns). Values of each variable statistically "vary" (or are distributed) across the variable's domain. A domain is a set of all possible values that a variable is allowed to have. The values are ordered in a logical way and must be defined for each variable. Domains can be bigger or smaller. The smallest possible domains have those variables that can only have two values, also called ''binary'' (or dichotomous) variables. Bigger domains have ''non-dichotomous'' variables and the ones with a higher level of measurement. (See also domain of discourse.) Semantically, greater precision can be obtained when considering an object's characteristics by distinguishing 'attributes' (characteristics that are attributed to an object) from ' traits' (characteristics that are inherent to the object).

Examples

Age is an attribute that can be operationalized in many ways. It can be dichotomized so that only two values – "old" and "young" – are allowed for further data processing. In this case the attribute "age" is operationalized as a binary variable. If more than two values are possible and they can be ordered, the attribute is represented by ordinal variable, such as "young", "middle age", and "old". Next it can be made of rational values, such as 1, 2, 3.... 99. The "social class" attribute can be operationalized in similar ways as age, including "lower", "middle" and "upper class" and each class could be differentiated between upper and lower, transforming thus changing the three attributes into six (see the model proposed by William Lloyd Warner) or it could use different terminology (such as the working class as in the model by Gilbert and Kahl).

Notes

{{Authority control Social research Variables (mathematics) Statistical data types Design of experiments