In observational and experimental studies, researchers attempt to identify causal relationships among variables. The concepts of mediation and confounding play an important role by influencing the effect of a dependent and independent variable. A confounding variable has an outside influence on both the dependent and independent variables; in other words, it is an extra variable that is added to an equation which initially is not identified as an important part of the research question. An example of a research question that can be used to show a confounding variable is, “Does the lack of exercise have an effect on weight gain?”
In the above research question, the dependent variable is the “weight gain” while the independent variable is “the lack of exercise.” If there is a confounding variable, it would be any other factor that has an influence on weight gain (Bell & Waters, 2014). As such, an example of a confounding variable is “the amount of food consumption” or a placebo. A confounding variable can ruin an experiment and produce useless results, and as many researchers suggest, there are no significant correlations between confounding variables and independent and dependent variables.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Using the same research question , a researcher can introduce a moderator, which is a variable that is used to cancel the relationship between dependent and independent variable. A moderator tends to refuse the degree of relationship between two variables (Bell & Waters, 2014). If the lack of exercise does not lead to weight gain, possible causes might be eating a balanced diet. Because the research participants eat healthily , they avoid the risk of becoming obese. Also, there is an intervening variable that helps to show clearly how variables share a relationship. For example, exercise may reduce exercise; additional factors that cause a person to lose weight during exercises are the mediator variables, which include increased body metabolism. So, it means that increased metabolism is a mediating variable that helps to reduce weight gain.
References
Bell, J., & Waters, S. (2014). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
