SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Dependent And Independent Variables
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H5: occupation occupation income voting behavior differences income. This distinction between independent and dependent variables is really an important one. If you confuse them, you will make a big mess out of your analysis of the social world. One way is to recall that the effect depends on the cause just as the dependent variable depends on the independent variable. Another way to remember the difference is to think of the word inca: The in dependent variable is the ca use. It might help to remember that the cause of something always happens before the effect. So, if one variable obviously comes before another variable, it will be the cause (inca 5 independent variable). Be careful, however; not all variables that come before another variable are causes of the variable. For example, one generally attends kindergarten before attending college, but we would not say that attending kindergarten is the cause of attending college!
