science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

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 t ...

, an attribute is a quality of an object (person, thing, etc.).

Earl R. Babbie Earl Robert Babbie (born January 8, 1938), is an American sociologist who holds the position of Campbell Professor Emeritus in Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University. He is best known for his book ''The Practice of Social Research'' (first pub ...

, ''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 science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

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 In research design, especially in psychology, social sciences, life sciences and physics, operationalization or operationalisation is a process of defining the measurement of a phenomenon which is not directly measurable, though its existence is in ...

way in which the attribute is represented for further

data processing Data processing is the collection and manipulation of digital data to produce meaningful information. Data processing is a form of '' information processing'', which is the modification (processing) of information in any manner detectable by ...

. In data processing

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...

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 In the formal sciences, the domain of discourse, also called the universe of discourse, universal set, or simply universe, is the set of entities over which certain variables of interest in some formal treatment may range. Overview The dom ...

.) 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 The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

as in the model by Gilbert and Kahl).

Notes

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