What is an outcome variable?

What is an outcome variable?

• A. A variable whose values we are trying to predict from one or more predictor variables.
• B. A variable used to group observations
• C. A variable that cannot be measured reliably
• D. A variable that remains constant across observations

Answer: (A)

An outcome variable is the thing you’re trying to predict or explain in your analysis. It’s the dependent variable that you model using one or more predictor (independent) variables. In regression, for example, you set the outcome variable as what you want to forecast, while the predictors are the factors you use to explain it. The outcome can be a continuous measure like height or test score, or a category like yes/no, depending on the analysis. Why the other descriptions don’t fit: a variable used to group observations is a grouping or factor variable, not the thing being predicted; a variable that cannot be measured reliably describes measurement quality rather than what you’re modeling; a variable that remains constant across observations cannot be analyzed as an outcome because there’s no variation to explain or predict.

An outcome variable is the thing you’re trying to predict or explain in your analysis. It’s the dependent variable that you model using one or more predictor (independent) variables. In regression, for example, you set the outcome variable as what you want to forecast, while the predictors are the factors you use to explain it. The outcome can be a continuous measure like height or test score, or a category like yes/no, depending on the analysis.

Why the other descriptions don’t fit: a variable used to group observations is a grouping or factor variable, not the thing being predicted; a variable that cannot be measured reliably describes measurement quality rather than what you’re modeling; a variable that remains constant across observations cannot be analyzed as an outcome because there’s no variation to explain or predict.