Antecedent variable
Encyclopedia
In statistics
and social sciences
, an antecedent variable is a variable
that can help to explain the apparent relationship (or part of the relationship) between other variables that are nominally in a cause and effect
relationship. In a regression analysis
, an antecedent variable would be one that influences both the independent variable
and the dependent variable.
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, an antecedent variable is a variable
Variable (mathematics)
In mathematics, a variable is a value that may change within the scope of a given problem or set of operations. In contrast, a constant is a value that remains unchanged, though often unknown or undetermined. The concepts of constants and variables are fundamental to many areas of mathematics and...
that can help to explain the apparent relationship (or part of the relationship) between other variables that are nominally in a cause and effect
Causality
Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....
relationship. In a regression analysis
Regression analysis
In statistics, regression analysis includes many techniques for modeling and analyzing several variables, when the focus is on the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables...
, an antecedent variable would be one that influences both the independent variable
Independent variable
The terms "dependent variable" and "independent variable" are used in similar but subtly different ways in mathematics and statistics as part of the standard terminology in those subjects...
and the dependent variable.