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Project: Name: Muhammad Siddique

The document discusses the differences between mediator and moderator variables. A mediator variable explains the relationship between an independent and dependent variable, such as how education mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and frequency of breast self-exams. A moderator variable affects the strength or direction of the relationship between an independent and dependent variable, such as how stress level moderates the relationship between social support and quality of life. Examples of moderator and mediator variables are provided from psychological research studies.

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usama ali
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61 views

Project: Name: Muhammad Siddique

The document discusses the differences between mediator and moderator variables. A mediator variable explains the relationship between an independent and dependent variable, such as how education mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and frequency of breast self-exams. A moderator variable affects the strength or direction of the relationship between an independent and dependent variable, such as how stress level moderates the relationship between social support and quality of life. Examples of moderator and mediator variables are provided from psychological research studies.

Uploaded by

usama ali
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Project

Name: Muhammad Siddique

Class: B.Ed.

Semester: fifth

Subject: Inferential statistics

Submitted to: Sir Sajid Ali


Mediator Variable
Definition
A mediator variable explains the how or why of an (observed) relationship between an independent
variable and its dependent variable.

In a mediation model, the independent variable cannot influence the dependent variable directly,
and instead does so by means of a third variable, a ‘middle-man’.

Full Mediation and Partial Mediation


Full mediation is when the entire relationship between the independent & dependent variables is
through the mediator variable. If you take away the mediator, the relationship disappears. Since the
real world is a complicated place with many interactions, this is less common than partial mediation
.
Partial mediation happens when the mediating variable is only responsible for a part of the
relationship between independent & dependent variables. If the mediating variable is eliminated,
there will still be a relationship between the independent and dependent variables; it just won’t be
as strong.

What is a Moderating Variable?


A moderator variable, commonly is a third variable that affects the strength of the relationship
between a dependent and independent variable In correlation, a moderator is a third variable that
affects the correlation of two variables.  In a causal relationship, if x is the predictor variable and y
is an outcome variable, then z is the moderator variable that affects the casual relationship of x and
y.  Most of the moderator variables measure causal relationship using regression coefficient.  The
moderator variable, if found to be significant, can cause an amplifying or weakening effect between
x and y.  In ANOVA, the moderator variable effect is represented by the interaction effect between
the dependent variable and the factor variable.
A moderating variable, also called a moderator variable or simply M, changes the strength or
direction of an effect between two variables x and y. In other words, it affects the relationship
between the independent variable or predictor variable and a dependent variable or criterion
variable. Moderating variables can be qualitative (non- numerical values like race, socio-economic
class or sex) or quantitative (numerical values like weight, reward level or age).
For example:

 There may be a relationship between socio-economic status and how often women perform
self-exams on their breasts. Age is possibly a numerical moderating variable: the relationship for
socio-economic status and breast self-exams might be weaker in younger

 In correlation studies, the moderating variable is defined as a third variable — z — that


affects the correlation between two variables x and y. A statistically significant moderating variable
can amplify or weaken the correlation between x and y.
 Finding the Variables
 The moderating variable is technically another predictor variable, so you would run
multiple regression analysis (called moderator analysis by some software) to find the
moderating variables

.
Difference between Moderator and Mediator variables
Moderator variables
 A moderator is a variable that affects the strength of the relation between the predictor and
criterion variable. Moderators specify when a relation will hold. It can be qualitative (e.g., sex,
race, class…) or quantitative (e.g., drug dosage or level of reward). Moderating variable are
typically an interaction term in statistical models. For instance, imagine researchers are
evaluating the effects of a new cholesterol drug. The researchers vary the participants in
minutes of daily exercise (predictor/independent variable) and measure their cholesterol levels
after 30 days (criterion/dependent variable). They find that at low drug doses, there is a small
association between exercise and cholesterol levels, but at high drug doses, there is a huge
association between exercise and cholesterol levels. Drug dosage moderates the association
between exercise and cholesterol levels. 
 A moderator is a qualitative (e.g., sex, race, class) or quantitative (e.g., level of reward)
variable that affects the direction and/or strength of the relation between an independent or
predictor variable and a dependent or criterion variable. Specifically within a correlation
analysis framework, a moderator is a third variable that affects the zero-order correlation
between two other variables. ... In the more familiar analysis of variance (ANOVA) terms, a
basic moderator effect can be represented as an interaction between a focal independent
variable and a factor that specifies the appropriate conditions for its operation."
Mediator variables

 A mediating variable explains the relation between the independent (predictor) and the
dependent (criterion) variable. It explains how or why there is a relation between two
variables. A mediator can be a potential mechanism by which an independent variable can
produce changes on a dependent variable. When you fully account for the effect of the
mediator, the relation between independent and dependent variables may go away. For
instance, imagine that you find a positive association between note-taking and performance on
an exam. This association may be explained by number of hours studying, which would be the
mediating variable.
 In general, a given variable may be said to function as a mediator to the extent that it accounts
for the relation between the predictor and the criterion. Mediators explain how external
physical events take on internal psychological significance. Whereas moderator variables
specify when certain effects will hold, mediators speak to how or why such effects occur."

 The general test for mediation is to examine the relation between the predictor and the criterion
variables, the relation between the predictor and the mediator variables, and the relation
between the mediator and criterion variables. All of these correlations should be significant.
The relation between predictor and criterion should be reduced (to zero in the case of total
mediation) after controlling the relation between the mediator and criterion variables.

Another way to think about this issue is that


a moderator variable is one that influences the strength of a relationship between two other
variables, and a mediator variable is one that explains the relationship between the two other
variables. As an example, let's consider the relation between social class (SES) and frequency of
breast self-exams (BSE). Age might be a moderator variable, in that the relation between SES and
BSE could be stronger for older women and less strong or non-existent for younger women.
Education might be a mediator variable in that it explains why there is a relation between SES and
BSE. When you remove the effect of education, the relation between SES and BSE disappears.
Examples
 A great example of a moderator comes from Cohen and Willis, 1985. In that study, the authors
proposed a stress-buffering hypothesis. Prior research had suggested a main effect of social
support on quality of life. However, Cohen and Willis demonstrated that the relation between
social support and quality of life depends on an individual’s stress level. Someone who
experiences a lot of stress, but has good social support, will show better outcomes (fewer
symptoms of depression, anxiety, fatigue...) than someone with low social support. Social
support is the moderating variable.

Let’s look at some examples in psychological research.

 A recent paper by Frank, Amso, & Johnson (2014) examined the developmental relationship
between early perceptual abilities and face perception in infancy.  In the study, the authors
tested visual search abilities of 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old infants. Infants were shown panels of
red rods against a black background. One of the rods was either slanted at a diagonal or moved
back and forth. Accuracy at looking at the slanted or moving rod was calculated as “visual
search accuracy”. Infants also viewed excerpts from Charlie Brown and Sesame Street and
relative amount of time spent viewing faces was measured. They found that infants looked
more at faces and were more accurate at identifying a moving target with age. This effect was
fully mediated by visual search accuracy for moving rods. That is, developmental
improvements in visual search accuracy fully accounted for the amount of time infants looked
at faces.

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