Mediator Variable
A mediator variable (or mediating variable, or intervening variable) in statistics is a variable that describes how rather than when effects will occur by accounting for the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. A mediating relationship is one in which the path relating A to C is mediated by a third variable (B).
For example, a mediating variable explains the actual relationship between the following variables. Most people will agree that older drivers (up to a certain point), are better drivers. Thus:
- Aging Better driving
But what is missing from this relationship is a mediating variable that is actually causing the improvement in driving: experience. The mediated relationship would look like the following:
- Aging Increased experience driving a car Better driving
Mediating variables are often contrasted with moderating variables, which pinpoint the conditions under which an independent variable exerts its effects on a dependent variable.
Read more about this topic: Mediation (statistics)
Famous quotes containing the words mediator and/or variable:
“He is the mediator in that only sense in which possibly any being can mediate between God and man,—that is, an instructor of man. He teaches us how to become like God.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)