<P> In science and research, attribute is a characteristic of an object (person, thing, etc .). Attributes are closely related to variables . A variable is a logical 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) </P> <P> While an attribute is often intuitive, the variable is the operationalized way in which the attribute is represented for further data processing . In data processing data are often represented by a combination of items (objects organized in rows), and multiple variables (organized in columns). </P> <P> Values of each variable statistically "vary" (or are distributed) across the variable's domain . 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 .) </P>

A property or attribute that can take two or more different values