What the word "Lurk" means?

It simply means to stay hidden deeply and awaiting an opportune moment to ambush. That's precisely what lurking variable does in research data. Let's delve deeper and attempt to comprehend through examples.

How do lurking variables Frustrate researchers?

Consider a researcher collecting data on students who study via tutoring tends to obtain more marks than those who do not study via tutoring. On the surface, the data shows a positive relationship between marks and tutoring.

But after knowing about Lurking variables would we accept the innocent face of our data? No, we have to go one step ahead of clever lurking variables. And if we go with the same data it may give false results or false insights.

Now, the question arises, if there is a certain lurking variable then what that is? That is the financial background of students. Some students may not be capable of affording tutoring while those who afford tutoring would be enough financially stable to afford tutoring.

So the lurking variable is the student's financial background that is affecting their marks.

Now after disclosing lurking variables a researcher can effectively analyze data and extract fruitful insights from data accordingly.

How to get rid of the Lurking variable?

Before autopsying data think about all possible potentials that can affect or mask the relationship between variables and then make decisions carefully.

conclusion

The Lurking variable is a hidden variable that affects the relationship between two variables and ambushes the researcher when the result becomes false.