How do you determine independent/dependent variables in Social Research?

I am looking at what makes people want to drill for oil or not but I'm not sure what my dep. %26amp; ind. variables are. For example, if my hypthesis is something like people wanting to drill are going to be:

older

less educated

republican

less knowledgeable of environmental problems

male



This isn't true so don't quote this. I was just trying to give examples of the kind of categories I am dealing with. How do you determine independent/dependent variables in Social Research?Based on your scenario of what people will drill for oil:



Your independent variable will be, for example: their age, level of education, political stance, etc. like the items you named



Your dependent variable will be whether that certain type of person will or will not drill oil.



If this were a real experiment, you will manipulate your independent variables (age, education, etc.) to observe the dependent variable (drill for oil or not).