title: Instance Variables in Rails Model
body: <p>I want to initialize an instance variable within my Rails model that will hold an array and I want to access this variable in other methods within my model.  I tried this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>class Participant &lt; ActiveRecord::Base
  
    @possible_statuses = [
      'exists',
      'paired',
      'quiz_finished',
      'quiz_results_seen',
      'money_sent'
    ]
  
    def statuses
      @possible_statuses
    end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But when I tried the following using rails console:</p>
  
  <pre><code> Participant.first.statuses
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am returned nil :(</p>
  
  <p>Why does this happen?
  Is there a way to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish?</p>