chapter 5, conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement

CHAPTER 5, CONCEPTUALIZATION, OPERATIONALIZATION, AND MEASUREMENT

Chapter Outline   

   

Measuring Anything That Exists Conceptualization Definitions in Descriptive and Explanatory Studies Operationalization Choices Criteria of Measurement Quality The Ethics of Measurement Quick Quiz

Measuring Anything that Exists 

Measurement – Careful, deliberate observations of the real world for the purpose of describing objects and events in terms of the attributes composing the variable.



How would you measure…  political

party affiliation?

 age?  grade

point average?  satisfaction with college?  religious affiliation?



Conceptions, Concepts, and Reality  How

would you conceptualize…

 prejudice?  compassionate?

 Conceptualization

– The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise.



Concepts as Constructs  Concepts

are constructs derived by mutual agreement from mental images.  Conceptions summarize collections of seemingly related observations and experiences.

Conceptualization 





Conceptualization – The process through which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms in research. We cannot meaningfully answer a question without a working agreement about the meaning of the outcome. Conceptualization processes a specific agreed-on meaning for a concept for the purposes of research.



Indicators and Dimensions  Indicator

– An observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study.

 Dimension

concept.

– A specifiable aspect of a



Identify appropriate indicators and dimensions for…  religious

affiliation  college success  political activity  poverty  binge drinking  fear of crime



The Interchangeability of Indicators  If

several different indicators all represent the same concept, all of them will behave the same way the concept would behave if it were real and could be observed.



Real, Nominal, and Operational Definitions 





Specification – The process through which concepts are made more specific. A nominal definition is one that is simply assigned to a term without any claim that the definition represents a “real” entity. An operational definition specifies precisely how a concept will be measured – that is, the operations we will perform.



Creating Conceptual Order  Conceptualization  Nominal

Definition  Operational Definition  Real World Measurement



Conceptualization – Practice  Anomie

Definitions in Descriptive and Explanatory Studies 

Definitions are more problematic for descriptive research than for explanatory research.

Operationalization Choices 



Conceptualization is the refinement and specification of abstract concepts. Operationalization is the development of specific research procedures that will result in empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world.



Range of Variation  To

what extent is the research willing to combine attributes in fairly gross categories?



Variation between the Extremes  To

what degree is the operationalization of variables precise?



Dimensions



Defining Variables and Attributes  An

attribute is a characteristic or quality of something (ex: female, old, student).  A variable is a logical set of attributes (ex: gender, age).  Every

variable must have two important qualities.

1. 2.

The attributes composing it should be exhaustive. Attributes must be mutually exclusive.



Levels of Measurement  Nominal  Ordinal  Interval  Ratio



Levels of Measurement – Nominal  Variables

who attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutually exclusiveness.

 Examples:

gender, religious affiliation, college major, hair color, birthplace, nationality



Levels of Measurement – Ordinal  Variables

with attributes we can logically rank order.

 Examples:

socioeconomic status, level of conflict, prejudice, conservativeness, hardness



Levels of Measurement – Interval  Variables

for which the actual distance between attributes has meaning.

 Examples:

score

temperature, (Fehrenheit) IQ



Levels of Measurement – Ratio  Variables

whose attributes meet the requirements of a interval measure, and has a true zero point.

 Examples:

temperature (Kelvin), age, length of time, number of organizations, number of groups, number of As received in college

Figure 5.1



Implications of Levels of Measurement  Analyses

require minimum levels of measurement  Some variables can be treated as multiple levels of measurement



Single or Multiple Indicators

Criteria of Measurement Quality   

Precision and Accuracy Reliability Validity



Precision and Accuracy  Precise

ones.

measures are superior to imprecise

 Precision

is not the same as accuracy.





Reliability – That quality of measurement method that suggests that the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon. Reliability is not the same as accuracy.

 Test-Retest

Method

 To

make the same measurement more than once.

 Split-Half

Method

 Multiple

sets of randomly assigned variables should produce the same classifications

 Established  Reliability

Measures

of Research Workers



Validity – a term describing a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure. 

 



Face Validity – That quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable. Criterion-Related Validity – The degree to which a measure related to some external criterion. Construct Validity – The degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships. Content Validity – The degree to which a measure coves the range of meanings included within a concept.

Figure 5.2

QUICK QUIZ

1. It is truly possible to measure the stuff of life. A. True B. False

Answer: A. It is truly possible to measure the stuff of life.

2. _____ refer to mental images. A. Perspectives B. Theories C. Conceptions D. Methods

Answer: C. Conceptions refer to mental images.

3. The mental processes whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions are made more specific and precise is called: A. construction B. reification C. conceptualization D. operationalization

Answer: C. The mental processes whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions are made more specific and precise is called conceptualization.

4. Which of the following are examples of nominal measures? A. gender B. religious affiliation C. political party affiliation D. birthplace E. all of the above

Answer: E. Gender, religious affiliation, political affiliation, and birthplace are examples of nominal measures.

5. _____ is the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within a concept. A. Construct validity B. Criterion-related validity C. Face validity D. Content validity

Answer: D. Content validity is the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within a concept.

6. In social research, the process of coming to an agreement about what terms mean is: A. hypothesizing B. conceptualization C. variable determination D. operationalization

Answer: B. In social research, the process of coming to an agreement about what terms mean is conceptualization.

7. The _____ of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on nominal and operational definitions. A. specification B. interchangeability C. functioning D. network

Answer: A. The specification of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on nominal and operational definitions.

8. A level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes are _____ measures. A. ratio B. interval C. nominal D. ordinal

Answer: B. A level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes are interval measures.