Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement

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Chapter 5

• Conceptualization, Operationalization, and
  Measurement

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Chapter Outline

• Introduction
• Measuring Anything That Exists
• Conceptualization
• Definitions in Descriptive and Explanatory
  Studies
• Operationalization Choices
• Criteria of Measurement Quality
• A Quandary Revisited

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Measurement

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

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Question

• It is truly possible to measure the stuff of
  life.
• True
• False

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Answer True

• It is truly possible to measure the stuff of life.

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Conceptualization

• Process of specifying what we mean when we use
  particular terms.
• Produces an agreed upon meaning for a concept for
  the purposes of research.
• Describes the indicators we'll use to measure the
  concept and the different aspects of the concept.

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Indicators and Dimensions

• An indicator is a sign of the presence or absence
  of the concept were studying.
• Dimension is a specifiable aspect of a concept.
• Religiosity might be specified in terms of a
  belief dimension, a ritual dimension, a
  devotional dimension, a knowledge dimension, and
  so forth.

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Question

• ___________ refers to mental images.
• perspectives
• theories
• conception
• methods

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Answer C

• Conception refers to mental images.

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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.
• If women are more compassionate, we should be
  able to observe that using a reasonable measure
  of compassion.
• If women are more compassionate only on some
  indicators, we should see if the indicators
  represent different dimensions of compassion.

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Specification of Concepts

• The specification of concepts in scientific
  inquiry depends on nominal and operational
  definitions.
• A nominal definition 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 measuredthat is, the
  operations well perform.

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Definitions

• Real - mistakes a construct for a real entity.
• Nominal - assigned to a term without a claim that
  the definition represents a "real" entity.
• Operational definitions - Specifies how a concept
  will be measured.

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From Concept to Measurement

• Progression from what a term means to measurement
  in a scientific study
• Conceptualization
• Nominal Definition
• Operational Definition
• Measurements in the Real World

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Question

• The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise
  notions are made more specific and precise is
  called ______________.
• construction
• reification
• conceptualization
• none of these choices

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Answer C

• The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise
  notions are made more specific and precise is
  called conceptualization.

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Nominal Measure

• A level of measurement describing a variable that
  has attributes that are merely different, as
  distinguished from ordinal, interval, or ratio
  measures.
• Gender is an example of a nominal measure.

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Ordinal Measure

• A level of measurement describing a variable with
  attributes we can rank-order along some
  dimension.
• An example is socioeconomic status as composed of
  the attributes high, medium, low.

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Interval Measures

• A level of measurement describing a variable
  whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal
  distances between adjacent attributes.

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Ratio Measures

• A level of measurement describing a variable with
  attributes that have all the qualities of
  nominal, ordinal, and interval measures and in
  addition are based on a true zero point.

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Question

• Which of the following are examples of nominal
  measures?
• gender
• religious affiliation
• political party affiliation
• birthplace
• all of these choices

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Answer E

• Gender, religious affiliation, political party
  affiliation and birthplace are examples of
  nominal measures.

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Kaplans Classes

• Things Scientists Measure
• Direct observables - things that can be observed
  simply and directly.
• Indirect observables - things that require more
  subtle observations.
• Constructs - based on observations that cannot
  be observed.

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Measurement Quality

• Precision and accuracy
• Reliability
• Validity

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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.
• In the context of a survey, we would expect that
  the question Did you attend religious services
  last week? would have higher reliability than
  the question About how many times have you
  attended religious services in your life?

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Tests for Checking Reliability

• Test-retest method - take the same measurement
  more than once.
• Split-half method - make more than one
  measurement of a social concept (prejudice).
• Use established measures.
• Check reliability of research-workers.

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Validity

• A term describing a measure that accurately
  reflects the concept it is intended to measure.
• Example IQ would seem a more valid measure of
  intelligence than the number of hours spent in
  the library.
• Though the ultimate validity of a measure can
  never be proved, we may agree to its relative
  validity on the basis of face validity, criterion
  validity, content validity, construct validity,
  internal validation, and external validation.

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Face Validity

• That quality of an indicator that makes it seem a
  reasonable measure of some variable.
• That the frequency of attendance at religious
  services is some indication of a persons
  religiosity seems to make sense without a lot of
  explanation.

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Construct and Content Validity

• Construct Validity
• The degree to which a measure relates to other
  variables as expected within a system of
  theoretical relationships.
• Content Validity
• Refers to how much a measure covers the range of
  meanings included within a concept.

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Question

• _____________ is the degree to which a measure
  covers the range of meanings included within a
  concept.
• construct validity
• criterion-related validity
• face validity
• content validity

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Answer D

• Content Validity is the degree to which a measure
  covers the range of meanings included within a
  concept.

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An Analogy to Validity and Reliability

• A good measurement technique should be both valid
  (measuring what it is intended to measure) and
  reliable (yielding a given measurement
  dependably).

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. In social research, the process of coming to
  an agreement about what terms mean is
  ______________.
• hypotheses
• conceptualization
• guesses
• variables

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Answer B

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

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• 2. Which of the following represent those
  classifications of things that scientists can
  measure, according to Abraham Kaplan?
• direct observables
• indirect observables
• constructs
• all of these choices

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Answer D

• The following represent those classifications of
  things that scientists can measure, according to
  Abraham Kaplan direct observables, indirect
  observables and constructs.

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• 3. The ___________ of concepts in scientific
  inquiry depends on nominal and operational
  definitions.
• specification
• interchangeability
• functioning
• network
• none of these choices

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Answer A

• The specification of concepts in scientific
  inquiry depends on nominal and operational
  definitions.

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• 4. A level of measurement describing a variable
  whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal
  distances between adjacent attributes are
  ________.
• ratio measures
• interval measures
• nominal measures
• ordinal measures

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Answer B

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