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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 theattributes composing a variable.
More precisely, measurement is the
process of assigning numbers of labels tounits of analysis in order to represent
conceptual properties
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The entire measurement process consists
of moving from the abstract (concepts) to
the concrete (measures of concepts)
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Conceptualization
Process of specifying what we mean
when we use particular terms.
Produces an agreed upon meaning for aconcept for the purposes of research.
Describes the indicators we'll use to
measure the concept and the differentaspects of the concept.
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Indicators and Dimensions
An indicatoris a sign of the presence or
absence of the concept were studying.
Dimension is a specifiable aspect of aconcept.
Religiosity might be specified in terms of
a belief dimension, a ritual dimension, adevotional dimension, a knowledge
dimension, and so forth.
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Interchangeability of
Indicators
If several different indicators all represent thesame concept, all of them will behave the sameway 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 reasonablemeasure of compassion.
If women are more compassionate only onsome indicators, we should see if the indicatorsrepresent 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 aterm without any claim that the definition
represents a real entity.
An operational definition specifies precisely
how a concept will be measuredthat is, theoperations well perform.
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Definitions
Real - mistakes a construct for a real
entity.
Nominal - assigned to a term without aclaim that the definition represents a
"real" entity.
Operational definitions - Specifies howa 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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Operational definitions
These are never perfect
Comprised of one or more indicators
They represent the researchers bestattempt at capturing the concept in
question
Religiosity example
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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 distancesbetween 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 intervalmeasures and in addition are based on a
true zero point.
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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 thatcannot 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 thanthe 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 onemeasurement of a social concept
(prejudice).
Use established measures. Check reliability of research-workers.
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Validity
A term describing a measure that accuratelyreflects the concept it is intended to measure.
Example: IQ would seem a more validmeasure of intelligence than the number ofhours spent in the library.
Though the ultimate validity of a measure cannever be proved, we may agree to its relativevalidity on the basis of face validity, criterionvalidity, 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 sensewithout 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 asystem of theoretical relationships.
Content Validity
Refers to how much a measure coversthe range of meanings included within aconcept.
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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).