Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement

  • Conception is the technical term for those mental images on your paper

  • The process of coming to an agreement about what terms mean is called conceptualization

  • The result of conceptualization is called a concept

Concepts as constructs

  • Direct observables are things we can observe easily and directly

  • Indirect observables require more subtle, complex, and indirect observation

  • Constructs are theoretical creations that are based on observations but that cannot be observed directly or indirectly

  • Reification means treating something abstract, like a construct, like a real concrete thing

Conceptualization

  • Conceptualization is the mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise

    • If you want to study prejudice what is it that you mean by prejudice? Are there different kinds of prejudice? What are they? The process of conceptualization produces concepts with meanings with which we can all agree

    • DEFINING IT

Indicators and dimensions

  • An indicator is an observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study

  • A dimension is a specifiable aspect of a concept. Sometimes specifying the dimensions of a concept allows for a better, more nuanced understanding of what we are studying

Real, nominal, and operational definitions

  • The “real” definition of something is its essential attributes

  • A nominal definition is assigned to a term without any claim that the definition represents a real entity

    • Most nominal definitions have some sort of consensus

  • An operational definition, as you may recall, specifies exactly how a concept will be measured

Conceptualization→ nominal definition→ operational definition→ measurement

Operationalization Choices

Range of variation

  • Federal lawmakers should codify laws requiring background checks

    • Very much agree

    • Somewhat agree

    • Neither agree/disagree

    • Somewhat disagree

    • Very much disagree

Levels of measurement

  • Nominal

  • Ordinal

  • Interval

  • Ratio

Nominal & Ordinal

  • Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusiveness are nominal measures

    • What we can say about two people in terms of a nominal variable is that they are either the same or different

  • An ordinal measure is a level of measurement describing a variable with attributes we can rank along some dimension

    • In addition to saying whether two people are the same or different in terms of an ordinal variable, we can also say one is “more” than the other

Interval & Ratio

  • An interval measure is a level of measure is a level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank- ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes

  • A ratio measure is 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

Criteria for measurement quality

Reliability (consistency)

  • Reliability refers to that quality of measurement method that suggests that the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon

    • Test-retest method

    • Split-half method

    • Using established measures

    • Reliability of research workers

Validity (accuracy)

  • Validity describes a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure

    • Face validity

      • Face validity is that quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable

        • Does it make sense on its face; that is in a commonsense manner of thinking

    • Criterion-related validity

      • Criterion-related validity is the degree to which a measure relates to some external criterion. Also called predictive validity

    • Construct validity

      • Construct validity refers to the degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships

        • Do the variables relate to each other in a logical manner?

    • Content validity

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