Concepts, Operationalization,

1
Concepts, Operationalization, Measurement

• Dr. Guerette

2
Conceptions Concepts

• These are the abstract mental images (concepts)
  that will be turned into terms that can then be
  conceptualized specifically into what we mean
  when we use particular terms.

3
Conceptions Concepts

• Conceptualization
• The process by which we specify precisely what we
  mean when we use particular terms.
• Indicators and dimensions
• These are the end product of the
  conceptualization process that provides us with
  measures of our concept.

4
Conceptions Concepts

• Creating conceptual order
• This is the process that will lead to measurable
  definitions for study. The order realizes that
  progression of measurement from a vague sense of
  a term to a specific measurement

5
Conceptual Order

• Conceptualization
• Conceptual definition
• Operational definition

6
Operationalization

• This brings us one step closer to measurement by
  developing operational definitions, which specify
  what operations should be performed to measure a
  concept. This includes
• Scoring
• Exhaustive Exclusive measurement
• Levels of measurement

7
Operationalization

• Scoring
• This represents another way of thinking about
  measurement in that it involves actually making
  observations and assigning scores or values.

8
Measurement as Scoring
Gender Impulsivity Criminal History Age
1 7 1 26
0 1 1 28
1 8 0 34
0 5 0 21
0 4 1 18
1 9 1 33
1 10 1 27
0 3 0 22
0 6 1 20
1 10 0 30
9
Operationalization

• Exhaustive Measurement
• Exhaustive qualities of the attributes of a
  variable allow us to classify every observation.
• Mutually Exclusive Measurement
• Mutually exclusive attributes help researchers
  classify every observation in terms of only one
  attribute.

10
Levels of Measurement

• Nominal measures - Are variables whose attributes
  are exhaustive and mutually exclusive and offer
  names or labels for characteristics.
• Ordinal measures - Are variables whose attributes
  are exhaustive and mutually exclusive and can be
  logically rank ordered from greater than to less
  than.
• Interval measures - Are those that have the same
  characteristic as nominal and ordinal but the
  logical distance between attributes can be
  expressed in meaningful standard intervals with
  zero having no meaning.
• Ratio measures Have the same characteristics as
  those above except that zero has meaning.

11
In Class Exercise Levels of Measurement

• Indicate the level of measurement nominal,
  ordinal, interval, or ratio that describes each
  of the following variables
• Length of prison sentence (in months)
• Attitudes toward the war in Iraq (strongly
  approve, approve, disapprove, strongly
  disapprove)
• Sex of marine life handlers at Sea World
• Type of childhood victimization (physical abuse,
  sexual abuse, neglect)
• Height (in centimeters)
• Score on a scholastic aptitude test
• Place of birth
• Number of years on a job (0-2 years, 3-9 years,
  10 or more years)
• Method of drug administration (snort, smoke,
  freebase, ingest, intravenous, inhalation,
  ingest)
• Age at time of entering military service (under
  18, over 18)

12
Criteria for Measurement Quality

• Two key standards for measurement quality
• Reliability - Refers to consistency. We look to
  be sure the measurement used will produce similar
  results over time. This can be achieved through
  the use of the
• Test-retest method,
• Inter-rater reliability, and
• The split-half method.

13
Criteria for Measurement Quality

• Validity - Simply put, means are you testing what
  you say you are testing? While more difficult to
  test for than reliability, ways of dealing with
  validity consist of
• Face validity common agreement
• Content validity adequate coverage of range of
  meanings
• Criterion-related validity a comparison w/ an
  external measure
• Construct validity based on logical
  relationships
• Multiple measures comparison to alternative
  measures

14
Reliable but Not Valid
15
Valid but Not Reliable
16
Valid and Reliable
17
Composite Measures

• Combine individual measures to produce more valid
  and reliable indicators.
• Typologies These are produced by the
  intersection of two or more variables to create a
  set of categories or types.
• An index Where there are two distinct
  conceptions that are combined in such a way to
  produce a measure that is more parsimonious than
  individual variables.