Sept 25th 2018 Soci 217 Measurement Classes of Observation · Three classes of things that scientists measure: o 1. Direct Observables: what we can see directly, such as a chair, a car, the color of a person, height, age, are they smiling or not, 2. Indirect Observables: History books, document, class note, minutes of a meeting- observations via a medium o 3. Constructs or Concepts: theoretical creations that are based on observations but cannot be observed either directly or indirectly · Religiosity, love, inequality . Reification: the process of regarding things that are not real as real, or regarding constructs as real (pg. 121) o The idea that some things are not real, but we treat them as if they are real o We often talk about it as if it is real o Have to be mindful Conceptualization · Conceptualization: the process of coming to an agreement about what concepts mean and represent O What do you mean when you say "concept"? o What does it include? o What does it exclude? . DEFINE the concept . Ex. Love o Pretend that they don't know what it is o It has to make sense to the reader . The results is our nominal definition-> the definition of how a concept will be understood or defined for the purpose of one's research Operationalization · Operationalization: the process of deciding how we will measure concepts within a study o Most importantly, how variables will be measured .. . The result is our operational definition . Have to look at A LOT of different information and types of analysis . Ex. Measuring love by self reporting . Ex. Measuring ethnic background based on mother tongue · Ex. Measuring sex based on genitalia . Ex. Measuring academic success based on GPA Concepts and Measurements . Nominal Definition of concept o Specifies how a concept will be understood or defined for the purpose of one's research
Sept 25th 2018 Soci 217 . Ex. For the purpose of this study, trust will be defined as the trait of believing in the honesty and reliability of others ... · Operational definition of concept o Specifies how a concept will be measured for the purpose one one's research . Ex. For the purpose of this study, trust will be measured based on whether an individual would leave her wallet unattended or not ... . Indicators: a sign of the presence or absence of the concept's we're studying o Ex. Attending religious services might be an indicator of religiosity · Dimension: a specifiable aspect or facet of a concept O Ex. There is a group dimension of religiosity and an individual dimension of religiosity o · Different indicators capture these different dimensions of the concept Operationalization Choices · Operationalization: the development of specific research procedures (operations) that will result in empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world . Conceptualization: The refinement and the specification of abstract concept Defining Variables and Attributes · All variables need to