MEASUREMENT, OPERATIONALIZATION, AND VARIABLES 1

Measurement, Operationalization, and Variables

Name

Institution affiliated
MEASUREMENT, OPERATIONALIZATION, AND VARIABLES 2

Measurement, Operationalization, and Variables

Par 1 (Offender)

A concept is a mental image that symbolizes a specific behavior, idea, individual, among

other things. Concepts are the images that people in a given social space agree upon to represent

particular ideas. The word 'offender' is a concept which people associate with wrongdoing.

Whenever the name pops up, the ideas of committing civil or criminal wrongdoings pop up in

people's minds. Being an offender means one has broken one or more rules that govern

interpersonal relationships, such as driving while under the influence, siphoning public money,

as well as harassing people. The conceptual definition of an offender, therefore, has more to do

with the ideas that build up in people's minds when they hear of it.

The operational definition spells out how the researcher will measure the variable. The

operational definition that a researcher adopts of a variable has a significant impact on the

research findings. In other words, the operational definition determines the scope of the variable.

The operational definition of an offender might focus on the severity of offenses, the motive, the

state of mind of the offender, and other facts relating to the offense and the setting. An

operational definition for a sex offender might, for instance, only focus on offenses committed

without the consent of the victim. If the victim consented to the offense, then no wrongdoing

exists. A real-world measurement of offenders would look at the frequency of, say sex offenses,

in a given city over time. For accuracy, the measurement will only include the operational

definition that the researcher chooses to use in the study.

Par 2

1. The more one abuses drugs and alcohol, the more likely they will commit and offense.

2. The lower the rates of employment in a country, the higher the rates of offending.