CHAPTER 5

Conceptualization, Operationalization, and

Measurement
Measuring Anything That Exists
Measurement – careful, deliberate observations of the real world for the purpose of describing objects
and events in terms of the attributes composing the variable

Measurement in Practice
• Political Party Affiliation
• Religious Affiliation

Concepts as Constructs
Three things social scientists measure:
Direct Observables: the things we can observe rather simply and directly
Indirect Observables: requires “relatively more subtle, complex, or indirect observations”
Constructs: theoretical creations that are based on observations but that cannot be observed
directly or indirectly

Concepts – constructs derived by mutual agreement from mental images; a family of conceptions
Measuring Anything That Exists
Conceptualization
Conceptualization – the mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made
more specific and precise
The process through which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms in research
It produces a specific, agreed-upon meaning for a concept for the purposes of research
Practice: Prejudice

Indicators and Dimensions

Indicator – an observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study
Dimension – a specifiable aspect of a concept

The Interchangeability of Indicators

If several different indicators all represent the same concept, then all of them will behave the same way
the concept would behave if it were real and could be observed
Conceptualization
Real, Nominal, and Operational Definitions
Specification – the process through which concepts are made more specific
Nominal Definition – one that is simply assigned to a term without any claim that the definition
represents a “real” entity
Operational Definition – specifies precisely how a concept will be measured
Operationalization Choices
Conceptualization – the refinement and specification of abstract concepts
Operationalization – the development of specific research procedures (operations) that will result in
empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world

Defining Variables and Attributes

Attribute – a characteristic or quality of something (ex: female, old, student)
Variable – a logical set of attributes (ex: gender, age)
Every variable must have two important qualities:
1. Attributes must be exhaustive
2. Attributes must be mutually exclusive

Levels of Measurement – Nominal

Variables whose attributes are merely different from one another; they have only the characteristics of
exhaustiveness and mutually exclusiveness
Examples: gender, religious affiliation, political party affiliation, and birthplace
Operationalization Choices
Levels of Measurement – Ordinal
Variables with attributes that can be logically rank in order
Examples: social class, conservatism, alienation, prejudice, and intellectual sophistication

Levels of Measurement – Interval

Variables whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes
Examples: temperature (Fahrenheit) and IQ score

Levels of Measurement – Ratio

Variables whose attributes meet the requirements of an interval measure and have a true zero point
Examples: Kelvin temperature, age, number of organizations, and number of groups

Operationalization Goes On and On

Although conceptualization and operationalization precede data collection and analysis, these two
processes continue throughout the research project
Criteria of Measurement Quality
Reliability
Reliability – the quality of measurement methods that suggests the same data would have been collected
each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon
Reliability is not the same as accuracy
Test-Retest Method
To make the same measurement more than once
Split-Half Method
Multiple sets of randomly assigned variables should produce the same classifications

Validity
Face Validity – the quality of an indicator that makes it a reasonable measure of some variable
Construct Validity – the degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system
of theoretical relationships.
Criteria of Measurement Quality