RESEARCH

METHODS

Lecture 5
CONCEPTS
AND
VARIABLES
 Concept
• Things we observe  Observable
realities  physical or abstract
• For purposes of identification of a
reality we try to give a name to it.
• By using name we communicate
with others. Part of language
• Names are constructs.
• These constructs are concepts.
 Concepts are mental
images of reality
• Concept is an idea expressed as
symbol or in words.
• Words are also symbols.
• Agreement to represent ideas by
sounds or written words.
• Concepts can be symbols.
 An Abstraction of reality
• Table, leadership, productivity,
morale are all labels given to some
phenomenon (reality) 
• Concepts stand for phenomenon
not the phenomenon itself.
• It may be called an abstraction of
empirical reality.
 Concepts are
Abstractions of Reality
Abstract
Level CONCEPTS

Empirical OBSERVATION OF OBJECTS

Level AND EVENTS (REALITY)
Degree of Abstraction
• Moving up the ladder of
abstraction, the basic concept
becomes more abstract, wider
in scope, and less measurable.
A Ladder Of Abstraction
For Concepts

Increasingly more abstract

Vegetation

Fruit

Banana

Reality
 Sources of Concepts
• We create concepts from personal
experience. Mass, speed, family.
• We borrow from other disciplines.
• We develop a specialized jargon or
terminology for a particular
subject.
 Importance to Research
• Concepts are basic to all thought and
communication.
• Special problems grow out of the need
for concept precision and
inventiveness.
• We use concepts in hypothesis
formulation.
 Definitions
• Confusions about the meanings of
concepts can destroy the value of a
study.
• Definitions are one way to reduce
this danger.
• Two types of definitions:
1. Dictionary (theoretical) definition
2. Operational definition.
 Dictionary definition
• Also called as
Conceptual/Theoretical/Nominal
• Concept is defined with a
synonym. Use other constructs to
explain a construct.
• How to define a “customer,”
“client,” “a satisfied worker”?
Operational Definition

• Working definition: stated in

terms of specific testing or
measurement criteria.
• Concrete indicators that can be
observed/measured. Specify
empirical indicators.
 We use both the
definitions in research
• Observational phenomenon 
Construct  Conceptual def. 
operational definition  data.
RESEARCH
METHODS

Lecture 5