3. Observations And Measurements Flashcards
What is empiricism?
Sensory experience is considered to be the ultimate basis for knowledge.
What is direct observation?
Sense experience of the event itself.
What is aided observation?
Sense experience of the event itself with the help of a tool.
What is indirect observation?
Sense experience of the effect of an event, but not the event itself.
What does theory dependence mean?
An observation is theory dependent if it requires theoretical assumptions in order to make and justify observations.
What is logical empiricism?
Theories are created by inferences from fundamental observational statements.
What is operationalization?
To operationalize a property of interest is to provide a way of linking it to a directly observable effect through a correlational relationship or a hypothesized causal chain.
What is a property of interest?
The property that is to be measured.
What is a hypothesized causal chain?
The supposed link between the property of interest and what can be directly observed.
What is operationalism?
The view that all basic concepts are defined through their operations, by the way which we aim to measure them.
What is comparability in measurement?
A measure must be comparable to what is being observed.
What does stability refer to in measurement?
A unit remains unchanged over time.
What is an ordinal scale?
Orders objects according to a qualitative comparison with regard to a particular property.
What is an interval scale?
Orders objects, but also quantifies the distance between them.
What is a ratio scale?
Orders objects, quantifies the distance between them but also has a zero point where zero represents the absence of the property.
What is a nominal scale?
Classifies objects without ordering them.
What is an absolute scale?
A scale where the units or the upper and lower bounds of the scale are ‘natural’.
What is random error?
Errors caused by the fluctuations of measurements due to factors that cannot or that for practical reasons will not be controlled.
What is systematic error?
Errors caused by specific factors that confound the measurement process. It is also called bias or inaccuracy.
What are precise measurements?
Measurements that do not suffer from random errors.
What are accurate measurements?
Measurements that do not suffer from systematic error.
What is convergent validity?
Is achieved if several, definitely operationalized in causally independent ways, measurement processes, all applied to the same target under the same condition, give the same result.
What is divergent validity?
Is achieved if an operationalization yields different results when measuring substantially different targets.
