exam 2 Flashcards
concepts
words, phrases or symbols in language that are used to represent these mental images in communication
ex. serious crime
dimensions
groups of indicators that reprint the aspects of the concept specifiable aspect of concept
ex . crime seriousness
- victim harm dimension
; indictors (physical injury, economic loss, psych consequences
conceptual def
working def. specifically assigned to term, provides focus to our observations
- gives up specific working definitions so that readers will understand the concept
operationalization
def. that spells out the measurement of the concept (not the meaning of the concept = conceptualization)
developing operational definitions
spells out precisely ho the concept will be measured
Be able to take the operational definitions and use them as specific measurements in a scientific study
- different measurement can produce different results
ex. time frame in which recidivism is measured might produce different results
-create the variables (categorization within variables)
ex. counties in California (variable)
(1) orange (2) Los Angeles (3) San Diego
applying conceptualization and operationalization example
recidivism
- You are going to do a proposal about the effect of a treatment program (X) on recidivism (Y) after release from prison (parole or direct release).
- How would you conceptualize recidivism?
ᾆ Recurrence of criminal behavior within a given period of time characterized by RE-ARRESTS, RECONVICTIONS, & REINCARCERATIONS
-How would you operationalize it? (example only
showing for reincarceration)
ᾆ Reincarceration for a technical violation or new offense within 1 year of release
ᾆ Reincarceration should be measured using “rap sheets” collected by the State’s DOC criminal history database
ᾆ Technical violation should be measured according to state guidelines
Understand operationalization and conceptualization together
- once conceptualization is completed, we have started to set up operationalization process (development of actual measures)
two qualities of a variable
exhaustive
mutually exclusive
understand exhaustive and exclusive measurement.
- Exhaustive: Classification for EVERY observation
into one attribute comprising the variable
(one must occur ) - Mutually exclusive: Every observation can only fit into ONE attribute. (can not occur at the same time)
but does not mean one has to occur
ordinal lv of measurement
attributes can be logically ranked but no scale across that order (nominal +rank order)
ex. income
$0-5000
$5001-10,000
nominal lv of measurement
attributes indicated by names w/o scale or hierarchy
ex. survey times that ask; Gender
male or female
by kind not quantity
reliability
does a particular measurement technique, applied repeated to the same thing, yield same result each time?
ex. IQ test: if person takes and retakes the exam will the same result occur (in so as all conditions are equal b/w settings)
validity
he measure accurately reflects the meaning of
the concept under consideration. Are you accurately
measuring what you say you are measuring?
operational definition really reflect the concept?
● The following is a poor operational definition of aggression:
● Concept: aggression among children
● Operational definition: Survey item: How many times have
you hit your sister/brother in the past year?
Criterion-related validity
Use a standard or benchmark to assess the
validity of your measure.
Substantiating PROXY measure for construct.
● You don’t have a measure of criminal behavior in a prison sample, so you use technical violations. You substantiate the use of technical violations by demonstrating that technical violations are highly related to criminal behavior by citing other’s work that shows this to be true.
Revisiting Measurement
The process of assigning numbers and/or labels to units of
analysis in order to represent conceptual
properties
Content validity
Does the measure cover the range of meanings of the
concept?
● One measure of fear of crime: How fearful are you to go outside late at night?
Narrow definition of fear of crime
- with content you have to ask more questions and less vague
Construct validity
The extent to which your items are tapping into the
underlying theory or model of behavior. (concept validity)
● One way: Multiple measures: compare measure with alternative measures of the same concept
● Does our theory of fear of crime support the variables that we are using to measure it? E.g.
Going out at night does not really reflect one’s overall fear of crime.
face validity
Does the operational definition of the concept make
sense?
● Does prison A have more violent prisoners than prison B? Compare the number of violent crimes and technical violations between prison samples.
Good face validity
different categories of validity
face
criterion related
construct
content
different type of tests reliability
test retest: doing it over and over agin
inter rater: have 2nd researcher get a different pov
how to produce valid indicators
Confidence increases with the use of multiple indicators
● The best reliable and valid measures usually use multiple
indicators (composite measure) <— (use of index and scales)
scale
Distinguishes indicators in terms of the
quantity/intensity of the concept each indicator is
suppose to reflect
● Then the items are ordered in some way by their
strength/intensity
● (Note: Just b/c something is called or referred to as a
“scale” might not necessarily be reflective of a true
scale)
▪ Eg. bogardus social distance (how willing you are to be associated with sec offenders (live in country, neighbor, next door, marry, etc)
- if person answers at the neighborhood one we are almost 100% they will say no to marry
index (composite measure)
Index – composite measure which is constructed
by combining different indicators of a specific
concept or dimension
● Most indexes are created by simply adding up the
scores of a set of indicators
● Provides an ordinal ranking of cases on a given
variable
composite measures
index
scale