Week 3 Flashcards
Conceptualization, operationalization and measurement occur in what stage of the research wheel?
In between the hypothesis and observation sections (for quantitative at least)
process of assigning numbers or labels to units of analysis in order to represent conceptual properties
measurement
What are the three components of the measurement process?
Theoretical –> conceptual –> empirical/operational
To translate the theoretical and conceptual knowledge into the empirical world, ________/______ becomes necessary.
measurement/observation
• The mental process of developing clear and precise meaning for abstract ideas or concepts
conceptualization
Also called the thinking process
conceptualization
When conceptualization turns into a specific definition, we get what?
a conceptual definition
• Providing a specific and tentative definition for an abstract idea or concept
conceptual definition
What are the ways in which one develops a conceptual definition?
Consultation with the existing research
Tailoring your concept to fit your research interest
Linking abstract concepts to specific measurements
operationalization
What are the two types of measures?
Direct observables
Indirect observables
things we can observe rather simply and directly
direct observables
things that require more subtle, complex, or indirect observations
indirect obesrvables
Require concrete indicators that help us to observe
indirect observables
Describe the differences between quantitative and qualitative measurement in the following:
Timing
Quantitative: occurs before data collected
Qualitative: occurs during the data collection
Describe the differences between quantitative and qualitative measurement in the following:
Nature of data
Quantitative: numeric labels
Qualitative: narratives
Describe the differences between quantitative and qualitative measurement in the following:
Concept-data link
Quantitative: bridging concepts and data
Qualitative: measuring concepts in the data collection process
Variables that have a relatively fixed set of separate attributes
discrete variables
Variables that have an infinite number of values that flow along a continuum
continuous variables
What is the purpose of levels of measurement?
Helps us interpret the data of a particular variable
A variable whose attributes only have the characteristics of being jointly exhaustive and mutually exclusive, that is, the attributes are merely different from each other
Nominal
A variable with attributes or categories you can rank order along some dimension
Ordinal
A variable whose attributes are rank ordered, and have equal distances between adjacent attributes, but have no true zero value
Interval
A variable whose attributes are rank ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes, but have a true zero value
Ratio
For the following examples, describe what type of variable(s) applies. A - Sexual orientation B - Level of stress C - Type of communicable disease D - Frequency of alcohol consumption E - Age of immigrant's arrival F - Number of patients in ICU
A - nominal B - ordinal C - nominal D - ordinal, ratio E - ratio F - ratio
What is the only interval measurement?
temperature
Condense the data generated by multiple indicators into a single number/score
Indices
An ordinal, interval, or ratio measure of a variable expressed as a numerical score
Scales
the dependability or the measure of a variable consistency
reliability
goodness of fit between an operational definition and the concept it is intended to measure
validity
Whether the measure appears to be valid ‘on its face’
Face validity
o The degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within a concept
content validity
The degree to which a measure relates with some external criterion
Criterion validity
The degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships
Consult with experts and previous research to see what has been done to measure the abstract concepts
Construct validity
The type of validity we tend to use in research.
construct validity
Name the validity type based on the description:
A - often used in licensing contexts
B - used in research context – find relevant indicators to measure something more abstract
C - least valid, comes with measurement error
A - criterion validity
B - construct validity
C - face validity
causal relationship between variables (validity type)
Internal validity
able to generalize relationships to settings outside controlled conditions – can generalize relationships from the sample to the general population
external validity
Measurement begins with _______, the clarification of the meaning of a concept, and ends with ________, a procedure detailing the observational categories or values represent the concept
conceptualization
operationalization
Describe the flow from theoretical to measurement
Theoretical –> conceptualization –> conceptual definition –> operationalization –> measurement
