Conceptualization, Operationalization,

and Measurement

Independent and Dependent Variables

Independent variable
what is manipulated

is

Dependent variable is what

is
affected
by
the
independent variable

a treatment or program or
cause

effects or outcomes

Factor

Measure

Explanatory Variable

Response Variable

Concept versus Construct

Concept
1. Term (nominal definition) that represents an idea that you
wish to study;
2. Represents collections of seemingly related observations
and/or experiences

Concepts as Constructs
We refer to concepts as constructs to recognize their
social construction.

More on constructs
Three classes of things that social scientists measure:
Directly observable: # of people in a room
Indirectly observable: income
Constructs:
creations based on observations;
cannot themselves be directly or
indirectly observed

Example; You can treat gender as

directly observable (gender presentation)
indirectly observable (check box)
a construct where you develop dimensions and indicators of
gender (which then requires much more conceptualization)

Conceptualization
1.

The process of conceptualization includes coming to some agreement about

the meaning of the concept

2.

In practice you often move back and forth between loose ideas of what you
are trying to study and searching for a word that best describes it.

3.

Sometimes you have to make up a name to encompass your concept. If

you are interested in studying the extent to which people exhibit behaviors
that bring together groups, you might come up with the nominal definition
bridge maker.

4.

As you form the aspects of a concept, you begin to see the dimensions; terms
that define subgroups of a concept.

5.

With each dimension, you must decide on indicators; signs of the presence or
absence of that dimension. (Dimensions are usually concepts themselves).

Operationalizing Choices
The process of creating a definition(s) for a concept that
can be observed and measured
The development of specific research procedures that
will result in empirical observations
Examples
SES is defined as a combination of income and education and
I will measure each by
The development of questions (or characteristics of data in
qualitative work) that will indicate a concept

See example about looking for work on page 125

Variable Attribute Choices

Variable attributes need to be exhaustive and
exclusive
Represent full range of possible variation
Degree of Precision
selection depends on your research interest, but if
youre not sure, its better to include more detail
than too little

Level of Measurement

Level of Measurement
Nominal measures
only offer a name or a label for a variable
there is not ranking; they are not numerically related
gender; race

 Ordinal measures
Variables with attributes that can be rank ordered
Can say one response is more or less than another
Distance between does not have meaning
Scales and indexes are ordinal measures, but conventions for
analysis allow us to assume equidistance between attributes.
Thus, they are often treated like interval measures.

 Interval Measures
Distance separating attributes has meaning and is standardized
(equidistant)
0 value does not mean that a variable is not present
For example, elevation and temperature

 Ratio Measures
attributes of a variable have a true zero point that means
something
Height and Weight
allows one to create ratios

Determining Quality of Measurement

Reliability: The extent to which the same research
technique applied again to the same object/subject
will give you the same result
Reliability does not ensure accuracy
a measure can be reliable but inaccurate
(invalid) because of bias in the measure or in data
collector/coder

Example of Reliability Problems

Intercoder reliability
Coders make subjective decision about the presence of violence
in a series of ads; present or not present
We have a reliability problem when more than one coder looks at
the same ad and codes it differently.
Solution: Operationalize specifically what counts as violence

Techniques for Confirming Reliability or

Discovering Problems
a.

Test-Retest

b.

Split-half Method
-

Divide indicators into 2 groups and use 2 surveys

If random selection of respondents and indicators are
reliable, then there should be no significant differences
between the 2 groups from which data was collected

c.

Use Established Measures

d.

Reliability of data collectors/coders: training, follow

up checks, intercoder reliability checks

 Validity: The extent to which our measure

reflects what we think or want them to be
measuring

Face Validity
The measure seems to be related to what we
are interested in finding out even if it does
not fully encompass the concept

Criterion-related Validity

Predictive Validity

The measure is predictive of some

external criterion

Example:

Criterion = Success in College

measure = ACT scores (high criterion validity?)

Construct Validity
The measure is logically related to another
variable as you had conceptualized it to be
Example:
Construct = happiness
Measure = financial stability
(if not related to happiness, low construct validity)

Content Validity

How much a measure covers a range of

meanings? Did you cover the full range
of dimensions related to a concept?

Example:

You think that youre measuring prejudice, but you

only ask questions about race.
What about sex, religion, etc.?

Internal Validity
Internal validity addresses the "true" causes of the
outcomes that you observed in your study.
Strong internal validity means that you not only have reliable
measures of your independent and dependent variables BUT a
strong justification that causally links your independent
variables to your dependent variables.
At the same time, you are able to rule out extraneous variables,
or alternative, often unanticipated, causes for your dependent
variables.

External Validity
External validity addresses the ability to generalize your
study to other people and other situations.
To have strong external validity (ideally), you need a
probability sample of subjects or respondents drawn using
"chance methods" from a clearly defined population.
Ideally, you will have a good sample of groups and a sample of
measurements and situations.
When you have strong external validity, you can generalize to
other people and situations with confidence.