Unit 3 Seminar 1 Concepts, Variable, and Measurement

What is a variable? Characteristics or properties that can vary and take on different values or attributes (Bachman & Schutt, 2007). Dependent & Independent Dichotomies: 2 male/female Intervening: Gender-parental supervision- delinquency.

Concepts Concepts – words, phrases, or symbols in language that are used to represent these mental images in communication. e.g., gender, punishment, chivalry, delinquency, poverty, intelligence, racism, sexism, assault, deviance, income. 3

Confusion over Definitions and Reality Concepts are abstract and only mental creations The terms we use to describe them do not have real and concrete meanings. 4

Creating Conceptualization Order Operational definition (how will we measure SES?) Spells out precisely how the concept will be measured. 5

Operationalization Choices Operationalization – the process of developing operational definitions. Moves us closer to measurement Requires us to determine what might work as a data- collection method-ie-survey-observation. 6

Levels of Measurement Nominal – offer names or labels for characteristics (race, gender, state of residence). Nominal – (there are two distinctive categories, you either have a salary or you don’t) Ordinal – attributes can be logically rank-ordered (education, opinions, occupational status)-3 categories. Interval – meaningful distance between attributes (temperature, IQ)- Ratio – has a true zero point (age, # of priors, sentence length, income). 7

Validity The extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the meaning of the concept under consideration Are you really measuring what you say you are measuring? Demonstrating validity is more difficult than demonstrating reliability. 8

Hypothesis A tentative statement about reality involving the relationship between two or more variables (Bachman & Schutt, 2007). Provide example for the following variables-

What indicator can be used for the following Domestic violence-Alcohol Juvenile crime-Poverty Racial profiling-Ethnicity Rehabilitation-Drugs Serial killers-Sociopath/mental illness Death penalty-Ethnicity/Gender.