 Tool: A specific mechanism or strategy the researcher uses  Method: is the general approach (how to) that is taken to carry out research

 Strive for Objectivity  Don’t be influenced by your biases

Two Types of Measurement: a) Substantial b) Insubstantial

 Substantial measurements are things being measured that have an obvious basis in the physical world.  Using Quantities : (a number and a unit)  The table is 15 inches long  Unbiased

 Abstract data that exist only as concepts, ideas, opinions, or feelings.  Example: asking someone for their opinion of something by asking them their feelings on the subject.  Very Subjective and biased

 Question: How is President Obama doing so far in his administration?  Insubstantial answers: opinionated phrases.  Substantial answer: rating on a scale of 1 to 10. Assign a number to a phrase Ex:  1- one of America’s worst President’s  10- one of America’s greatest Presidents

 “Limiting the data of any phenomenom-substantial or insubstantial-so that those data may be interpreted and ultimately compared to an acceptable qualitative or quantitative standard”

 Measurement is ultimately a comparison.  Any form of measurement falls into one of four categories.

 1. Nominal  2. Ordinal  3. Interval  4. Ratio

 You assign names to data in order to measure it  Example  Measuring a group of children  Divide into 2 groups: Girls and Boys  Each subgroup is thereby measured by a girl’s name or a boy’s name  Only a few statistics are appropriate for analyzing this kind of data: (frequencies, modes, % …Chi square)

 Measurements are relative  Type of statistics used expands beyond nominal Examples: Median, percentile rank; Spearman’ rank of Correlation

 Compare pieces of data in terms of being greater > or less < than the others.  Example  Grades of proficiency  Skilled  Unskilled  Overskilled

 Uses equal units of measurement  Its zero point is established arbitrarily  Example  Measuring temperature using Fahrenheit  Intervals between degrees reflect equal changes in temperature  The zero point is not a total absence of heat  Example: O degress Fahrenheit does not indicate absence of heat

 Validity is whether or not a tool of measurement has the ability to properly measure what it is suppose to measure.  Example: A test may be intended to measure a certain characteristic, and it may be called a measure of that characteristic, but these things don’t necessarily mean that the test actually measures what its authors say it does.  Example” Does an IQ test accurately measure all types of IQ’s? (academic IQ, social IQ, mechanical IQ, etc…

 When the conditions for measurement are consistent for each measurement.  Instruments used to measure insubstantial data are less reliable than substantial  Ex: On a teacher Availability scale a student rates the same teacher a score of 60 one day when the teacher is less available and 95 a different day when the teacher is more available

 Both reliability and validity reflect the degree to which we may have error in our measurements.  Validity errors are usually due to the instrument itself, and reliability errors are usually due to the use of the instrument.