1. Hypothesis Example
People with higher levels of education are expected to be less religious.
Elements of a hypothesis:
Variable
Relationship
Operationalization
Theoretical mechanisms
Population

2. Variable
Variable/construct : a characteristic or property that can vary
Can vary over time, over cases, or both.
Age, weight, gender, religion, political affiliation
Attribute (value): a characteristic or quality of a person or a thing.
Variable Attribute
Gender female / male
Ethnicity turkish / Kurdish / Roman
Self-esteem low / high
Any characteristic or attribute of persons, objects, or events that can take on different numerical values.
TAKE DIFFERENT VALUES FOR DIFFERENT OBSERVATIONS.
Groupings of attributes --- variables
Height, weight, age, self-esteem, social class, income, inequality, race/ethnicity, parenting style...
Characteristics of the psychological situations
Constants: have the same value for all individuals in the situation
Variables: have potentially different values for each individual in the situation
Categories/Attributes ≠ Variable

3. Back to our example…. Elements of a hypothesis: Variable Relationship
Operationalization
Theoretical mechanisms
Population

4. Concept / construct: Mental image Conceptualization:
operationalization
Concept / construct: Mental image
Conceptualization:
coming to an agreement about what term means
The process thru which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms in research
Gives definite meaning
Then comes operationalization….
Operationalization specifies precisely how a concept will be measured

5. Back to our example…
People with higher levels of education are expected to be less religious.
Variables
İndependent variable: education
Dependent variable: religiosity
Education and religion are constructs
We need to operationalize them to measure

6. Education
Number of years spent in schools
One is said to have education if she/he admitted to an educational institution that is officially recognized by the Ministry of Education

7. Religiosity
Whether a person prays five times a day
Fast during Ramadan
Fitre and zekat
Gone to Mecca for pilmigrage ….

8. Back to our example….
People with higher levels of education are expected to be less religious.
Variables
Dependent variable: religiosity
İndependent variable: education
Relationship:
There is a NEGATIVE relationship between level of education and religiosity
Theoretical mechanisms: why do we assume there is a relationship between education and religiosity?
Education is expected to develop a belief in humans and science rather than other worldly feelings
Educated people tend question more etc..

9. Environmentalism: (societal level)
Number of environmental NGOs
Number of companies that use air filters
Number of people having active membership in civil environmental organizations
Number of state institutions dealing with environmental issues

10. Environmentalism: (individual level)
A person is said to be environmentalist if she/he recycles newspapers 50% of the time
A person is said to be environmentalist if she/he turns of the faucet while brushing his/her teeth
A person is said to be environmentalist if he/she is a member of an environmentalist NGO
A person is said to be environmentalist if she/he is seperating trash into glass, paper and plastic at least once a week

11. Unemployment:
One is said to be unemployed if she/he has not worked in the last 8 months
One is said to be unemployed if she/he has not worked in the last 8 months and not ill or disabled .

12. Urban (societal)
An area is said to be urban if it has 750 people per square kilometer
An area is said to be urban if it has a minimum population of people
An area is said to be urban if more than 20% of its population is not engaged in agriculture.

13. Urban (individual):
A person is said to be urban if she/he has been living in an urban area for the last 5 years of his/her life (weighted by her/his age)
An person said to be urban if she has born in an urban area
A person is said to be urban if he/she has lived 70% of his life in an urban area.

14. Independent variable: number of NGOs Operationalization
“Number of NGOs in countries is positively associated with the development level of these countries.”
Independent variable: number of NGOs
Operationalization
An organization is said to be an NGO if it involves no organic relationships with the state.
An organization is said to be an NGO if none of its wealth comes from the state

15. Dependent variable: development level
Operationalization:
Level of GDP
Life expectancy is above 60 for males and 65 for females
% of illiteracy is below 5%
Electricity use is above XX watt per person per year.

16. Relationship:
Positive relationship

17. Theoretical mechanisms:
NGOs siginify civil participation to political process
Social organization independent from state is possible
Social structures independent of state lead to democracy
NGOs are economically autonomous from the state.
Developed countries have more resources to allocate in activities of NGOs.

18. Population:
Developed and undeveloped countries

19. Class example
People with lower levels of self-esteem are more likely to be prejudiced.