1. Applied quantitative analysis a practical introduction SOSM-405 (5 cr) Session 4
Tue 8-10, Period III, Jan-Feb 2018
Faculty of Social Sciences / University of Helsinki
Teemu Kemppainen

2. Contents Measurement Sum variables Exploratory factor analysis
Hands-on:
Compute
Split
Select cases
EFA

3. Measurement
Observing and recording the characteristics of study units with a structured procedure
 variables
Height, weight, income, age, education level…pretty easy
Attitudes, subjective experiences, well-being…more difficult, but possible
Also classifying is ”measuring”…cf. text analysis and classification, counting…
Good measurement is valid and reliable

4. A graphical intuition to measurement
Reliability: repeatability, stability, consistency (alpha)
Validity: measuring what we want to measure
Babbie E. 2010: The Practice of Social Research. 12th ed. Wadsworth.

5. ”Things”, items and aggregate measures
E.g. sum variable, factor score variable
Latent constructs, factors, dimensions…”things”
Survey Items
Why: content validity & reliability  often better indicators than single items  work nicely in regression
Measurement error
Vehkalahti K 2007: Monimuuttujamenetelmät.

6. Hands on
Compute
Split
Select cases
EFA