1. Concepts, Operationalization, & Measurement
Dr. Guerette

2. Conceptions & Concepts
These are the abstract mental images (concepts) that will be turned into terms that can then be conceptualized specifically into what we mean when we use particular terms.

3. Conceptions & Concepts
Conceptualization
The process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we use particular terms.
Indicators and dimensions
These are the end product of the conceptualization process that provides us with measures of our concept.

4. Conceptions & Concepts
Creating conceptual order
This is the process that will lead to measurable definitions for study. The order realizes that progression of measurement from a vague sense of a term to a specific measurement

5. Conceptual Order Conceptualization Conceptual definition
Operational definition

6. Operationalization
This brings us one step closer to measurement by developing operational definitions, which specify what operations should be performed to measure a concept. This includes:
Scoring
Exhaustive & Exclusive measurement
Levels of measurement

7. Operationalization Scoring
This represents another way of thinking about measurement in that it involves actually making observations and assigning scores or values.

8. Measurement as Scoring
Gender
Impulsivity
Criminal History
Age 1 7 26 28 8 34 5 21 4 18 9 33 10 27 3 22 6 20 30

9. Operationalization Exhaustive Measurement
Exhaustive qualities of the attributes of a variable allow us to classify every observation.
Mutually Exclusive Measurement
Mutually exclusive attributes help researchers classify every observation in terms of only one attribute.

10. Levels of Measurement
Nominal measures - Are variables whose attributes are exhaustive and mutually exclusive and offer names or labels for characteristics.
Ordinal measures - Are variables whose attributes are exhaustive and mutually exclusive and can be logically rank ordered from greater than to less than.
Interval measures - Are those that have the same characteristic as nominal and ordinal but the logical distance between attributes can be expressed in meaningful standard intervals with zero having no meaning.
Ratio measures – Have the same characteristics as those above except that zero has meaning.

11. In Class Exercise Levels of Measurement
Indicate the level of measurement – nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio – that describes each of the following variables:
Length of prison sentence (in months)
Attitudes toward the war in Iraq (strongly approve, approve, disapprove, strongly disapprove)
Sex of marine life handlers at Sea World
Type of childhood victimization (physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect)
Height (in centimeters)
Score on a scholastic aptitude test
Place of birth
Number of years on a job (0-2 years, 3-9 years, 10 or more years)
Method of drug administration (snort, smoke, freebase, ingest, intravenous, inhalation, ingest)
Age at time of entering military service (under 18, over 18)

12. Criteria for Measurement Quality
Two key standards for measurement quality
Reliability - Refers to consistency. We look to be sure the measurement used will produce similar results over time. This can be achieved through the use of the
Test-retest method,
Inter-rater reliability, and
The split-half method.

13. Criteria for Measurement Quality
Validity - Simply put, means are you testing what you say you are testing? While more difficult to test for than reliability, ways of dealing with validity consist of
Face validity – common agreement
Content validity – adequate coverage of range of meanings
Criterion-related validity – a comparison w/ an external measure
Construct validity – based on logical relationships
Multiple measures – comparison to alternative measures

14. Reliable but Not Valid

15. Valid but Not Reliable

16. Valid and Reliable

17. Composite Measures
Combine individual measures to produce more valid and reliable indicators.
Typologies – These are produced by the intersection of two or more variables to create a set of categories or types.
An index – Where there are two distinct conceptions that are combined in such a way to produce a measure that is more parsimonious than individual variables.