1. Measurement, Conceptualization,
and Operationalization
(what and how)

3. Measurement
• Active, careful, deliberate observations
• Assigning numbers or labels to units of
analysis to represent conceptual properties
• NOT "Some things happened over that way to
some folks."

4. Scientific Measurement
• Fully describe our methods
and procedures
• Allows replication and quality
judgments
• The process begins with the
research problem or
hypothesis
– What the heck are we
measuring?
http://store.xkcd.com/

5. Conceptualization
• Goes from the fuzzy and abstract to the
specific and concrete
• From a concept to the measure of concept

6. The Concept of Lying
• Everyday concepts do not have
to agree
– "You look good in that dress."
– "Santa's watching you!"
– "The check is in the mail."
– "I did not have sex with that
woman."
– "I didn’t want to hurt them, I only
wanted to kill them."

7. Things We Measure
• Direct Observables
– "My hair is blonde"
• Indirect Observables
– Writing "blonde" as hair color on a form
• Constructs
– "Fun" as measured on a scale made up from
several direct or indirect observables

8. Mutual Agreement
• Does measuring IQ mean that it really
measures intelligence? What about grades?
• Can they be useful regardless?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blacktest_score_rise.jpg

9. A Rose By Any Other Name
• Real: "Have you ever
really looked at your
hand, man?"
• Nominal: "The part of
me that has a mustache
is my hand."
• Operational: "Okay,
Luke's hand is actually
robotic, but we'll treat
it the same as a hand."

10. How far will you go?
Decide & be clear about your range of variation

12. How can you measure?
• Verbal or Self-Reported
– Ask people
• Observation
– Watch people
• Archival Records
– Look through people's houses… er, no.

13. Levels of Measurement
• Nominal: Names
– The names of all your survey respondents
• Ordinal: Ranks
– How "blonde" someone is on a scale
• Interval: Numbers ("how much")
– Blonde #5 vs. Blonde #3.2
• Ratio: Interval with a true zero
– How many days you've had blonde hair

14. Reliability
• Get the same measure
each time
• Test-Retest
– "After thinking about it, I'm
not sure I'm blonde.."
• Split-Half
– "This half of my hair is
blonde. Is the other half?"
http://www.flickr.com/
photos/starsalive/3951
012933/

15. Validity
• Face Validity
– "Yup, they're blonde."
• Criterion Related Validity
– "I see hair dye. They're probably blonde now."
• Construct Validity
– "If they're blonde, they should be having fun."
• Content Validity
– "But what about people who only dye SOME
hair?"

16. White American Basketball League’s
Validity Problem
• "Only players that are natural born United
States citizens with both parents of Caucasian
race are eligible to play in the league," the
statement said.
• Lewis said he wants to emphasize
fundamental basketball instead of "street-
ball" played by "people of color."

17. White Basketball League (cont)
• "Would you want to go to the game and worry
about a player flipping you off or attacking you
in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he
said. "That's the culture today, and in a free
country we should have the right to move
ourselves in a better direction.

18. Conceptualization Problems
• What do you
mean by
"white"?
• "One Drop
Rule"
• Italians, Irish,
Jewish people

19. Operationalization Problems
• Can you really
measure "race" by
how often a person
flips you off, attacks
you in the stands,
and grabs their
crotch?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/malingering/166283679/

20. Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady of the
Night: DC Cops Can Arrest You for
Carrying More Than Two Condoms
• A spokesperson later clarified that "sufficient
cause" can be "congregating with at least one
other person ... late at night with no apparent
destination, and in possession of multiple
condoms […in a prostitution free zone.]"
• So where's the problems with this?

21. And really, what identifies a prostitute,
anyway?
• Conceptualize "prostitute"
– What does it "mean"?
• Operationalize "prostitute"
– How do you measure it
– Without "false positives"?