Full transcript
0:06before we turn to the topic of
0:07measurement I'll briefly clarify the
0:09terms variable and
0:11operationalization earlier I referred to
0:14variables as operationalized constructs
0:16but the term variable can also refer to
0:19a representation of a construct that is
0:21still somewhat abstract we use the term
0:24operationalization if we want to
0:26explicitly indicate we're talking about
0:28a specific concrete method to measure or
0:31manipulate a
0:32construct say I'm interested in the
0:34construct political power I can
0:37represent this construct with the
0:38variable influence in Parliament this
0:41representation is more specific but we
0:44could still come up with very different
0:45procedures to operationalize or measure
0:48the variable influence in Parliament for
0:50example I could count the number of
0:52bills that A Member of Parliament or
0:53congress got passed or I could count the
0:56number of years someone has been in
0:58Parliament or I could ask political
1:00analysts to rate members of parliament
1:02in terms of their
1:04influence so operationalization means
1:06selection or creation of a specific
1:09procedure to measure or manipulate the
1:10construct of Interest an
1:12operationalization makes it possible to
1:14assign people an actual score on the
1:17variable of
1:18interest suppose I want to
1:20operationalize the construct Love of
1:22Animals I can observe a person
1:24interacting with a cat and count how
1:27often the person pets or Strokes the cat
1:30I could also decide on a different
1:31operationalization or operational
1:33definition by creating a questionnaire
1:36with statements like I usually avoid
1:38other people's pets and I love
1:42animals what about independent variables
1:44that are manipulated well suppose I want
1:46to know if exposure to animals increases
1:49Love of Animals I can operationalize the
1:52variable exposure to animals by creating
1:54two levels of exposure I could randomly
1:57assign people to take care of a cat from
1:59a shelter for a month or assign them to
2:01a control condition with no
2:03cat another operationalization would be
2:06to take one half of a school class to a
2:08petting zoo and the other half to an
2:10abstract art museum or I could assign
2:13participants to watch an animal
2:14documentary or a train
2:16documentary as you can see the
2:18possibilities for operationalization are
2:21endless of course some
2:22operationalizations are better than
2:25others an operationalization doesn't
2:27necessarily capture or represent the con
2:29construct in its entirety as our
2:32constructs get fuzzier or more complex
2:35there's a greater chance that we measure
2:36or manipulate only a part of the
2:38construct for example if we measure love
2:41of animals with a self-report
2:42questionnaire we measure feelings and
2:44attitudes which might give a more
2:46positive image if we measure Love of
2:49Animals by placing cameras in people's
2:51homes and observing Behavior we might
2:54find lower
2:56scores we might find that compared to
2:59their self-report Love of Animals people
3:01show a lot less love when their cat
3:03wakes them up at 5:00 a.m. or blocks the
3:05TV when they're watching their favorite
3:08show so it's important to keep in mind
3:11what aspect of the construct the
3:12operationalization actually measures or
3:15manipulates especially once we use the
3:17data to draw conclusions about the
3:19entire construct in our hypothesis our
3:22conclusion May apply only to a limited
3:24aspect of the construct