PSCI 2701 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Discriminant Validity, Convergent Validity, Deductive Reasoning
27 Sep 2016
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In every theory or related hypotheses, concepts need to be defined. They are abstractions used to describe the characteristics of a group or of an individual case. Some are more concrete than others: e. g. , age vs. social equality. Inductive reasoning: using empirical evidence to form the definition of the concept. Intuition: especially if other researchers have not researched the concept yet. In any case, a literature review is very helpful here we can see how others have studied the concept before. The definition of the concept is there to ensure that the researcher is explicit about what is meant/referred to (and what it excludes) Operationalisation: moving from an abstract concept to a concrete measure. Variable: a particular way in which variation in the concept is measured. Purpose: be able to differentiate/compare cases by their level or type with regard to the concept. Example: differentiating academic excellence based on a concrete grade measure.
